Sunday, August 8, 2010

Bride of Dress Week - Casual Friday Goes Cowgirl

Ah, Sunday. I guess I should get off my lazy butt and post Friday's outfit, eh?

This is the 3rd new dress - and I think I saved the most whackadoo for last!
Those are my new boots that I got a couple of weeks ago - pushing my own envelope again by wearing them with this party-style strapless dress. As Friday calls for denim, I tied my denim shirt at the waist...but then I really went cowgirl and added my brown belt (not matching brown and black - I'm learning) and a bunch of chunks of turquoise.

The obligatory Wonder Woman pose:
This is the Pouffiest Dress Ever. It's like tent material, so whenever I sit down (i.e. on the bus, at my desk), it puffs up and I have to pat it down. It also rustles when I walk - you can hear me coming!

The short boots made this extra insane. I got a few askance looks at work, and when Ruth and I went to the mall at lunch. Ha!

This is what the dress looks like on its own (those are my bra straps):
End of the day...cooling off my sweaty feet from being in the boots all day. Someone is also happy to see me.

The back of the dress is a panel of elastic ruched fabric so it fits snugly. Despite this, it slid down constantly. Arg. I also wish it had pockets. It also has a couple of bigass belt loops on either side, which I might remove, since they are lower than the sewn waist.

The stuff:
Aren't those sweet boots? They are Miz Mooz and are leather (they have that awesome leather smell). Very comfy. They were half price: $80.

A close-up:
I adore that belt buckle. I've worn that belt several times: here, here, and I guess for a couple of casual weekend outfits that I didn't bother to photograph...huh, I thought I'd worn it more than that.

The dress was thrifted for $22, and it still had the original price tag on it!
Apparently, it was made in the E.U. (that would be the European Union), manufactured in Russia or some other country that uses the Cyrillic alphabet. It was 165 something, though, possibly dollars. I got no hits for the label or brand at all.

Dress (Vita Boutique Couture, thrifted), shirt (Mexx, consignment), boots (Miz Mooz), belt (Shi Studio), necklace and ring (Plum).

I wore the dress again yesterday for my Weight Watchers meeting:
I wanted to do it more girly this time. I also wore this outfit out for lunch, and for wandering around town shopping in the rain (yes, rain. Thank you, West coast).

I got a lot less askance looks and way more compliments. However, not having a belt on meant that the dress was much more...volatile...in its shifting. I was constantly grabbing at the top and hiking it back up, as well as having to re-align the seams frequently as it tried to rotate around my body.

Dress (as above), cardigan (Guess, consignment), shoes (Expressions, consignment).

Cat picture!
He was being very meowy.

17 comments:

  1. looks like you had a LOT of fun with that dress! i love it on you and i really like seeing the different looks on the same post.

    as for the slipping and sliding....this is where safety pins come in. it sounds gross, but if you pin the dress to the front of your bra straps (where they hit top of the cups) and also on the sides (along the bottom of the band) things should stay in place a lot better. and with what you have on top you don't even have to worry about the pins showing (it is possible to do this so the pins don't show, but more of a pain).

    Yay! Happy Weekend everyone!! steph

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  2. I love the sassy vibe of this outfit! Your boots and that belt buckle are really fantastic! I wish you had submitted this look for my blog's boot conference!

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  3. what fun- so like the dress with the denim and boots!!!

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  4. I love bubble-hems... they're so playful. And you seem to have explored the many possibilities of this cool dress. Good work!

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  5. Funnest dress ever! I bet you'll be able to come up with lots of looks for this. I love it with the cardigan and red mary janes. You can really pull this dress off because of your tiny waist. Very cute.

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  6. Cowgirl Up! What a fabulous dress with infinite possibilities. The boots were a sweet surprise.

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  7. I like the pouf! Handy if you need to jump out of an airplane too.

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  8. I LOVE both looks! The dressy cowgirl is my favorite though! It reminds me of the first episode of "On The Road with Austin and Satino". The poof is over the top awesome.

    The Miz Mooz boots are lovely! (I have to ask you mentioned the leather smell.. mine smell like leather and.. something else, maybe like odd perfume. I find it very strange)

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  9. Thanks, Sheila, for the supportive comment on my blog. And for the shopping advice: I face peculiar sizing issues which you seem to recognize (e.g., large shoulders).

    And thanks for the alert about my comments here: I think it was a single cut-and-paste oversight which I've corrected.

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  10. Love the outfit, although I almost feel like skirt shouldn't be balloned, just full, especially with the tied shirt over it. But it is different and very cute with the boots!

    And that belt - I want one!! But I've just been adding up how much I've spent on wardrobe in the last year and it's a lot. Perhaps as a future reward for a wardobe diet.

    Thanks for the picture of your handsome cat too. Give him some love from me.

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  11. OMG I LOVE ALL your new dresses!! They are all so perfect! I really like this one, the poof is awesome! If your any good at DIY (which I am not, lol) you could always sew in some kind of straps to at least keep the dress up.

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  12. Steph, yes, it's a fun one! I know, safety pins are old friends - but I knew I was going to be taking it on and off while shopping and trying things on, so I had to suffer. Ah, the pain!

    LHdM: thank you! I just only found out about the boot thing this last week - I didn't have time. But next time...oh yes, I will bring out the Yellow Boots.

    Alecia, thanks!

    Rebecca, thank you!

    Shybiker, thanks, I like them too, although it took me a while to warm up to them.

    Monica, thank you! Thanks for commenting as well - welcome! Please, more comments about my tiny waist, hee hee.

    LaShaune, ha! Thank you!

    Wendy, yes, and I can also store snacks in it.

    Thanks, Megan - I was really trepidatious about this dress. Hmmm...maybe your Miz Mooz have smelly glue? I just smelled mine again and I don't smell anything but leather.

    Shybiker, you're very welcome - I have a great deal of admiration for you. :)

    Northmoon, yes, I see what you mean, but I wonder if it might look a little too "square dance" if it was unpouffed? Check out Shi Studio's website - you can custom order the belts. Inigo appreciates the comment, thank you. :)

    Hi, Tina! Thank you so much! I do love dreses. Straps is a good idea - maybe even removable ones!

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  13. The dress is awesome, I love hems like that :)
    As for the label, those look like Greek characters. Definitely not Russian though, and Russia isn't in the EU anyway. Not sure if any other countries in the South Eastern Europe use a similar alphabet.

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  14. Thanks, elle s'ennuie, and you are so right - that's Greek. Duh! Thanks very much for commenting - welcome!

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  15. Every time I see pouf dresses like that, I wonder how on earth one would wear them. Now I know!

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  16. Hi, KellyBean, thanks for the comment. Now you know!

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