Katie Style – Fancy Sweats

• Sweatshirt – Gap
• Pants – Loft
• Scarf – thrifted
• Rhinestone scarf clip – thrifted
• Necklace – vintage, via Millie, via France!
• Shoes – Softwalk

How does you dress up a grey sweatshirt? With silk, rhinestones, and a vintage French necklace. Of course.

I feel brie-on-a-corn-dog fancy.

Katie Style – Collections Chic #5

• Blazer – Gap
• Tank top – Old Navy
• Jeans – Dish
• Scarf – thrifted
• Shoes – Old Navy

More and more, I find myself coordinating my outfits each day for work. And not just the purple and navy matchy matchy you see above.

Ready for it?

That’s right. I coordinate to my hypo-allergenic, non-latex Nitrile gloves. Who says collections work can’t be stylish?

Although, most of the time I’m only wearing one glove. I look like a surgical Michael Jackson.

And so I dance.

 

 

Katie Daily Style – Success and a Pole-Dancing Bear

On the phone with la Mama

• Dress – thrifted
• Silk scarf – thrifted, worn in the “amoeboidly” style
• Sandals – Target

Today I had a very successful meeting with a museum that is interested in using me and my brain as a consultant. This could be really cool and I’m super-excited to develop the project and my own company. Too bad the name “Katie, Incorporated” is already taken.

So who has two thumbs and feels awesome today? This girl.

Also, apparently Muscle Beach is behind me.

So here’s to new opportunities and adventures, and I hope you all are having a fantastic Friday, too!

And here’s a bear sculpture I found. From this angle, it looks like it’s pole dancing. Don’t say I never gave you anything, internets.

P.S. Months back when I was having other interviews, Cynthia commented that she didn’t think my interview outfits looked like “me” without a scarf. I agree, and think that the combination of ponte knit dress and silk scarf was perfect for an interview on a hot and sunny day.

Katie Daily Style – Unexpected Ankles

• Tshirt – Target
• Belt – thrifted
• Silk scarf – thrifted
• Skirt – thrifted
• Shoes – Soft Walk

The inspiration behind this outfit was the 90+ weather we had today. Since nudity is still frowned upon in the museum world unless you’re David, this ensemble of thin cotton and silk was as cool as I could manage.

But the pleasant surprise of this combination? My ankles! Well, hello there part of my body I don’t pay much attention to. In the last round of Dress your Best, I highlighted both my legs and my feet, but ignored the ankles in between. Shame on me.

They’re quite lovely, slightly bony, ankles, and these slingback wedges and knee-length skirt show them off well. However, the right ankle did get peed on by a toad today,* so I’m not sure amphibians appreciate the look as much as I do.

I do like when an outfit gets all sneaky in highlighting body parts. Next up, finding the ensemble that shows off my philthrum and gnathion.

P.S. This outfit variation on the theme of this one. What can I say? Hot weather melts my brain.

*Almost like getting my “Toad” nail polish, but not at all.

Katie Daily Style – Spring

• Navy striped shirt – thrifted
• Burgundy belt – thrifted
• Floral skirt – thrifted
• Green silk scarf – thrifted
• Gold flats – Naturalizer

Spring has done gone and sprung, everyone! The past few days have been deliciously warm but terrifyingly windy, because that’s how we roll (actually, it’s mainly the tumbleweeds that roll, but sometimes they’re big enough to knock you over and then you roll a little ways, too).

Spring out here is a little different from the lush fields of daffodils the Easter cards depict. For one thing, it’s not very green. The green will show up eventually, creeping into the periphery, but almost as soon as it arrives it’s gone. In the meantime, everything is shades of yellow and brown in startling contrast with the big, bright blue sky. And prickly. Everything is prickly, and that won’t change even when it does turn green.

To encourage the greening (and de-prickling) of my world, I put on my prettiest flowers and went in search of a playground to frolic in the late-afternoon sun.

And is it just me, or am I looking super-angelic in these photos?

Just me, eh?

