OOTDs: Besotted with the Dotted.

Good Tuesday!

I am a fan of dots, but in no way besotted, however my continuing use of dots in my wardrobe has led me to conclude that maybe I am *obsessed* (JCAs, a little copy for you to snicker at).

No, not really.  I will admit that maybe I have been indulging a bit lately in the polka pattern, but I blame all the retailers out there who keep putting the pretty little circles all over EVERYTHING. 

First up is the Swishy Jersey Skirt in charcoal spot.  I love my maxi length dresses and skirts from Boden, so when I saw that they had this darling skirt in a midi-length, I thought I would give it a try.

I almost gave up on it initially because I thought it was both too big and too long (I bought the US 6 Long), but upon channeling my inner fashionista (and a HUGE helping hand from sites like Garance Dore--more on that in a mo), I decided I would see if I could make it work for me.

Finding that the length was no longer an issue so long as I paired it with higher heels, I went with these Frye boots with a four-inch heel.

That left the looseness.  I had no problem with that as it does indeed make for easy wearing, but since the waist is a bit big, I figured I would let you all know.  I won't return since I kind of dig the way this skirt looks on me, but if I was re-ordering, I would buy the 4 Long.

I think this sweater may have been one of the most maligned ones ever produced by J. Crew.  It is "itchy, hot, fluffy, prone to pilling, etc."  I have an idea of how it got that image--it's J. Crew knitwear after all, but personally I don't find it too itchy, and I only wear it on cold days, so it isn't too hot, I agree that it is fluffy, but I definitely like that "cotton ball" look, and as of last weekend have seen nary a pill.

Plus I really like how it looks with the red and charcoal.

I wore this sweater while pregnant last year.  I prefer it on me not pregnant.  ;)

No big red Andie bag in the way for the review shots.

I am 5'8" and have a 34 inch inseam.  The skirt hits three inches below my knees.

The jersey fabric is so comfortable.  I could sleep in this skirt.  It has a nice fullness, too, but not in a way that over-emphasizes the hips/thighs, so pear shaped ladies, think about this one as a possibility for your closet.

From the back.

We were headed out to see Santa at "Breakfast with Santa" at Rex's school.  Santa had a fake beard, but the kids were in love.  So cute. 

This Women's Cashmere Silk Vineyard Scarf, is from Lands' End Canvas.  Its silk/cashmere blend is very light, but nice and warm.  Since it is a rectangle shape, as opposed to a square shape, I find that I can tie it a bit differently, like this way, where I twisted the fabric, then looped it three times around my neck and loosely tied the ends.

It was forecasted to get warm later in the day, and since I knew I needed to go to church that night, I brought clothes to turn the outfit from cold weather appropriate to warm weather appropriate, yet still church appropriate.  The shoes are wedges from Target, and the tee is crewcuts.

Above is one of the many images I had used to help me decide on how to style the skirt.

Even though Léa Seydoux is not wearing a maxi skirt, the overall look was one I wanted to replicate, with a strong emphasis on the makeup and hair and accessories.  Plus the silhouette of full and skinny seemed obvious and worked nicely with the fullness of the skirt in my outfit.

While researching this lady in the photo, I discovered she is a French actress and model whose birthday is exactly the same one as mine (not year, but date).  Not necessarily fate, but a strong coincidence.  ;)


Of course Boden's stock catalog photo helped me a bit, too...except for the hat, which I just can't do, it is far too big of a brim for my head.

This is today's spotted skirt.  Same bag, btw, and the bag is what helped me decide on the rest of the color scheme.

The Women's Dot Skirt is from Lands' End Canvas and is shorter than I anticipated, but since I have a ridiculous number of tights from Wal-Mart, I knew I would have something that would work to make it seem like I am showing less leg than I actually am.

I would like to think that I will wear it next summer, bare legged, but don't hold your breath...as much as I am all "I am woman hear me roar," I am still wearing ten extra pounds of baby weight, so I can't promise you will see this with sandals and a tank top next summer.

