eyelet

shorts, Zara; shoes, Tahari via Winners; blouse via Winners; rosary, vintage.

here are some photos of an outfit i've been saving since may - worn on one of the first warm days of the season. unfortunately the shoes were not quite broken in yet, and i had to take them off. some nice mormon boys on a mission stopped to ask me why, as a non-catholic, i am wearing a rosary, so we had a nice conversation. i like the combination of tough leather shorts and quaint, girly basketweave shoes and eyelet blouse which also made it possible to climb some trees.

maybe this is a time to note that i have recently been reading an etiquette manual from the 19th century* and it doled out this little bit of wisdom on fashion, which i have lived by more and more over the last few years and i believe is crucial for any stylish person even today, in the 2000's:

"The essential requirement of dress is to cover and make comfortable the body, and of two forms of dress which fulfill this function equally well, that is the better which is most accordant with the laws of beauty. But fitness must in nowise be interfered with; and the garb which infringes on this law gives us pain rather than pleasure. We believe that it will be found that fitness and beauty, so far from requiring any sacrifice for combination, are found each in the highest degree where both are most fully obtained—that the fittest, most comfortable dress is that which is most graceful or becoming. Fitness is the primary demand; and the dress that appears uncomfortable is untasteful."

it's taken me a while to realize that i will neither look nor feel beautiful in something that isn't comfortable, or isn't practical for the activities i am doing that day. this is a fact which makes dressing stylishly seem excessively difficult for those of us, like me, who don't have jobs and lifestyles that involve sitting in an office and getting in and out of cars, but i've found that the more i focus on comfort, the more creative i get and the more my own personal style comes out of the woodwork. it's very liberating to dress for my life, and not to follow trends. i wish i'd known that in highschool.

cheers!

* How to Behave, by Samuel Wells