Katie Daily Style – Now With Frosting

• Green dress – thrifted
• Green and blue silk scarf – thrifted
• Gold belt – thrifted
• Blue ballet flats – Old Navy

Ah, there are those expensive looking silk wrinkles!

I took inspiration from my “Ode to a Grecian Falafel” outfit and decided to drape one of my recently thrifted silk scarves over my green dress. While the scarf I wore on falafel night was large enough that I could tie it around my body, this scarf was simply tied to one shoulder and belted into place.

I was planning on wearing this to a friend’s co-ed bachelorette party on Saturday, but after a day spent out in the hot sun for an insanely huge and important and exciting museum event in which I helped children build museums out of cookies, crackers, candy and frosting,* I didn’t have the energy or patience for a floaty scarf, belted down though it may be. So I ended up wearing something else all together, which I’ll show you later.

*Upon sharing with the other bachelorette party-goers how I had spend the day covered in frosting, one of them remarked, “What did they have you do, jump out of a cake?” Well, maybe next time…

Katie Daily Style – Capsule Wardrobe and a Meteorite Older than the Sun

• Purple and navy striped tank – Old Navy
• Navy tank – Old Navy
• Purple cardigan – thrifted
• Navy and white silk scarf – thrifted
• Jeans – Parasucco
• Silver Mary Jane’s – Naturalizer

Today was another “messy museum” day, hence my trusty uniform of jeans, shirt and scarf. Today’s outfit was required by the fact that I was going to spend the day in a giant warehouse full of rocks, minerals, and fossils. The highlight of my day was a tie between getting to help identify Jurassic insects preserved in amber, see a fossil of a horseshoe crab and its tracks (looked like this one), and holding a carbonaceous chondrite meteorite bigger than my head that is 12 billion years old. That rock, which I held (!!!), is older than our sun. I have the coolest job.

Today’s outfit was not only practical, but a test-run for packing for my vacation. I’ve decided to try the capsule wardrobe idea, as the weather in California is so unpredictable that I suspect I’ll be layering a lot. A lot of the resources I read suggested taking only neutrals, which just bores me, so I decided on three colors: navy, grey and purple. Yes, navy and grey are neutrals, but they’re less boring to me than black and less likely to show the staining evidence of my ever-present clumsiness than white. And purple is just pretty, so there you go. Doing some searching for articles on three-color capsule wardrobes, I came across Franca’s fantastic post on just that topic, and the beautiful selections she pulled together have convinced me that a three-color vacation wardrobe with jewelry and scarves to bring in other punches of color will look fabulous! I loved today’s combination of navy and purple, and the pops of white and silver from the scarf and shoes really stand out.

Katie Daily Style – Amoeboidly

• Black dress – thrifted
• Navy, gold, black and cream silk scarf – thrifted
• Gold belt – thrifted
• Blue ballet flats – Old Navy

Is it a total cop-out to claim a black jersey dress as a wardrobe workhorse? Probably, but I’m doing it anyway. When I thrifted this Old Navy dress two years ago, I never imagined just how much I’d wear it. But, it is, in fact, the perfect dress. Right length, right weight, flattering cut, perfect for layering over and under – there’s nothing this dress can’t do (well, I still haven’t gotten it to do the dishes, but these things take time). See how I’ve worn the dress before here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. See, told you I wore it a lot.

P.S. Per Kristin’s description last time I wore a scarf this way, this style is now officially called: Amoeboidly.

Katie Daily Style – Looking Better Than Ben Stiller Since…Today

• Purple blazer – thrifted
• Gold belt – thrifted
• Navy and white scarf – thrifted
• Denim skirt – thrifted
• Bow brooch – thrifted
• Horse earrings – thrifted
• Blue ballet flats – Old Navy

Can I get an “Amen!” for an almost completely thrifted outfit? Today was another insanely hot day and I would have liked to wear a sack dress and flip flops. However, there were important meetings to be had, and I knew I couldn’t relay on my good looks and sparkling wit alone; I needed to look like someone who works in a museum. Since my role models for that job are Indiana Jones and Ben Stiller, I had to wing it.

