Category: No Fashion Sense

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Flip Flopper

Rainbow Sandals!

I'm from California and have pretty much lived in Rainbows for most of my adult life. So I feel that I know a thing or two about flip flops, and while they are not considered fashionable in other parts of the country. In most warm weather states – from here on known as "The Good States" – you will see them everyday. Weather permitting or not.

When it comes to Rainbows the double layer is better, it will last a little bit longer, and is worth the slightly higher price.

They are offered in plenty of colors, but we will talk about light and dark. If you pick your first pair up I would also recommend a darker color.

I have owned lighter and darker, and the darker ones won't show dirt like the lighter tan ones do. Which really depends on the amount of wear. Like I said, I had them on most days. They look nice when combined with the right clothing.

Also, remember, and I say this with the utmost seriousness; do not get the sandals wet. Here I don't have that much of an excuse to do so but I have and I know other people who have done so and they will start to crack. They will also stain your feet if you wear them wet. Not that it impacts their life, a bit maybe, the sandals will still last you a long time, keeping them dry this just ensures they will last you longer.

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Transitory: High School Girl – College – Young Professional

Girls love to watch MissAlex for one simple reason (at least it is simple to me) she can rock even when she is wearing casual clothes. The answer is that these women spend hours getting prepped, turning and sucking in and bending, taking 100 photos, then filtering the good ones out. It's a full time job

When I moved from high school to college I realized that more than one thing was in transition. College is kind of the transition in fashion as well.

You get to go from high school girl to young woman in a few short years and you see yourself differently. Then one you finish you dress like the young working professional, all of this means you will be wearing different clothes.

Finding the right look — for me it comes down to three things — my body, material, and tailoring.

I realized that really fast fashion from shops like F21 and H&M, it just doesn't work for me any more — it is because of thin fabrics, lack of structure — but most importantly my body just didn't have the same perky, tight lines to make those clothes work. This is probably the biggest problem.

On top of that even if I could make them look good I have come to the realization that cheap materials look fine in the beginning and then after light use get stretched/shrunk out of shape, colors fade/dim, and just generally look "worn" after awhile. Okay, fast fashion I know what I am buying. But I am willing to pay attention to quality when I buy clothes and focus on better materials and quality.

Which is something that I had never done before. It is easy to fall into a pattern of unflattering sloppiness, even if that it is unintentional.

Back on to the topic of fashion bloggers, I actually prefer to look at models and seasonal lookbooks. I have my favorite brands and since it is a lookbook I know that they are models. For some reason it does not make me feel bad, nor do I try to keep up.

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Footwear = Foot Pain

I don't know if this exists, or if it is a mythical creature. I am talking about footwear that doesn't hurt my feet. I am on my feet most of the day and when I get home my feet hurt. And though I have been actively looking for them for a long time they have remained elusive.

Rainbow sandals were a good fit for the more casual good weather shoe. Though I got a sunburn once on my right foot so bad that it swelled up and I couldn't wear shoes.

I have yet to find a shoe that I have no foot pain ever, but these are the best I have worn.

For sneakers I like to go with either Nike (casual) or New Balance (running), but their quality seems to have declined somewhat over time and I buy a new pair more often that I use to with the same amount of wear. They only last about 6-9 months before I have worn them out which is slightly faster than it used to be.

While I find Crocs nice — my mother got me hooked on them — I can't wear those in the lab. Plus the are nice to pull on, but I am not sure 8-10 hours on them would be as nice.

I've got some shoes in circulation that I have bought over the last couple of years, but they're not really any more soft or supportive than what I would like. Then I have some that remained heavy and stiff even I spent time breaking in. Ironically the shoes will last me decades since I almost never wear them. This is why my professors in college always looked dated.

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What You Wear Defines Who You Are

I think growing up in a sunny warm state has made me see color and fashion differently. A lot of the places I have visited just got for some, jeans & t-shirts with basic colors. Or some darker shades of colors.

Here in San Diego you get a lot of vibrant colors of clothing. Though maybe not as much as places like Florida or the likes.

Yet, I still find it hard to find the right color of emerald.

Emerald green is so pretty.

But with greens it can be pretty tricky. It's really annoying the way that fashion industry gets fixated with a really narrow color palette. Because it is near impossible to find colors outside of that range.

It's just endless gutlessness of brands who are terrified to deviate away from what trend forecasters say that people want. How many pink shirts do I need? I'm so sick to death of blush/ pink.

I've never been into pink and I can just not buy pink things. But I'm so sick of seeing it and the fact that color options for clothes these days are cream, pink or black just makes me crazy.

I'm just bored of seeing insipid, boring colors everywhere and everyone thinking that they look so sophisticated and classic in boring colors that are going to date just like lime green and turquoise did.

Clearly this is an emotional topic for me.

One thing that I have begun doing, and this has been working well for me: I shop at thrift stores. There is a literal rainbow to choose from.

Many thrift stores will organize their racks by color as a unifying element for a ton of disparate styles, which makes the shopping experience fun and entertaining. And I get to look at a certain range of color!

When I'm thrifting, I seek out only my chosen colors as a way to narrow my focus and limit the overwhelm of choices. I grab anything in my best colors and my size, head to the mirror, and hold it up to see if I like it on me.

A quick binary of yes or no eliminates about half of the stuff I grabbed.

Then at other times I'll fiddle with the "yes" items to chose a few that are good quality, fit, condition, and filling a gap in my wardrobe.

Since $1 to $5 recycled clothing is perfect for guilt-free impulse purchases of fantasy styles it makes the experience extra rewarding. When I sort out my collection I will take them back to the Goodwill and donate them. This way they get double out of my purchase.

Like this I can feel comfortable selecting clothing which is my color, my size, but not my style. Other times I will decide to attempt an item in a color that I usually look terrible in by looking at all of the items in that color family and choosing one that is an okay shade for me.

For example, I own a thrifted cropped burgundy sweater in angora wool with embroidery and beading around the shoulders.

I would never buy such a thing new because angora is straight up unethical and that sort of detailing is a trend led design feature which clearly dates an item. But in this instance it clearly looks like it’s an 80s jumper, from the 80s.

So no problems with it looking dated because that is the one thing that makes it desirable to wear in the first place.