Just a quick post because I WILL be doing a podcast and/or blog post about some...get ready for it...sewing! Woot! But I need a little more time to put that together than I have this afternoon so I'm just providing a bit of a mean teaser for now and writing this quick blog about something completely unrelated.
So, my husband's office party is tonight.
I've now gone through the process of buying three different possible outfits--each seemingly more expensive than the last--to find something that would (A) be appropriate for not-quite-black-tie-but-more-than-normal-fancy, (B) look my age rather than 20 years older or younger, and (C) work with flats because I still can't do heels. One of the first three outfits got ditched because it visually added a few pounds--not something I need at the moment; the other two got ditched because it looked a bit too senior for me, so to speak. I tried a few on in dressing rooms that looked a bit too junior. Sometimes it's difficult to figure out how to dress in your 50s.
So, what outfit was finally the winner? Black velvet Juliet pants from Chicos (no longer on their site--glad I bought them when I did!) with a royal blue top from Dress Barn for about a third of the cost of what I was paying for outfits one, two, and three. I'll be doing some returns tomorrow. Go figure--the winning top from Dress Barn does have cold shoulders, which I've never liked on me, but in this case it actually works. And the black velvet pants are insanely comfy and I'll be able to wear them to a couple more holiday gatherings with different tops, or just going out to dinner with my husband after the holidays. I'm in love with them, and I never thought of myself as a velvet pant kind of girl.
But here's the real kicker. I was trying to figure out what "fancy dress" purse I could use that would link to my shoes, since I wanted to wear the ones I'd gotten from Stitch Fix back in November and needed a way to pull the silver from the shoes into the outfit--I've got silver, sparkly jewelry so that does most of the "blending" heavy lifting, but a lighter, sparkly bag would work better than black. I only have one dress bag (bought for last year's office Christmas party), so I was contemplating making yet another run out to the mall to see if I could find something that worked better.
Suddenly I remembered. Somewhere in my basement I had a bag of vintage and antique purses my mother had given me years before she passed away--they were from her mother and grandmother, if I recall. I did a little digging around and found the bag of bags--woo!
They're all in remarkably good shape except the oldest looking mesh bag with the rose on the front. The hinge clasp is broken. Plus, it's way too antique for me to feel comfortable carrying it anywhere--I'd be afraid of losing it.
For tonight's gig I'm thinking either the navy blue crochet/beaded pouch or the silver mesh clasp purse on the top. Either works well with the outfit. Meanwhile, I'm liberating these bags from the basement and will be keeping them up in my closet. I don't do fancy dress that often but what fun it is to have great bags to use when I do!
So--just a fun little find for the day. Now I need to finish reformatting my computer (don't ask) and touch up my manicure at the same time. Party on!