Friday, August 13, 2010

Possible Summer Trend Overload

Draft:

Earlier Drafts:
I've admitted to wearing this tank (far too?) frequently this summer.

Composition:
eyeglasses (Kate Spade)
pink coral beaded necklace (Old Navy)
navy striped tank (Gap)
turquoise ribbed cardigan (Old Navy)
linen khaki colored shorts (Gap)
nude heeled sandals (Born Concept via Marshall's)

Usage:
First, let me list for you the summer trends/previous posts to which I can trace back my styling of this outfit:
1) I like stripesKatie likes stripesAnne-Marie likes stripes.  We all like stripes!
2) Anne-Marie claims nude shoes elongate your leg, and she identified one of her pairs as her "summer staple."  Plus, I think these new shoes I picked up from Marshall's look like a Liz-ish version of the other shoes she's been rocking all summer-- her chunky nude/tan platforms wedges.  (Remember when I said I couldn't find the left shoe?  I found them waiting for me at a different Marshall's!)
3) Katie has done shorts with heelsAnne-Marie has done shorts with heels.   Once, they even inadvertently coordinated their shorts-with-heels looks.  So I finally worked up the courage to try it out.
4) My turquoise beaded necklace has become my summer statement piece, and I've been wearing it with everything, so I picked up this more-pink-than-it-looks-in-the-photo one for $3. 
5) The turquoise necklace also inspired the choice of the turquoise cardigan.  I have been loving turquoise and navy together since I wore the necklace with a navy dress, so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this color combo even though I haven't seen anyone else pair turquoise with her breton stripes.

I've reached that point in the season when I normally despair about having run out of good styling ideas, and I can empathize with those of you who have shared similar sentiments on your own blogs, but that hasn't happened to me this year.  I've only been out of the office for two weeks now, so I'm still enjoying experimenting with my "casual" summer clothes and finding new ways to wear them.  It could just be that we're more familiar with one another after 5 weeks of class, but I also feel like my (mostly undergraduate) German classmates are responding to me differently now that I've been dressing a little bit more like them.  These days they joke around with me even though they think I am terribly "old."  For example, when our instructor told us the German music video she was showing us was from 1992, they said "Oh, so when Liz was in high school."  They weren't that far off, actually, and my high school teacher did show us the video, but I didn't tell them that.

The jury is still out for me on shorts plus heels.  My legs are so long, and apparently my shorts are so short, that I definitely felt like this ensemble tipped toward streetwalker territory.  I admit that I intentionally wore the glasses to mitigate this effect because-- streetwalkers have good vision?  I don't know.  I wore the cardigan to cope with our classroom's a/c, and because it was a stormy morning, but I was pretty reluctant to take it off.  This much leg plus bare shoulders felt like way too much.  Perhaps, at the very least, this pairing proves Anne-Marie's suggestions that nude-ish shoes elongate the look of your leg!

Prompts:
  • Now that we're getting closer to fall, what can you look back on and identify as your favorite trends this summer?
  • Do you ever endeavor to wear a lot of trends at once or is this total overkill?
  • Do you find that you tend to dress more and more like your friends the longer you know them?  I've noticed this tendency with all of my friendships (maybe I'm just a huge copycat?), but the fact that the 3 of us have been blogging about our clothing choices seems to have sped the process up considerably.
  • Have you been inspired to try out any new trends or styles after seeing them on our blog?  If so, which ones?  And did they work for you?

7 comments:

Katie from Interrobangs Anonymous said...

For me, the key with trends is to find a way to do them in a classic way. When neon got big last year (and still is, I guess), I got a gorgeous neon blue cardigan. The cut and style was very traditional, the color was not. Once the neon trends dies down, I think the cardigan will still be wearable because of its cut.

You may be wearing a lot of pieces that are on-trend right now, but I could be shown your photo and told it's from the 90s, 80s, 70s, etc. (man, you ARE old!) and believe it. That's because this gorgeous outfit looks classic, along with looking fresh and fun.

P.S. Is it weird that I've started looking forward to photos that include Oscar showing off his cute, waggly behind?

lindsay said...

One trend I've really loved this summer is shirts/tanks tucked in to shorts or skirts - I have a small waist so it suits me well. And I've definitely been thinking more critically about my clothing choices since I started reading this blog - more along the lines of wearing my clothes instead of letting them wear me. It's actually been a needed lesson for me, to be proactive about the image I'd like to portray. I've always been conscious about my style, but your posts have helped me look even deeper into it. Many thanks :)

Scholar Style Guide said...

Katie, that's great advice! My usual way of participating in trends is to buy inexpensive trendy items (i.e. this $3 necklace and $11 tank) and wear them with my classic wardrobe staples, but I also like your suggestion of buying classic pieces that also fit the trend. And I'm glad you like seeing O because he refuses to be left out of the photos! : )

Lindsay, thanks so much for sharing! I'm glad to hear that you feel more "proactive about the image [you'd] like to portray." I hope you'll find, like I have, that paying attention to that image (instead of ignoring it or wishing it didn't matter) can help you achieve the goals you've set for yourself.

-Liz

Scholar Style Guide said...

And if you're up for showing us one of your tucked in looks (a trend I've also been trying out more this summer, though I'm not sure I've featured it on the blog), we'd love to have you submit a look for the blog!

submissions[at]gmail[dot]com

-Liz

Minx Marple said...

Although I have some of the same wardrobe dilemmas as you, the sector that I work in makes the solutions very diferent. I really enjoy your site, but what I really wanted to say is that I think this outfit works so well for you, not streetwalkerish at all : )

Scholar Style Guide said...

Sorry, that should have been submissions[at]scholarstyleguide[dot]com. Facepalm!

And thanks, Minx Marple! I'd love to have you submit a post about how you deal with the same wardrobe dilemmas differently, too!

-Liz

Stella said...

A simple dress with a tank tossed over it. Plain tank on patterned dress or vice versa. Instant casually feminine boho.