Outfit for a Monday: Fish Bones

Eyes down turned, and perhaps down trodden, the subtle sinking slopes of a slight frown at the corners of my lips: another Monday morning. I had a fabulous weekend up north in Providence with my dear friend Rebecca, and though I was energized with the chilly Atlantic sea air and plenty of delicious locally-grown and produced food, the brief sojourn did involve more hours than I would ever prefer on mass transportation over the course of three days. So, Monday morning, flung from the confines of my warm bed and forced once again to greet a disappointingly cold though sunny day, shockingly without any appropriate caffeine as I neglected to raid my local grocery store yesterday evening upon my return, I am tired and cranky. Despite this bit of a sour mood and contemplation of a week decorated with hours hunched in front of a lap top, I found some sartorial inspiration in one of my absolute favorite jewelry pieces: a long silver necklace featuring a fish skeleton pendant.

In addition to, from a design and aesthetic perspective, being a lovely and unique piece of jewelry, this necklace has some sentimental value: it belonged to my paternal grandmother, whom my siblings and I affectionately referred to as Meemaw, as a gift from our grandfather, whom we called Pop. He was an architect, and as such had an eye for jewelry with a structure to it, with more remarkable geometry and shape and construction; she was a gardener, and an avid flower arranger, so these more artistic pieces also suited her style sensibilities.

I paired the necklace with a boat neck navy and white striped tee shirt dress, worn with a mustard camel wool cardigan and light charcoal wide leg slacks.

To complement the slacks, the featured silver necklace, and the slight silver lining of the buttons of this cardigan, I wore one of my heavy silver vintage lucite bangles. Another useful and aggravatingly technology-information-evolution-deemed necessary accessory, a modern amenity that serves as token and loud symbol for members of particular business and social strata, my outdated and refusal-to-settle-for-extinction plastic flip cell phone. It is cotton candy pink, the epitome of professional and chic.

Being tired and cranky tends to mean having a low tolerance for heels, so I donned a pair of comfortable yet fitting silver ballet flats, with a prominent accent buckle.