The shoes so do not have the same color red as the Anthropologie sweater or the Andie bag, and it bothers me not one whit.

Close up of the "Hi There by Karen Walker" tied illusion pullover.  I started off the day feeling that I had made the right choice of this sweater, especially since I had bows in my ears, on my toes, and at my neck...BUT as soon as the temperature hit 70, I was sweltering in this wool-blend top.  I should have done what I did Saturday and carried a navy short-sleeved tee in that big-a@@ bag of mine to change into.

Okay, that's it for tonight.  Once I do a polyvore of the first outfit, I will add it to this post.

Have you been besotted with the dotted lately?

Gone Graphic...

Hi, lovelies!

Thanks all for your patience with me yesterday, the links eventually worked themselves out (over at this post), but it was definitely getting on my nerves.  I tend to be a bit OCD about this blog so when things are perfect, I go into panic mode.  Finally I just stepped away and did what most normal and sane folks do...got out and didn't think about it for a while.

I will do the second part of the BWRR tomorrow, just want to give Boden an additional day to fix all the problems the links are having, plus I have heard that some people are having troubles checking out, etc.  :)

I decided to go graphic with today's post.  I have a ton of unpublished outfits that I have worn recently and I loved wearing them all, very colorful, patterned, in other words, very dinagideon.  :)  Won't spend a ton of time dissecting each one, I will just show them with a brief description, and show a polyvore (if I created one for the outfit).  Enjoy!

J. Crew Factory Blue Ikat Dress.  Love this dress and love to pull it out every summer.  I bought this in a size 4 for a more fitted look, but would have been fine in a 6, too.  I see this pop up on ebay every once in a while, but don't pay more than $40 for it...this was always a fairly inexpensive dress, I bought mine for maybe $35?  Aerosoles sandals complete the outfit.

Turns out I am not alone in my love of this dress...

The very pretty Whitney Chen of the Next Food Network Star wore this on the "July 4th" Episode.  I love how she styled it to make it more festive, with the red bandana and straw hat.  Very cute!

She ended up doing very well in this episode.  Is it coincidental that she is wearing J. Crew?  I think not.  ;)

Ischia Color! by dinagideon featuring vintage t shirts

Above is the polyvore I created for the Ischia (Kaleidoscope Paisley) Skirt outfit that I wore on Friday night.

I won this skirt on ebay as part of a three pack lot of size 8 skirts (one was a 6, actually but fits loose).  I think I got all three for under $80?  Anyhow, I decided I wanted to take this beauty out for a night on Friday.  I was feeling especially colorful.  Between my (ancient--maybe 2003?) orange J. Crew tee, the Kaleidoscope Paisley mini, and the Seychelles necklace (a hard won ebay find--this one was NOT cheap, but worth it because I haven't seen this on ebay in a long time for under $175), I was rocking multi- and techni-color.  LOL.

I prefer the back to the front.  That one big circle is a great optical illusion that my bottom half desperately needs.  Plus...the buttons on the front were VERY loose when I got the skirt, so I had to spend thirty minutes hand sewing them back on securely.  Grr.

Way back in June, I wore this bright outfit.  The top is the Marseille top from last summer, size 4.  Love this print, and while the way the top is bothers me sometimes, I don't even notice how it lays when I am out and about.  The shorts are this year's modern red 9" chino shorts.  (Big thumbs up to those, bought my tts size 8 and they fit just right!)  The flip-flops, again, J. Crew, and I think pretty old school J. Crew.

Yet another J. Crew Factory concoction.  :)  The dress is a direct match for CW's, but hers is J. Crew retail.  (I have a button-down from the same print and same season as CW, but I far prefer the dress.)  This dress has the same fit and detailing that the large blue Ikat version above does, but I bought this in a size 6 so it would be more of a loose fit.

