Dress Your Best 2011: Post #2: Arms

[ajnabieh]

I think of myself as reasonably well sartorially stocked for formal professional occasions: I've got a black suit, I've got a bunch of suit separates and blouses and things like that.  Plus, you know, I'm a grad student, how many suits do I need However, I just encountered a fashion challenge that my closet was unequipped for: what to wear for a high formality professional event held in the heat of the summer.

This was the conclusion I reached.



I have to admit, it took me a long time to be convinced by the short sleeved blazer.  It felt...just wrong, somehow.  Blazers have SLEEVES.  This is in their nature! Anything else is a violation of their natural rights as blazers! Why don't I just wear a vest if I'm going to violate all that is good and right in business attire?!?!

After many rounds of trial and error, however, I reconciled myself to the outfit, because of the clear truth that my arms are freakin' fierce.  Might as well show it off.


again with the toddler photobombing

The neckline on this top is a new one for me: what do you think? I felt very covered up, but I liked the shape it made, both in the blazer and out of it.

(And let's not talk about my pink manicured fingernails.  I still have some cognitive dissonance over that.)

What do you think about summer business wear?  Is it all about fabric, or cut, or color for you? How do you summer-ize an outfit?

Comments

[indeliblesasha]

I love and adore the short sleeved blazer. LOVE.

The top is something I would look at and bat my eyelashes at, and then decide that I could never pull it off and walk away from it.

Because it is that awesome.

(I do not do fashion. At all. Ever. I do cute, simple tops with jeans. Or slacks. But I like *looking at all the other cute things. That I would never wear. :D )

[ajnabieh]

The top looked TOTALLY different on the hangar than on me...but it looked great in both versions, so I went for it. It looks great without the blazer too...I should have gotten a picture of that. *g*

[jae]

Wow, CUTE (and the blazer is nice too). *g*

I'm currently at a conference in a place where there is summer weather, and I'm having similar issues. Today's solution is a fancy-ish short-sleeved top, a scarf, and long pants with kicky ankle-high boots with a bit of a heel. It's nice, but not that cute. It's kind of pathetic that I still haven't solved this problem after all these years.

-J

[ajnabieh]

I think that sounds cute! I just went to a conference in Texas in April, and had to confront the 90 degrees outside/65 degrees inside problem. That was a pain.

It's kind of pathetic that I still haven't solved this problem after all these years.

This is why no one wants to teach summer school, amirite? *vbg*

[littlebutfierce]

Oooh, very sassy! I like it! Also the neckline of that blouse is awesome.

I think for me summerizing business wear means brighter/lighter colors. In theory it could mean more skirts but since I don't shave my legs & work in the fuddy-duddy civil service I don't usually feel like I have the energy to defend that kind of choice at work. :P

I also think in theory it could mean lighter fabrics like linen, but I hate ironing, so!

[ajnabieh]

The neckline was pretty awesome. I wish I'd gotten a photo of it without the blazer--it's pretty great.

I've been realizing that I really need to get a good pair of khaki pants. I've been defaulting to skirts a lot lately, because I don't have an easy shape to fit in formal pants. I don't shave *generally,* but I do for high-formality events, which makes things a little easier. (If my students have feelings about me being hairy, well, good for them...and academics are probably not going to notice!) I wonder if I should start thinking about how to keep one's armpit hair appropriately groomed for professional attire? Like, should I clip it down? Man, we need like a body hair fashion huddle for these sorts of things!

IRONING, HOW I HATE IT. Yeah, I always think something doesn't need ironing, and then other people see me.

[sheddingkhawatir.blogspot.com]

I don't own any part of a suit, and have thus far managed to avoid needing it, but my default teaching wear in 100+ weather has definitely been skirt + blouse. Now I just need some of those non-wrinkle blouses, because I too hate ironing. That top is just awesome--color, cut, everything!

[ajnabieh]

I definitely am going to have to start thinking about more teaching wear, since I'm going to be teaching more than two days a week in the fall. Since I have a deep and passionate love of blazers, I can usually get away with wearing t-shirts and other, not-needing-ironing things under them to teach. One of the best parts about teaching at the New School is that, towards the end of the semester, I can wear this shirt under my white blazer and everybody loves me for it.

[azurelunatic]

Nice!