The skirt and blazer are professional, but the bright purple color and pop of gold from the belt kept it fresh. I really wanted to wear my newly thrifted navy and white scarf, but it was just too hot to put it around my neck, so I tied onto my belt. The pattern reminds of the fine line drawing patterns that were on a lot of the Liberty of London for Target line this spring, but even snazzier. Normally I cut the tags off my scarves, but since this one says “Silk, Made in Italy, 1964″ I left it on and casually pointed it out to passersby on the street. Nothing like some good scarf bragging to brighten your day.

I’m currently working on an exhibit involving animals, and one of my jobs is to decide what animals to include. It’s making me feel a lot like Noah – who gets to come on the exhibit. I’ve already had to rule out unicorns – they’re just too dangerous because they refuse to disarm and become regular horses like my earrings.

P.S. Happy birthday Mum!

Katie Daily Style – Uzbek Silk Scarf

• Yellow shirt – Target*
• Jeggings – Dish
• Blue ballet flats – Old Navy
• Plaid silk scarf – handmade silk Uzbek scarf

I kept the outfit simple today so I could show off my new scarf!

The colors of this madras-esque plaid are incredible (and all of my favorites!) and every color shines another color depending on how the light hits it. And the kicker? This handwoven, naturally dyed silk scarf cost me…$20!

I purchased it at a lecture I went to last week on the history and revival of Uzbek crafts. The guest speaker,Raisa Garieeva, an Uzbek business leader who was the director of the Aid to Artisans project in Uzbekistan, gave an incredible talk. She started with the history of the Silk Road through the arrival of Islam to the rise and fall of the USSR. The story is amazing. Bukhara, which is the focal point of Uzbekistan’s artisant rennaisance, was right in the middle of the Silk Road, so its citizens became expert dyers, weavers, embroiders, potters and painters. The region was especially famous for ikat, a type of dyeing, and suzani, an incredible style of embroidery.

The introduction of Islam to the region placed some restrictions on the images that could be depicted, but the artists were renowned throughout Asia, Africa and Europe. When Communist rule began, people were forbidden to practice their arts. Generations went by where most of the population did not learn to weave or sew or paint, and those who did remember had to practice in secret. The fall of the USSR left Uzbekistan in extreme poverty and as a country that had not had to govern itself for over half a century.

In her talk, Raisa remembered having no idea what to do to survive, and then she was given a book by a Peace Corps member on how to start a business. In the book was a list of reasons to start a business, and one of them was, “when you don’t know what else to do.” So she and others began working to revive the craft industry, and today people are able to support themselves practicing Bukhara’s traditional arts.. At the end of the lecture, Raisa proudly mentioned that the Santa Fe Folk Art Market normally accepts 2 artists/country for exhibition, but consistently accepts at least 10 from her group in Uzbekistan because their work is so good.

During the lecture, one wall of the room was hung floor to ceiling with silk scarves. We weren’t allowed to pick out any crafts until the end of the presentation, so we all sat there, drooling, mentally picking out our favorites and planning the fastest path to get to them. I thought about getting a traditional ikat scarf, in which threads are dyed (sort of like tie-dye) before they’re woven. It takes a lot of skill to create ikat, because you have to be able to deconstruct the pattern before you begin so you know how to dye the threads. However, in the end I couldn’t resist the colors of this scarf.

But looking at these ikat patterns, it almost makes me wish I’d purchased another one…

Image

A coworker also got to go to a day-long workshop on Suzani, which is Uzbek embroidery. I’ve already made her promise that the next time we have a “crafternoon,” she’ll teach me the stitches.

I think my favorite part of the night was during the question period. A rather snooty woman who’ve I’ve met before asked Raisa to speak on the fact that, “since we know all art is inherently political, how does Uzbek art respond to those politcal placements and pressures?” A woman sitting behind me whispered, “The knowledge of their art forms was almost lost forever because of a political regime and now they’re re-learning them. That’s political enough.” Perfect.

*Total side note, but this shirt (which cost $0.99 with the tags still on it) is technically a maternity shirt. I measured it with my non-maternity shirts, and the only difference is more boobage room. Score!