Outfit for a Monday: Black Bangle, Baubles, and a Bumblebee

With the birth of Winona, the rhythmic cadences of the infamous ABC Book by Dr. Suess have come spewing forth from the hidden recesses of a child-brain. Recently, a friend of mine brought to my attention to Pentametron, a poetic robot algorithm on Twitter designed to locate and re-tweet updates written in iambic pentameter, mostly accidentally and completely unbeknownst to the masses who use the platform as a means to inform us all of where they purchased their cereal or at which bar they are currently imbibing. The concept is, in a word, brilliant. I am particularly impressed by the rhymes the algorithm randomly concocts. It makes me feel relief at participating in a social media platform, which, despite its great potential and opportunities, inherently contradicts some of my firmly held philosophies with regard to constantly streaming news and media, construction of false or at least altered online entities, and skewed notions of celebrity and importance. Hypocritical, perhaps, my participation, but if it means I can read lines of modern, impromptu poetic gold, then I accept.

In recent months, I have amassed quite a collection of the typical, French-inspired thin striped tee shirts, in navy and white, in navy and red, and the requisite black and cream. When I found this sweater, for a great discount, I was drawn to the broad blocks of color; the pattern, technically, is a stripe, but it has a greater geometric quality to it. Stacks of planar bodies, rectangles dangling in a mathematical proof. The fabric of this sweater is nice and thick, yet still ideal for summer, and will not be too warm. On Monday, I paired it with a basic camel-toned pencil skirt, but I have visions of it coupling well with a simple white cotton skirt.

With such simple, muted, neutral colors, white, black, and tan, I layered two bombastic vintage rhinestone necklaces: a thicker choker and a longer chain with an almost princess neckline. These necklaces are always a bit tawdry, but always a bit fun as well. Sharp right angles are mirrored in this Grecian-inspired black and white bangle, a favorite of mine.

My sister and I have a bit of an ongoing joke about yellow shoes, after reading this article on popular culture, politics, and art commentary This Recording; we are, each of us, targets of this satire, as is the author herself, I am sure, an encompassing audience among our generations and our fair, fair sex. As with all satire whose victims are cognizant of their role in the interplay between critic, social structure, and text, it is simultaneously hilarious and painful; a bitterly amusing truth, though, one that also probably deserves a critical eye. Surely, not all young ladies who adorn their feet with yellow shoes can be guilty of an obsession with bygone eras or with the storing capacities and sheer opacity of glass jars or with being inundated with knowledge of the bizarre or the arcane; in my case, however, guilty as charged, I suppose, so mock away.

Perhaps, the guilt associated with being wealthy but not that kind of wealthy can be assuaged and dissipated with the simple and pure fact that my shoes, in this case, are not entirely yellow. For the record, yellow is one of those colors that often looks jarring against my more olive-toned skin, such that I appear as if I have just crossed the Atlantic in the hold of some wooden barge. So, yellow accessories and, yes, even shoes are welcome in my closet; they are more flattering and they permit some pleasant warmth in my wardrobe. Like red, they are desirable because of their versatility as well; I can pair them with black, cream, navy, gray, and brown, easily.