Thursday, April 30, 2015

Z to A

MMMSC Day 26: Patterns or Textures--Thursday, 4/30/15

When I got a top and a skirt that serendipitously coordinate with each other in the mail on the same day (though from separate companies), and both were keepers, it was an outfit waiting to happen.

Time for another round of Reverse Inspirations!  This time I have two players.

Once again, Alice's clothing choices have been retroactively influenced by my outfit.  This time, she is wearing a cobalt blue skirt with a blue/white/black animal print top half.

From happinessatmidlife.com

And Tara is wearing a cobalt blue skirt with a black and grey animal print sweatshirt/sweater.

From mixmatchfashion.com

Didn't they do a nice job of putting their personal spin on my animal print top with cobalt skirt outfit?


Before I left for work, I decided to add another layer--it has been cool in the mornings, even in my office, and I wasn't sure whether this sweatshirt (which is made of T-shirt knit, not the usual heavy sweatshirt knit) would cut it.  Plus I finally wore this short navy blazer I got at Goodwill many, many months ago.  Yay for wearing all these new things.
 


*Navy/blue leopard sweatshirt (JNY)+
*Cobalt skirt (eShakti)+
*Short navy blazer (thrifted, Loft)+
Light grey wedges by BCBGeneration+

I ordered this custom-sized skirt from eShakti at the same time as I did the rabbit dress.  On the plus side: it's long enough, it's big enough in the hips, it's got pockets, and it's an interesting style.  On the minus side:  the pockets and style combine to make it very bulky/puffy in the hips, especially at the sides, which looks weird.  It looks relatively OK with this particular sweatshirt, but with other tops, the extra bulk makes them stick out funny at the sides.  I'm considering whether I want to sew up and cut out the pockets to decrease the extra padding (that my hips do not need).  Or maybe my eye will just adjust to it.  Another minor issue is that the faux-wrap style means that if I'm not careful when I sit down, the skirt can separate along the slit all up my thigh--luckily I discovered this the first time I sat down at home.

But on the plus side again: it's blue.  Tardis blue, even.





Verdict:  A super-comfy outfit, and the jacket was welcome in the morning.  I took it off at lunch time.  It's funny how the Robin compensatory dressing approach does work pretty well--I had bare legs, so I added an extra layer on the top, and it kept me comfortable.

In other news...I am really tired of this A to Z blogging challenge.  The end of the alphabet is extra challenging at a time when bloggers are getting burned out on the whole thing.  Clearly they should have started with Z and worked their way to A. 

Speaking of Z to A, I had a conversation with my office mate about alphabetical order and reverse alphabetical order today.  A sign-up sheet for sessions at a conference was going around the office and our first names were on the front (in alphabetical order).  I saw my office mate C. with the sheet today, and saw that my name is second from the bottom, and said, I just can't catch a break--I'm at the bottom of alphabetical order whether my first or last name is used.  I told her how in elementary school, we lined up in alphabetical order by last name whenever we left the classroom, and how this was particularly annoying at lunch.  (I was almost always 3rd from last.)  I remember one teacher on one day switched around the line to reverse alphabetical order and the Andersons et al. bitched and bitched about it, like they had come to believe that the alphabetical-order-privilege they had been receiving all this time was somehow their right and not actually totally arbitrary and unfair. 

I still have a little bit of resentment over the whole thing.  It feels a bit like my school had inadvertently instituted one of those experiments in which they differentially treat people based on eye color in order to enlighten them about racism and privilege (only without ever acknowledging what was going on).  If you aren't familiar with the blue eye-brown eye experiment by Jane Elliott, or hell, even if you are, check out this under 5 minute video from Oprah.  There's a funny/depressing moment in which a member of the privileged group starts rationalizing why her group is superior to the other and a purely depressing moment in which a white dude explains why racism is reasonable (though discrimination based on eye color is not). 

A to Z Blogging Challenge Day 26: Z is for Z to A

5 comments:

Debbie said...

At one school, we used to have to line up by height. As the shortest, I was always in front. Except for one 6-week period during which an even shorter gal was in my class. She also had long, frizzy hair. Since we had to stand heel to toe (that sure seems weird to me now), her hair was always tickling my face. I wouldn't say I was offended, but it definitely became clear that being super short was finally a privilege.

Debbie said...

Oh, and you're right about the A-Z challenge order. I think I'll go backwards next time this sort of thing comes up (if I have any say over it).

Sally said...

By height?? Interesting. I was always one of the 3 tallest kids in the class throughout elementary school so I would have been at the end there, too.

I'm imagining at the end of the Z-A challenge being like, What do you want me to talk about now? Aardvarks? Jeez.

Tam said...

Speaking of thinking one's privilege is inevitable, it occurred to me the other day that Chinese people (in China, I mean) might feel actually superior to westerners. (I know, duh, right?) It came as kind of a shock to realize that if I visited I might actually be seen as less-than (not just foreign-but-on-the-same-level or something). There's being white for ya.

Sally said...

Tam, indeed. Robert's aunt is married to a Chinese guy (like, grew up in China and came to the US for college or something), and several years ago, his mom moved in with them. The mother-in-law feels intense disdain for Robert's aunt because she does not speak Chinese. (Note that the mother-in-law does not speak English.) So...one data point saying yep.