30 Days of Dresses: For rainy days.
Because of the 30 Days of Dresses challenge, I’ve postponed my usual Midweek Inspiration post. That, and I haven’t been reading blogs as faithfully as I usually do this week, so I didn’t find anything I particularly wanted to reinterpret my own way.
I just realized that when I’m wearing dresses, I tend to style them as though they are skirts. Such as on day one, when I wore a cardigan over the dress so it looked like a skirt, or today (day three), when I folded the top of the dress under so… it basically is a skirt. With a bodice folded down.
I just don’t tend to know quite how to wear dresses normally.
And also: in the past four outfit posts, I’ve mixed patterns three times. I see a trend going here.
But what can I say? I just really love pattern mixing. I feel more “me” when I am wearing patterns, and somehow it’s easier for me to style multiple patterns than it is for me to style a plain dress. Weird, huh? I think it’s weird, anyway.
Can I talk about how much I love these pictures? Because I do. I love this location, I love the umbrella, I love the fogginess of the background… it’s just all very… Jane Eyre-esque, to me. Plus, being out in the rain on a dock over the water in the fog (long sentence, I know) with my man is just fun for some reason.
Then again, being anywhere with my man is fun.
I also want to talk about that little post I did yesterday about sponsorships: this is new ground for me! I will admit I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, but it’s a good learning experience. I know my rates are very cheap, but I think since I am just starting out, it’s okay. I doubt that I will ever raise them too horribly much, since I am a budget fashion blogger and then there’s just that part of me that feels bad if I think the rate is too high by my standards.
It will be difficult at first, I think, because I don’t want to be too picky with who I accept and who I don’t, but on the other hand I want the ads on my blog to represent me– my style, my budget, my modesty, etc. Of course, I will never be able to find a company that sells clothing for as little as I generally buy them, but I wouldn’t accept sponsorship from a company that sold, like… a pair of shoes for $500.
Posting the sponsorship post and creating the page made me realize that I desperately need to update my sidebar, because those follow links are way too pale. And I haven’t really updated the look of my blog in a very long time.
And also, I need to get on styling and photographing those clothes I’m going to sell off. So far, I’ve gotten… one… done.
Yeah, I know. I’m so far.
I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday! The week is halfway over!
16 Comments
Stephanie Kay
I’m loving the budget fashion aspect of this challenge. I just had some classmates yesterday comment on how I’m always wearing a dress, which is absolutely true. I can’t wait to get more ideas on how to style my favorite wardrobe staple. Question for you though: What kind of thrift stores do you go to? When I go to Goodwill and those sort of shops I find myself coming up pretty hipster with my findings. Which is great, but I’m starting a “big-girl” job this summer at a newspaper and would love some ideas of how to find stuff to update my looks with quality thrift finds. Can’t wait to see the rest of the challenge! <3
Mara
My boss commented the other day that I sure have a lot of dresses. Haha!
I generally go to Goodwill as well as… well, pretty much any thrift store I can find. I have noticed that if you want something more “grown up” as far as dresses go, winter and fall are better for shopping at Goodwill. In the summer and spring, they tend to bring out the strappy or strapless dresses that are more for play than for work. And a very big thing about finding something at a thrift store is that you just have to go often, and expect not to find something every time you go. Sometimes, I leave with a big haul of stuff, other times I leave with nothing at all! It just depends on the season and the time you go, I think.
Salazar
I’ve been having the same problem too; I always feel an outfit is so plain when I wear just the dress. I love the pattern mixing in this one, and the boots are perfect with it!
Stupid question: if I take a break from the challenge and wear pants or skirts or whatever, can I just come back to it? I realize then it wouldn’t be 30 (consecutive) Days of Dresses anymore, but still, I’d like to wear all of my dresses (about 20 of them) if I could.
Mara
Of course you can! I generally find that I’m changing into jeans at the end of the day because Mr. Owl and I tend to explore the woods, and that’s not easy to do in a dress. So if you need to take a break to wear jeans, you can definitely just come back to the challenge!
Demy
I love these pictures too 🙂 They’re so pretty! And you definitely are the queen of print mixing! How are you doing this? I always feel insecure when wearing just one print, let alone two or more. But you do look stunning each time, and I actually think something’s wrong when I see you without prints 😛 Also, why wear a dress as a dress when you have so many options? 😛 Missed these boots as well! They’re amazing!
Well, I know nothing about this sponsorship thing, but I believe in you and I know that whatever you choose to do, will be fore the best, and anyways, there’s no way I’d stop following, so..yeah 😛
Bye bye 😉 :*
Mara
Thank you, dear! A good trick for pattern mixing, especially if you’re wary of patterns as it is, is to choose from the same color family and go smaller with the patterns. That way it doesn’t feel quite so loud.
<3
Loren
Love this look. I really admire your pattern mixing. I do it very rarelymyself because I tend to buy lots of solid colored pieces, but I think it’s an impressive skill.
Mara
Thank you! I think I should try more with solid pieces- I am a lot less sure as to how to style those, funny enough!
Sabrina
Love the print on your dress! The umbrella actually matches really nicely too as a pop of colour. Great way to keep stylish (and froogle, which is a huge plus!) for the rain.
Sincerely,
Sabrina
Mara
Thank you! I thought so, too. 😉
two birds
beautiful! i do love these pictures, too…the umbrella almost matches the sky! i think it’s great how you wear dresses in such unique ways. most people only know how to wear a dress as a dress…so kudos for originality!
Mara
Thank you! It’s funny, I see my dress-wearing tendencies (to make it into a skirt or top rather than an actual dress) as sticking too close to my comfort zone, but I’m glad you think it’s creative!
Jamie Rose
These pictures turned out really great! I love the umbrella and fogginess as well. I like how you wore your dress as a skirt. It really makes them more versatile. The print mixing is adorable too.
Mattea
New(er) reader, but I had to comment when I saw how much of your outfit was thrifted! Whenever I get a compliment on my outfit I make sure they know if it was thrifted. (It’s a bit of a problem.) I am also loving this series as I too have been drawn to skirts and dresses so much lately. My tom-boy teenage self wouldn’t recognize me now!
Mara
I do the same thing! It’s getting more popular to thrift, but a lot of people still assume that if you thrift-shop, you won’t find good things. Which is not true. 🙂
I’m glad you’re enjoying the series! It’s definitely fun, and even though I wear skirts daily, I’m finding it kind of a challenge to style dresses. I don’t know why!
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