The V-neck cashmere sweater paired with a leather skirt is a marriage made in fashion heaven! Worn with a bootie and one of my handmade bracelets, this look was my uniform last week. It was a theme I will revisit again and again. <3
Students are working on papier-mache sculptures (donuts, owls) and colored pencil drawings. The Studio in Art students just finished glazing their clay projects and now they are about to do still life paintings with acrylics. We are having a lot of fun making art!
Last week was all about the silk and leather combo. I’ve been trying to stick to themes and this one is my favorite. The previous week it was cotton T-shirt and leather, which is the more casual version of what is becoming my school uniform.
We are currently glazing clay projects, painting and finishing up the Lions Club peace poster contest. Posters are due on October 22nd. First marking period ends on November 5th.
Spring 2021 has a T-shirt and skirt vibe – with boots in case of rain. I love the comfort of this look – the crew neck looks best on Zoom video. It does feel like a style that is the most “me” :cotton top/leather skirt. Masks not optional – yet.
I did a monochromatic thing this week and I am in love with the look. I used to wear black every day and now I’m just so inspired by color.
Coupled with every style of this season’s Rag & Bone boots, it is so fun to get dressed for work. <3
2021 is about skirt length. The maxi for day is popular with the teacher crowd. Instagram fans seem to prefer the mini on me. The midi is the most comfortable for sitting during Zoom meetings. And my new Coach leather skirt, knee length, is my favorite go-to. It is perfection!
I love the new proportion. Boots with skirts is my look. And I am loving Rag & Bone right now. Their lug sole is genius. I am truly a fan of the almond toe.
Here are my #ootd from Instagram for last week.
I am wearing Marc Jacobs boots in every one of these shots. They are perfection. Although we had a minor snowy-storm thing-a-ma-gig on Friday, we are mostly finished with snow in Syracuse. These shoes all have leather soles. They are not for wearing on salted driveways, parking lots and sidewalks.
We also survived the ELA testing, glazing clay projects, and the end of the marking period. Monday starts the final quarter of the school year!
Sandal weather soon!!! <3
If you search Instagram for the hashtag #fashionintherealworld, you will find all of my posts. I invented it and #fashioninrealtime, and #fashioninreallife. I just checked them; I think there are only two or three posts on them from random fashionistas. The rest is all me.
Here are my outfits of the day from the last two weeks. The landscape of my background keeps changing as I shift student work around the room. All of my clay projects are complete. The last batch went into the kiln today. The 5th graders are currently working on a three-dimensional wood sculpture, my Studio in Art students are learning watercolor techniques and the rest of the 8th graders are immersed in the various SLO test projects: Statue of Liberty paintings, “under the sea” landscapes with fish (mixed-media lesson), Japanese fan project (also mixed-media) and abstract paintings with realistic horses thrown in. So four additional different lessons for the six classes.
There is a lot going on, which will culminate in the School Fair set for May 12, 2017. I will have my hands full preparing for that exhibition and hopefully even with the upcoming state math tests looming, we will get everything accomplished.
But first – Spring Break!!! I will be working on the business of making art as soon as tomorrow. Can’t wait. Watching students make art is clearly a fun job, but nothing beats the guilty pleasure of creating my own artwork – even though it is super messy and therefore cannot be done in designer clothes. So…I will be sacrificing fashion for my art. I did buy a new dress for Easter though. It is Halston Heritage. <3 OMG, I love it!
Here are my most recent outfits of the day. We take a bunch of photos every day in order to get one decent one out of the bunch. Google photos has been animating the lot to produce these hilarious gifs. You can see how far away Katy is when she takes the pic. We do that to insure I can get my body to fit into the square dimension of Instagram. Should I begin to add these silly things to my Instagram account every so often – just because they are sooo stupid funny or are they just stupid? I have lost perspective.
Here are my most recent #ootd pictures. I am grateful for Katy Conden, my fellow art teacher, work colleague and all around bestie who has been taking such good pictures with my Samsung Galaxy 6. She makes it so fun to vogue it up every morning.
