Shopping

I believe I may have already mentioned that I've been on an "expanding my work wardrobe by wearing clothes I never wear" kick, mainly by actually wearing the skirts in my closet. A lot of this recent fashion swing is the fact that I have finally found a type of pantyhose that a) don't cause massive friction between my thighs (who hate each other and are at constant war), b) aren't expensive, and c) don't cause elephant ankles or droopy crotch. Besides, I got 2 skirts on clearance at wal mart (stop judging me!) for under $20 for the last cruise, and thought it might be nice to actually wear them again.

So anyway, now that I have determined that I will, in fact, wear a skirt to work, I have decided that I need to buy even more of them! It seemed that I had seen lots of pretty skirts in fun colors and patterns while searching for work pants, and that I'd probably be able to find them everywhere we went.

Not so much.

I actually found two dresses at Dress Barn, tried them on, and ended up with neither. Both were sleeveless and would have required a white cardigan or shrug to make them work-appropriate. And they weren't on clearance. In fact, the 10% of the store that used to be clearance had been re-purposed. The Horror! One dress was absolutely adorable - red print on white fabric with a faux wrap front, v back, full skirt, and cummerbund-like pleats on the waist. I tried it on in two sizes, one too big and one too small. The smaller one fit perfectly in the waist, but the neckline showed a little more decolletage than would ever be appropriate for work. The other was more of a straight silhouette, and was a big lime green and white print. I just couldn't justify spending $50 on a dress that I couldn't wear without buying something else.

We actually went to Target, another Dress Barn, and Marshall's and came up empty. The only thing I ended up buying was at stop #2: Old Navy. This skirt draws way more attention to my @$$ than is entirely necessary, but it was only $10. If I get two wears out of it (which I probably will) I feel that I can consider it a wise purchase. Sadly, the brown t-shirt isn't work-appropriate. I do have an ivory short-sleeve sweater that I think will work, which will go well with my existing ivory flats (my only brown dress shoes are loafers - totally not good with a skirt!).

I might try again next week. I want to find a new purse (also struck out today with that), and still would like to add some pastel into my wardrobe.

So, any thoughts on this skirt? I'm torn between "fun and flirty" and "tacky print - what was I thinking?" Need help? Here's a close-up: