Fancy Friday: Rainbow Pride, and Poses

Happy Friday, my friends! Today, I'm sharing my rainbow skirt, and I'm also feeling chatty about poses. I'm the only blogger I know who does the stair pose.

It's harder to do than it looks! But I know your jaw's just dropping over my rainbow skirt - isn't it gorgeous? 

• Top - Grey by Jason Wu, thrifted; purchased here for $19.95
• Skirt - J. Crew, consignment; last seen here in March with grey bookends
• Shoes - Big Presence Desmond, Fluevog; last worn here in February with a wooly outfit
• Jacket (below) - Gap, consignment, Vancouver; last seen here (2nd outfit) in April for a chilly garden party

I'm an ally for LGBTQ1A2S+ folks in my office (and in general) and as we celebrate Pride Month in June, I can show my support through my outfits.  

We had a dozen-person team meeting today, and many of them were new hires in the last two years who'd never been to the office. I scheduled a tour with them to basically break them in. Key point: Who do you ask/tell? Sheila!

I had so much love for this skirt today, and my colours in general - it feels so good to be bright. 

The skirt is fast becoming a favourite. I twirled for everyone! 

But let's talk about the top, as this is its first wearing. It's swanky designer Jason Wu, thrifted for a bargainous price.

I like how the back hemline dips down - it lies really well, although this picture does not show that at all. I tried a pose to demonstrate how the top sits and...well, it's not a pose I'll be doing again! 

As most of you will have realized by now, I do the same poses over and over and over again: the stair pose, leg one way, then the other, hand posed here, elbow out there. 

I've perfected my poses over the years to ensure they all help me and the close look optimal. As I use a timer on my digital camera, I only have 10 seconds to push start and then get into place - I HAVE to do the same pose over and over just to ensure I get them all finished in the morning. I often only take the pictures you see here in the 5 minutes I allot - no time for retakes! 

I will not repeat this pose; if I decide to add a sideways pose to my repertoire I'll experiment in a mirror first. 

Why this is an unsuccessful pose:  I'm standing straight up and down in a direct side view. My feet  are planted parallel and my arm is lifted across my chest to show the hem of the blouse (cool, right?). It throws off the proportions of my body (boobs, meet waist). Even my feet look huge(r) - because they are! I'm a size 9.5/40.

Compare this pose, and any of my other usual poses above - the key is diagonals. The human eye loves diagonals. See how the leaning back of my upper body and the leg pointed across the other leg creates a diagonal? My stair pose is a big diagonal.

My hands/arms are doing the opposite diagonal. My torso is also angled away from the camera and my head is tilted to bring out my jawline. My poses are weird to look at in person (the stair pose in particular), but when you see them in a flat picture, they look good. Art! Science! 

Anyway, I ramble. I hope you enjoyed a peek into my process. What's your best go-to pose? 

Accoutrements:

More colour is needed, obviously. 

• Scarf - Alexander McQueen, consignment
• Mask - Lazy Susan's

The stuff: 

Even my stuff and bling pictures are posed to show everything clearly and to show the shape of the shoes. See the diagonal?

Multi-coloured bling: 

Happy colours! Hooray! 

• Cuff - thrifted
• Orange cuff - Italian, vintage 60s, vintage mall
• Earrings - consignment, Vancouver
• Aventurine/silver ring - consignment
• Lapis lazuli ring - Wendy Brandes

Wishing you all a weekend full of sunshine (real and metaphorical)! I'll be back on Sunday with tales of adventure. Thank you so much for stopping by.