Fashion Poll – Or – Did I do right by Stacy & Clinton?
A brief recap for those of whom I haven’t spoken to lately, and I don’t think I’ve missed anyone: We received an offer on the house last Wednesday. It was slightly below the full asking price and he wanted some help with the closing costs. We negotiated and will help him out some with the closing costs and overall are happy with the offer.
We went through with the Broker’s Open House on Thursday and Brian, our buyer, stopped by with his ex-wife and son, Tyler. He and Tom had a chance to chat and Brian seems like a nice guy. Early thirties, works at Boeing, Asian and has custody every other weekend. Brian said that at first he really thought he wanted a garage so he looked at other houses, some larger, with garages but none came close to having the quality finishes our does, much less a nice master bedroom which he really appreciated. Yeah, Baby.
Brian was going to Whistler for the weekend and we were all hoping the inspection would be clean and fast on Friday so he wouldn’t have to think about it and Tom and I could move forward with out plans. The inspection took nearly 4 hours, and in the end, the mobile printer wasn’t working so Brian didn’t get the papers until Monday. Tom talked informally with the inspector and has already taken care of the minor points, and in addition, the inspector said our garage conversion was possibly the best conversion he’s seen. Yeah us!
Hopefully the papers will be signed in a timely manner come Monday and there won’t be any big surprises. In anticipation of this all sailing smoothly through, I went to Ann Taylor Factory Store on Saturday and bought myself an interview suit. Tom came with me to offer his opinion, and while his opinion is good, valuable and probably correct, I still missed my female shopping buddies. My gals who understand that peach is this season’s new color, and yes, it is a pretty color.
The thing about shopping at the Factory store is that supply can be limited. Thankfully, I was armed with a coupon for 20% off the entire purchase so I wasn’t limited to clearance only. In the first round, the winners were a dark brown suit with a three-button blazer and a grey suit with two-button blazer. The brown suit was nice because it was dark enough to be a real neutral, but not black, which I look too pale in, power-suit mentality be damned. And the fit in both were great. I took all of Stacy and Clinton’s advice and made sure the buttons hit under the bust, that the gals were “locked and loaded” and the seams lined up correctly.
In the second round, I picked up a black/white plaid suit and a brown patterned suit. The black blazer, instead of buttons, used round balls. Kind of like what you might see on the bottom of draperies? I know, very hard to describe, but just trust me when I say the blazer was cute when buttoned up and the balls having purpose holding something together, but when the blazer was open and the ball-buttons just hanging there, it looked like a row of old-lady nipples. I sorry fragile readers, but it did, and even I was tempted to fondle them in a lewd fashion.
The other suit was actually my favorite. It was a subtle brown herringbone, very neutral, and the blazer had 3-quarter sleeves and an added band under the bust giving a really fitted illusion. It looked a lot like this style:
Only problem was they didn’t have my size in the pants. It looked really age appropriate and sharp on me. Not too big and I didn’t look like I belonged on a school board, yet very Ally McBeal. But covering more skin.
So I went with the grey suit, which is a fine second choice. It is a wool blend but very lightweight so I think I’ll be fine so long as I can get a job before June/July. I initially tried it on with a lovely peach blouse, but Tom really felt that I should go with a power color like Red.
Now, my fashion mavens, Stacy and Clinton, firmly believe that if you are a petite person you should steer clear of the bright primary colors lest you look like a preschooler looking for a snack. After they pointed this out, I totally agreed with their point and while I still wear primary colors, I try to make sure they lean toward the cooler side. Unfortunately, the only reds that Ann Taylor seemed to have in stock were firmly in the “Fire Engine” category.
I guess you could say that Tom and I compromised….I reigned in my building hissy-fit over “Peach! It’s totally in and really pretty and does wonderful things for my complexion” and sucked it up. Compromise, it’s what make a marriage last. I/he choose this dark blue color. I like the shirt a lot because it has short sleeves, a must in my opinion for interviewing as I get nervous and sweaty. Gross, I know. Also, very fitted which I hope helps keep it tucked in. Unfortunately, the only other colors this style came in was White, Light Blue (is that powerful?) and PEACH!
**Disclaimer – I want great kudos for not only taking my own pictures using the camera timer and a tripod, but posting them for the entire world to see. I know I don’t possess American Next Top Model poses, and I didn’t know where to look, resulting in a double chin, but I swear, I understand now about unflattering angles. Some of the pictures I took, well, I certainly didn’t look like I was wearing a tiny little size, let’s just put it that way. Anyway….the pictures in all their unflattering glory.
The second shirt option is long sleeved and a blue stripe. It’s okay. I would rather have peach. At least it’s not red. It that a ringing endorsement or what? Actually, when I put it all together, I liked it more than I thought. Also, judging from these pictures, I’m thinking I should keep the blazer buttoned up at all times. What do you think?
So, here is where you get to give you opinion. What do you think of the shirts? Do you think I should try to brighten things up a little bit, or stay conservative? Understandably, if I get the job I could wear a peach shirt three times a week should I so choose, but I want to make the correct interview apparel decisions. Can I personalize it with some incredibly funky jewelry, like my favorite blue necklace, courtesy of Andrea? Or do you all agree that Andrea needs to churn out something totally awesome for me right quick?
Shoes. I want to wear these. These make me feel hot. They say, “I’m conservative and reliable and professional from the neck to the ankles, but then I’m sassy because I take a twist the plain black pump look.” Or maybe they just say “Cheap teenager shoes” which they completely were until the heel cap fell off on the first wearing and a trip to the shoe repair store made them mid-priced.
If you don’t like those shoes, I could go with these. These are my only other basic black pumps. Small heel, basic leather, small, discrete embellishments. I could live if you told me that I need to wear these.
So that’s the main look. I have these pinstripe slacks, also from AT, so I think that if I got called back I would wear this outfit. I usually wear the lavender shirt with the pants because they are navy and it makes the stripe pop. If you don’t like this shirt, I could go and purchase the white or light blue one like the dark blue above. And no, I swear I’m not slouching, does the shirt look like I am??
Comments welcome and appreciated. We’ll get to whether my hair says “cute and hip” or “cheap, chunky foil by talentless small-town stylist” some other day. I need to start wearing lipstick 24/7. I look like death warmed over.
Oh, and I glossed over this part, but if you absolutely HATE the actual grey suit and think it’s the worst mistake since Gwyneth’s Pink Oscar dress, please tell me. I can always try to get the herringbone suit ordered.
And that concludes the debilitating trip down self-portraiture. What I don’t do for you guys.
Font of Useless Knowledge 