This dress, as well as the large blue Ikat one, has pockets.  Love!  :)  I also own this style dress in the cherry blossom print.  It is too bad that J. Crew factory didn't make this style dress this year.

This is O-L-D, from April?  I had the fortune of finding both of these on ebay for a song.  CW's liberty print blouse is a button down, and while mine looks like the Suzannah shirt from from Fall 2007, it is actually a popover that was a sample.  And for which I paid $15!  :)  (Yes!)  I also got the other patterned Suzannah shirt (again a sample) seen here recently at the JCA page.  (BTW, anyone want to sell me the argyle dress in the photo in a size small or medium--my goodness, I want to rock that look for my Paris trip!)

I like to roll up my sleeves.  Not because I am doing anything labor-intensive (well, except raising toddlers) but because button downs always look terrible on me with the sleeves all the way down...too much pattern, you know?

This was one of my favorite outfits that CW has ever worn.  Darling!

If you can believe it, the dress is a Target, girls section, find.  I bought the dress in a size large (14-16) and it fit just fine.  I think this all at once awesome and kind of weird...I love the fact that these dresses are uber-cheap (like $10!), but wow, can girls really fit into these dresses?  I don't know, maybe Target realizes there is a good portion of mommy America that really loves the bright patterns and fun prints that their daughters wear, so *wink, wink* have very large girl's dresses.  LOL.  They probably spend too much time here, then.  :)

Such a comfy outfit.  I paired the dress with the Jackie cardigan in bright daisy (I think?), and some old school J. Crew flip-flops.

Here is the close-up of the top (no cardi).  CW's outfit is a Costco find, again really inexpensive.  My grandpa took this pic because he thought it was so clever that we both looked so tropical.  :)

You all have a great Sunday.  Now go get your print on!  LOL.

Boden Summer Sale: Women Skirts Review Roundup!

Edda wearing the "mini" that really wasn't that much of a "mini."

REMINDER OF HOW THIS KIND OF POST WORKS:
In each of these posts, you will see the Boden stock photo (which takes you directly to that page at Boden) and a link to where the original review was. If the review was from me (or my darling little mini-Boden Aficionados) or a Boden blogger friend that has no blog of their own, you will end up at one of the (in-season) Boden Weekly Review Roundups. If the review was from a Boden blogger who is not me, I have included a link directly back to their blog.

The sales do not include “coupon stacking” or free ship/returns (or at least no free ship/returns in the past). *If I have access to ANY special offers to promotions like free ship/returns, you had better believe I will immediately post on it AND put it in my sidebar!*  :)

ALSO--I NOTICED SOME OF BODEN'S LINKS ARE BAD.  If you wouldn't mind, if you see any, would you put it in the comments so I can see if I can fix them? 


Santorini Skirt. Suburban Mom wears hers here, Fiona wore hers here, and Holly’s review can be found here (halfway down).


Sateen Pencil Skirt. Louise does an in-depth review of the skirt here.


Swishy Viscose Skirt. Egyptomaniac does a fab review of the skirt here.


Swishy Cotton Skirt. Suburban Mom models the blue floral version here.


Textured Cotton Skirt. Popular skirt this year!!! Suburban Mom wears her fudge version here and here, I also wear and review the fudge version here. Pamela shows us the green version here, as does Suburban Mom here and here, so does Polly here, and Louise, too! Egyptomaniac shows off the navy version here, as does Louise here.


Pintuck Skirt. Egyptomaniac does a review for us here.


Saint-Tropez Skirt. Lauren PhD reviewed this for us at my blog (halfway down).


Shimmering Broderie Skirt. Kit’s Mommy did a review here of this skirt (halfway down the post).


Printed Cotton Skirt. Suburban models it for us here, and here. Tiffany shows it off here. Holly’s written review can be found halfway down in this post.


Stitched Hem Mini. Fiona models it here, I wore this skirt here, and did a review here.

Happy (Sale) Shopping!