15 April 2009, originally uploaded by academichic.
Sources:
- Leaf dress – Banana Republic, remixed
- Teal cami – Banana Republic
- Red-orange belt – Gap, remixed
- Grey wedges – Report, via Solestruck.com, remixed
- Earrings – gift
Endnotes:
I am jumping on the clavicle band wagon and saying that I also love my collarbone. I think the area around a woman’s neck and shoulders is extremely beautiful and the right kind of garment can beautifully emphasize that. I like to feature my clavicle as soon as the weather permits; once it’s warm enough, I love a scoop neck, a deep v-neck, a surplice top, or a halter to show off those bones and shoulders.
The clavicle is also special to me because it’s the only bone I’ve ever broken. As a baby, I rolled off the bed while my mother was changing me and broke my collarbone. I of course have no recollection of this, but it’s the only tale I can offer when people compare ‘war scars’ and broken bone gore. It’s also comforting to know that a bone I broke as an infant is now a part I really appreciate for its aesthetic appeal – it points to the amazing healing ability of the body, and as I mentioned yesterday, I love to love things for both their form and function. S.
Earring detail, originally uploaded by academichic.
That print is gorgeous on you, lady.
^^^^
I totally agree with Sal – that print is amazing. Also, I love the pop of color that your belt gives and your earrings are gorgeous!
I’ve never broken a bone (besides surgery) so I can empathize with not having much for “war scar” stories.
I agree with Kimberly that the pop of color coming from your belt is terrific. This outfit looks great on you!
Lovely dress and the pop of color from the belt is great. And I must say, I don’t know if it’s the belt or the dress or both – but you look especially teeny-tiny!
My clavicle is also my sole broken bone. I jumped off of a chair when I was little. The dress really is great.
What gorgeous earrings!
You are looking especially lovely today. That dress is amazing.
Love the earrings! That’s a really pretty dress, too.
Thank you all for such nice comments! And for sharing you bone- breaking stories :)
@Goober – I also was shocked to see how slimming this look was once I looked at the pictures. I think it’s the combo of the thin belt with a flowey dress, and belting it right at the narrowest part of my midsection. It’s definitely an optical illusion ;)
The colours of this dress are gorgeous on you – they really bring out your natural beauty.
I have a super dumb question, but I am dying to know the answer. I love, love, LOVE the looks you guys create with belts. I have a few cardies that have shrunk and I would love to get some more wear out of them by leaving them open and then belting them to create a lean line. I have a ton of belts, and I have an hourglass figure, so they look great on me.
However, here is my dumb question: when you layer belts over outfits with pants or jeans, do you wear another belt to hold up your pants? All of my jeans and work pants (none of which are cheap quality) fit perfectly when I first put them on but, over the course of the day, they stretch out a bit, particularly in the waist and thighs. So by the end of the day, if I’m not wearing a belt, I have to constantly pull them up, which is very annoying. I even have jeans that are 100% cotton and they stretch out too!
So my question is, do you wear two belts – one to hold up your pants and one to cinch your waist? Or have you found magic pants that don’t stretch? Am I the only fool who cannot get by without a belt to hold my pants up? I would really love to know! I actually tried wearing a decorative belt and a utilitarian one to hold up my pants – that lasted all of 6 minutes.
Thanks for your help! I really love your blog and all of you have amazing style. I am inspired daily!
@Sarah – I know that I have a similar situation with pants. I simply CANNOT wear them without a belt, but that means that any external beltage equals 2 belts (which, as far as I can tell, is rarely if ever in style). However, I’ve found that if I use a more elastic-y belt for my pants, it shows less and feels less bulky when wearing the external one too. Just a little solution, but it works for me.
I also have the no pants w/out a belt problem, b/c of my very awkward proportions. I have been known to wear two belts, but only when the shirt was long enough to cover the one holding up my pants.
Sarah – Not a dumb question at all! I’ve definitely had this problem and I find it very annoying to wear two belts! With my skirts and dresses, they stay up just fine so that isn’t an issue, and same with my dress pants. My jeans all require belts, so I’ve lately just avoided doing the belted cardi look with them because I didn’t like the bulk of another belt underneath.
But then recently, the awesome Kimberly of Fab Finds under $50 (see her in our blogroll if you don’t already know of her site) did a post on this very problem. And she introduced me to the “Invisibelt”!
Here’s a link to that particular post:
http://fabfindsunder50.blogspot.com/2009/03/invisibelts.html
It’s slim and made for that under the layers belting so that it is as seamless as possible. I can’t vouch for it myself because I haven’t gotten one, but she gave it great reviews. It’s one way to solve the two belt problem. Hope that helps to all of you who asked about that!