I am getting my hair done more frequently these days. Amanda LaDue at Miracles in Fayetteville, NY is a true miracle worker. She has single-handedly transformed my look. The other day one of my work colleagues told me that I look younger now than I did ten years ago when we first started working at the middle school together! That is so sweet!
It is such a thrill to get such positive responses on Facebook and on Instagram as well, where a lot of other fashion bloggers are giving me kudos, most notably the local fashion sylist, Jackie Terribile (@thesmalltownstylist) She is a friend of my little sister. Jackie blogs about the Syracuse fashion scene and does some guest hosting on a local morning show.
I am a lot older than the typical fashion blogger so, yes, it is all so flattering and wonderful. I am empowered by Madonna’s statement about her Met Gala outfit and the idea that age should not even be relevant when it comes to fashion, beauty and all that.
The above picture was taken by Roberta Mou, the Home & Careers teacher (when Katy was absent one day). Note the kitchen background. I am never normally in a kitchen, lol. I never cook except to make cupcakes once and a while for the art talks we have at school.
I wore this white dress on a day I was demonstrating an India Ink lesson! I wore two smocks. In my defense, I love this dress and I can’t just stare at it in my closet and not wear it once and a while. I am going to an event at the end of the month that has a dress code – resort casual – and this dress is perfect except for the color. It is literally never appropriate to wear white to anything wedding-related unless you are the bride.
Nine West asked to repost the above picture on their website and on their Instagram account. Those sandals are my most recent purchase. They are so comfortable. They come in two other colors – emerald green is one of them. They have a zipper in back and a gladiator style lace-up in front. I love the support this style offers!
The beaded cross necklace – my mother got it from the Indian Village at the New York State Fair in the 1940s. I am in love with it! I built many of my outfits in the past two weeks around this blue, gray, beige and gold color scheme.
Now that the school fair is over, it is pretty much smooth sailing until the end of the school year. Hopefully, the backgrounds in my #ootd pictures will improve, meaning I will start cleaning the room and putting away unnecessary supplies. (Sure I will.) And then before we know it, it will be summer vacation!
Yeah, I guess I am not a typical fifty-something, lol. No cooking or cleaning, but a big yes to a stress-free aesthetic in four-inch heels.
I guess I feel most comfortable wearing neutral colors – black, white, gray, beige, navy blue….
People keep making comments to me about my wardrobe – that it seems unlimited, that my closet must be colossal, et cetera.
It is an illusion, I think, because I have repeated a lot of separates, although I try to mix things up enough in order to create new looks. And I have to admit, this is a lot easier when you stick with neutrals.
One of my friends wants me to be her stylist and while I love fashion, I cannot see myself as someone else’s personal shopper. Fashion reflects one’s personality, of course, but as well as I know her, I can’t be limited by a budget. If I desire something, I don’t stop until I get it. I know that other people, my friend included, do not generally live by that creed.
Case in point – I just bought two evening dresses – a gown and a cocktail dress – for upcoming events (a BCBG Max Azria and a Jill Jill Stuart!).
They were in the $300 price point range. So…I will be driving to work on fumes for three more days. I have also lost three pounds, lol, no food in the house. No biggie. Everything always ends up working out for the best.
Hey – if I sell every “cat” painting I brought to the Summit Medical Group art exhibit (in the Lawrence Pavilion Lower Lobby Gallery) in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, I will make $11,800 less a 10% donation to that local animal care charity.
That’s enough to buy at least a few more clothes. That show starts April 25, 2016. It is open to the public – my favorite type of art show – a captive audience, people who may not seek out art venues but are at the offices for other reasons. It’s my bread and butter (ha ha – figuratively. You know I don’t eat bread or dairy).
The opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, May 5th, 2016 from 5:00-8:00 pm. Summit Medical Group is located at 1 Diamond Hill Road, Lawrence Pavilion, Berkeley Heights, New Jersey 07922. Call (908) 277-8806 for more information.
