The Reveal (sort of)

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though [s]he knows that you are slightly cracked.  

~ Bernard Meltzer

I can’t vouch for all interventions, but thanks to my friend, my fashion intervention was a blast!  :)

W. and I spent about 3 hours in a local mall.  She was amazing!  She found that perfect balance between (a) pointing me in the direction of better choices and (b) listening to me and respecting my feelings. 

For example – I stood firm on the “no skinny jeans” position.  I don’t care how fashionable they are – they are not for me.  But, she got me out of the men’s jeans that I typically buy at Wal-Mart (I told you that I desperately needed help!) and into a pair of curvy women’s boot cut jeans from Old Navy that I absolutely love!  :)

So, a quick run-down of our day, with pictures when I was able to get them off the internet:

We started at NY&Co, where I picked up:

• 2 short-sleeved, neutral-colored, square-neck “t-shirts” (although the material is nicer than a standard t-shirt),
• 2 long-sleeved, button-up, princess-seamed shirts with ruched sleeves (bright blue & warm peach)
• 2 light-weight cardigans (grey & purple) on sale for $10 each! 

At Ann Taylor’s Loft I found:

• A fun, short, pleated black skirt
• A pair of nice black pants

I left Old Navy with:

• 2 pairs of “Flirt” style (boot cut) blue jeans
• 2 long-sleeved boat-neck “t-shirts” (solid pink & pink and orange stripes)
• A flowing green blouse

Macy’s produced:

• A pink pencil skirt
• A longer black skirt – knit fabric, fitted on waist and hips, opening below with godet-like flares

And at H&M we managed to hunt down:

• A pair of nice grey pants

Other stores, such as The Limited and The Gap, yielded nothing.  

The big missing pieces were a jacket and a dress.  I followed up with some online shopping and found this dress at ModCloth and this jacket at ASOS.  I also snagged a couple of leather belts (1 brown, 1 black) at Target. 

Later that afternoon I went through my pre-existing closet with a ruthless hand and culled out 4 large garbage bags full of clothes, which I promptly delivered to Goodwill.  A lot of that was stuff I have “outgrown” through weight gain…  :(

I’ve been doing a little internet research to see how I can create those cute wardrobe mix and match pictures like so many other sites post (the ones with white backgrounds and no people in the pictures) – and as soon as I get that worked out, I’ll show you exactly what I’ve got and how things combine.  ;)

An interesting side effect is that all this shopping has left me really motivated to do more clothes sewing for myself!  I’m now thinking about all those beautiful fabrics in my stash and visualizing how well tops and skirts made with them would mix and match within my new wardrobe!  I can’t wait to finish the flannel shirt for my Grandmother, so that I can get started on something for me!  I even have my first project picked out and ready to go…  :)

In summary, the day was a blast and I am really happy and excited about this new way of thinking about my wardrobe.  A huge thank you to my friend - a true friend! - for all her help and patience and guidance!  She rocks!  :)