My initial plan for this outfit was to find a way to wear this odd little brown jacket that I'd found at Goodwill. But everything I tried it with, I just wasn't excited about, and after a few different attempts to make it work, I realized that I didn't care for how it fit. It was cute but too short, and the cut of the open front made it feel like it was too small (and I mean, maybe it actually was too small, you know?, but some styles of jacket look OK even if they are too small in the bust as long as they fit elsewhere but this wasn't that style). So with a sense of relief, I put that jacket into the donation bag and moved on to find a different outfit using brown leggings because I already had a pair of them on, and ain't nobody wants to waste the investment of effort that represents.
So I brought forward a spring outfit based on this inspiration photo from Bridgette Raes. In the blog post, she gives tips for wearing weekend clothes on casual Fridays at work, and this is the example for upping the professionalism of a weekend knit dress by adding a Chanel-style jacket (at least that's what I think this style of jacket is called and the Internet agrees). I have a very similar pink/beige tweed jacket and I have a bright pink knit dress, so let's do it.
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| From bridgetteraes.com |
And because I'd thought of this as a "spring" outfit, and spring in Coldville means tights (though the highs this week are inexplicably in the 40s), it was not a stretch to make this a winter-to-spring transitional outfit with brown leggings and tall boots. I think the result looked just fine--not too dark/heavy with the brown at the bottom, given the season.
Yes, I am taking a "weekend dress for casual Friday at work" style inspiration and wearing it on a Wednesday. The water-proofed tall boots were perfect for the deluge this morning. It's been a while since I've been out in that much rain.
Sleeveless pink dress (Target), $9.33/wear
Pink tweed blazer (thrifted, Chico's), $3.50/wear
Brown leggings
Tall brown boots by Fitzwell, $5.83/wear
White polka dot scarf (Target), $2.37/wear
Outfit total: $21.03/wear
I was initially planning to wear my thrifted cream scarf, but when I put it on, it looked so blah. I decided to try the white polka dot scarf instead and bam, it was like 100000% better. I think the cream looks okay when I wear it with darker colors on top, but because it's really not a good shade for my skin tone, it looks terrible when I wear it with lighter colors. And since I have the white one now (which is, I think, strictly superior), and approximately 31,835.27 other scarves, I'm saying adieu to the cream one.
Does anyone use the term "strictly superior" outside the context of Magic the Gathering game cards??? It's weird that a google search brings up so many card comparison sites and posts. After writing that phrase, I had this sudden feeling like I don't know where it comes from. It's a clear and obvious concept in my head, and those are the words that go with it, but I am sure it didn't arise from my intersection with Magic the Gathering, a game I've never played or read about or known anyone who is into it (such that they'd talk to me about it).
So I asked Robert, what would you call it when you think one thing is better than another thing in every way. And he said, Strictly better.
I asked, Where does that term come from? He said, From economics...from game theory, really. He talked for a moment about the idea of strict preferences, and I was like, Yes, of course. I was an economics major. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the homework for the first day of my PhD math camp was proofs around strict and weak preferences. And I've read at least one book on game theory (a textbook of Robert's). Plus I'm married to an economist.
So, whew, maybe I haven't been playing middle-of-the-night online Magic the Gathering games--wait, can you even play it online? let me say instead: doing middle-of-the-night online Magic the Gathering strategy research--and then blacking out and forgetting all about it the next day, while my vocabulary has been indelibly if mysteriously stamped by the experience. Instead I've just forgotten that the phrase was a major foundational concept from a field I spent more than four years studying at university. Oh yeah, that's a relief. Tune in next week when I forget whether "attitude strength" has any meaning to anyone but myself.
It's funny to consider how a piece of jargon can become completely ingrained in your head and yet, when you take it out into the light, it looks questionable, like, Can that really be words that go together and mean something? Did I just make that up on the spot (you know, like kludge, hah) or is it phrasing that other people would recognize as referring to this concept?
You know, there's probably a psychological term for this but I've forgotten what it is.
2 comments:
In math, we talk about "strict inequalities" (e.g., < vs. <=) and use "strictly greater than" and related terms all the time. At home we commonly apply "strictly" in not-specifically-math ways (strictly better, strictly younger, strictly less libertarian, whatever). I never thought to question it.
Right, it's interesting to think about the move from strictly greater to strictly better, where the latter means better on every dimension individually, not merely overall better (not equal to) something else.
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