Edwardian Shirt
Posted: May 11, 2018 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: blue, brooch, brown, brown oxfords, navy skinny jeans, white, white eyelet button-up 2 Comments
If you’ve read the blog for a while, then you know that Edwardian is one of my favorite style eras. It is my dream to own an Edwardian-inspired lawn dress (something like this), or a shirt or a blouse in a similar style. But now that I’ve found the perfect Edwardian shirt (the ruffles! The collar! The broderie anglaise!), I’ve discovered that I have absolutely no idea what to pair it with. A skirt is out of the question, because it would look like I’m cosplaying as a Gibson Girl. Normal trousers would look too stuffy. In the end, I decided to balance the shirt with a casual pair of jeans, but I forgot that my jeans are low-rise so they don’t look very well with a tucked-in shirt. The only thing I like in this outfit is the brooch, which is clearly born to go with this shirt.
Do you have any idea how to style this shirt? I need help!
Floral And Pottery
Posted: May 7, 2018 Filed under: Clothes, Style Imitating Art | Tags: black, black loafers, blue, navy culottes, style imitating art, white, white embroidered blouse 4 Comments
I had a different outfit planned for this week’s SIA. See, when I saw the cherry blossoms and the criss-crossing on the inspiration piece, a Japanese Nabeshima dish, I’d decided to wear my white embroidered cardigan and navy gingham shirt, with light-blue jeans. Unfortunately, the weather warmed up unexpectedly and completely upended my plan. So in the end I picked another embroidered piece – this blouse – and navy culottes (they’re supposed to be culottes, but on my short legs, they look more like simple wide-leg pants. Which is just as well, because culottes are really unflattering on me) to represent the blue elements of the dish. Not the outfit I’d imagine, but I still liked it, both as an outfit and an interpretation of this week’s inspiration.
If you haven’t sent me your outfit, you still have until tomorrow. Otherwise, see you in the round-up post on Wednesday!
Late Blossoms
Posted: May 2, 2018 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: black, black blazer, blue, brooch, navy skinny jeans, pink, pink sneakers, white, white eyelet top 2 Comments
My students gave me this cherry blossom brooch for International Women’s Day back in March, but I didn’t get around to wearing it until now. And wearing it reminded me of the cherry blossoms at Lake Balboa Park near my apartment in LA (not to be confused with Balboa Park in San Diego).
If there is one thing I missed about living in LA, it’s the cherry blossoms at a park near my apartment building. Every year around March, I would spend almost all of my days off there, taking photos of the clouds of pink blossoms until my camera battery died. I even remember seeing some Japanese-American families there for blossom-viewing parties. You don’t get flowers like that in Vietnam (well, we do have plum blossoms and peach blossoms here around February, but you’d have to travel to the mountain region to see them in large quantities.) Guess I’ll just have to be content with some old photos then.
Apple And Bicycle
Posted: April 27, 2018 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: beige, beige v-neck sweater, black, black pants, black pumps, blue, brooch, brown, brown suede ankle boots, movie, navy gingham button-up, navy skinny jeans, white, white button-up Leave a comment
“Apple and Bicycle” sounds like the title of an alphabet book, doesn’t it? The weather is steadily warming up now, but I still have a few straggling outfits left to post from the good ole days when it was still cool. It’ll be at least 7 more months before I can start wearing things like these again.
On an unrelated note, I went to see “Avengers: Infinity War” earlier today and it was everything I expected. Namely, it’s a lot of fun, all the set pieces are spectacular, and most of the character interactions are enjoyable (I only wish they cut out some stuff with the Guardians of the Galaxy), but it won’t work if you’re not steeped in the MCU. And it’s bloated. Oh so bloated. But you can’t juggle that many characters and storylines without being weighed down by them. At least I could follow each story and understand what the characters are trying to do, and the story beats more or less hit their marks, which is more than I can say for Age of Ultron or most of the DC films.
Snowed Bean
Posted: February 19, 2018 Filed under: Clothes, Style Imitating Art | Tags: black, blue, blue skinny jeans, chelsea boots, leather jacket, style imitating art, white, white turtleneck Leave a comment
For this week’s SIA, inspired by a photo of the Chicago Bean covered in snow, I was going to go all gray with black and white touches, but the result outfit looked too dull. It didn’t help that my gray jeans don’t really go well with these boots. So I had to scrap it and start again, keeping the leather jacket and black boots, but switched my gray sweater for a white one (for snow) and my gray jeans for the light-blue pair. The result may not be as close to the inspiration as I’d like, but I much prefer this outfit. And it’s still all neutral colors, so it’s not too bad, right?
Dressing Up
Posted: February 14, 2018 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: black, black heeled boots, black wool dress, brooch, gray coat, tights, white, white button-up 2 Comments
I know last week I promised to try and post all the backlogged outfits if I could, but I don’t think that’s happening. Between preparations for the Lunar New Year and the upcoming trip and catching up on work so I can have a guilt-free vacation, I just don’t have the time for them. Plus I wanted to save those outfits for a rainy day, both literally and figuratively, when I don’t have anything to post. So, other than the usual SIA posts, the blog is going on vacation as well.
For the last outfit post of the Year of the Rooster, here is what I wore to the end-of-the-year party at work. Sure, it’s a bit Wednesday Addams-ish, but my style this winter has been very casual so far, so it’s great to have a chance to dress up.
P/S: Only after I scheduled this post that I realized, today is Valentine’s Day, isn’t it? Well, considering that I find Valentine’s Day a gross commercialization, it’s fitting that I’m posting a Wednesday Addams-inspired outfit today.
Menswear
Posted: January 26, 2018 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: black, black khaki pants, black oxfords, brooch, gray, socks, tweed blazer, white, white button-up 3 Comments
It is unofficial Fun Socks Week here on 14 Shades of Grey (or is it official? I make the rules around here, don’t I?) Since I already posted two outfits with colorful/patterned socks, I decided to close out the week with another similar outfit. I’m a big fan of the “formal suit + fun socks” look on guys, so I thought I’d try it for myself. The result was… okay. I like each piece, but the proportion is all wrong. That’s why I opened the post with the photo with my dog, even though it’s technically an outtake – it hides how long the blazer is and how short my pants are. Plus I just like the photo 🙂
