Daily Outfit - Kate - 3/30/10

I really liked this outfit on, but as usual I was less than thrilled with the photographic evidence.

That dress came out of the wash sorta funny; since it's a bit big all over I may pop it in the dryer next time (I usually hang-dry all my clothes) and see if that helps.

All day long I felt like a very stylish 1930's farmwife. In a good way. The open, relaxed cardi, the simple dress, the classic and comfortable shoes. Except the jewelry. I don't think many 1930's farmwives had this necklace:


So I give this outfit a 9 for in-person appearance and a 4 for photographic. ::sigh::

(I think I'm going to try for more simple, comfortable, wearable styles. I feel like a lot of my outfits sometimes are better in concept than in execution; I'm hoping to remedy that this spring :-))


Dress: thrifted, BCBG
Cardigan: handknitted by meee! Whisper Cardigan, by Hannah Fettig (available in spring 2009 IK)
Shoes: Softspots, 2009
Necklace and earrings: custom design by my custom designer

The Goods

A full post about my awesome day with Diana is over here on my other blog, but I thought I'd save the spoils from that trip for this blog.

We went to the SPARCC Treasure Chest, which was one of those shops with a lot of NWT, boutique brands. Almost everything was in great shape, so it was less "is this item wearable?" and more "do I like this item?". Great shop and great experience. I found:

Brown BCBG dress in a super-soft cotton knit:

If anybody's keeping count, that'd be my 4th brown BCBG dress. Not on purpose, but not NOT on purpose, either.

I'm holding out the side of the skirt to show that it's actually relatively full; it's fun and swingy and casual on. I can tell already it'll be a great summer staple!

Pleated lattice skirt:

NWT (a brand I don't recognize). This was one of my official Finds of the Day. Isn't it adorable?

Check out the details of that floral embellishment:

Unbearably cute.

Finally, this little shirt:

Not the most exciting thing ever, but it'll be great for weekends, and the fit is just right. I love the covered button detailing, too:


From there we moved on to the Mustard Seed Thrift Shop, which really was the epitome of Old Lady Florida-ness - it was insanely awesome. Diana and I found lots of things to laugh at, and lots of things to try on and buy. Behold:

The *perfect* winter-to-spring corduroy skirt:

It's Talbot's, not a brand that I've *ever* considered before, but there's no arguing with cute! (tell that to Jeff).

Check out the beaded accents on the flowers:



Vintage square scarf:


I love this thing. Perfect for spring :-)


I also got a great little pea green belt, but neglected to photograph it (and didn't realize until after it got dark out).

We also stopped briefly into an antique shop right down the road, where I found something to fill a wardrobe hole - pins/brooches:

I think I can make that look really mod, or really fancy and feminine. And for $5, I'm not out a lot of money if I discover that brooches just aren't my thing.

I had a fantastic time with Diana, and LOVED getting to meet a blogfriend in person!


Please click over to KateOhKatie to read about the rest of our adventure(including a newfound crafty passion :-)).

The spoils

Here we go - my finds from this weekend's adventure! If you're interested in non-shopping Chicago stuff, I'll be posting a more detailed run-down on KateOhKatie later (probably tonight). I'll change that hyperlink to the specific post, once I get it up.

So anyway...

All things considered, I really reined myself in pretty well. I wasn't even tempted to go into the "mall shops" on Michigan Ave. because, well, I can find everything there in my local mall. Time was limited, y'know? That said, I LOVE the 4-story GAP and if I'd had more time I definitely would've popped in. I also tried to stick to the loosely-set goals I set in my letter to Jen. We'll see how well I did...


What you see there are (in case you can't tell) bags from Loopy Yarns (knitterly goodness :-)), Filene's Basement, Nordstrom Rack, and Macy's (aka Marshall Field's ::grumblegrumble::).

I found that the Filene's on State had a lot better selection than the one on Michigan; interesting since it was a smaller store. I got...

A super-cute (brightly colored!) scarf, $14.99 - 25% off:


Purple and black tights, for super cheap. (Yes not the most exciting purchase ever but I'm being thorough :-P) $9.99/2 pr:


Flowy cardi (some brand I'd never heard of and can't remember, and for $19.99 I don't care :-P):

I can't wait to wear it belted! And open! And with jeans! And my pencil skirt! <3 :-)

Calvin Klein, cute cotton work shirt (LOVE the print!), clearane for $14:



Nordstrom Rack, where I came thisclose to buying a super cute pair of multicolored maryjanes, but they were a 37 and I really need a 36 so I left them behind to be someone else's treasure. But I didn't go completely emptyhanded:

BCBG casual dress; will be perfect with cowboy boots (either pair :-D) and bold accessories:


Another brand I can't remember (wasn't anything spectacular). I LOVE this shirt because of the fun girly details, AND it's perfectly fitted in both the waist and bust. Y'all know how rare that is :-)

Also that's like my 4th plaid shirt. I really like them, apparently.

For lunch on Sunday we went to the food court thingy in Macy's/Marshall Field's. And I was NOT going to shop (see rant about "mall stores" above). But then Jeff was in line for Starbucks and that's right by the shoe clearance racks and then I wandered off and you know that never goes well...

Nine West patent leather shoeties! $28! YESsssssssssssssssss!!! Definitely the score of the weekend :-) I can't wait to wear them with, like, everything. EVERYTHING.

All in all, I think I did a pretty good job sticking to my goals. And I also didn't spend that much money - <$100 altogether. Now where's that self-restraint when I need it? :-P