Outfit for a Tuesday: Gray, Gray, and Polka Dots

When feeling lazy and lackluster, the simplest method for exuding an appearance of simple sartorial sophistication is dressing monochromatically, choosing a single color and varying its tone and texture throughout the look.  This week, my team had an aggressive, nearly unrealistic, timeline to complete the first phase of a project; all cylinders were anxiously oiled and pumping furiously. So, as my neurons schemed over the nuances of this, mostly neglecting the basic Maslovian functions, food, shelter, clothing, I wanted to combat the natural, immediate response to look like an office bum. Here, I layered a subtly silver metallic loose sweater with a gray-taupe bohemian shift dress and completed with a soft cotton heathered gray blazer. All gray, each piece still contrasted a bit in hue, adding some dimension.

It always helps if a palette of gray is paired with copious sparkling rhinestones. Glitteringly bold accessories alone are ideal for feigning an aura of being pulled together, calm and poised, meticulous in all manners, even in the most frantic and crazed of weeks. Integrated with a monochrome, especially, as in this case, mirroring the selected color, help anyone feel polished and shining, even if their mental self feels anything but. My thick rhinestone bangle and aluminum foil-entrapped lucite bangle always infuse any look with a sharp glint, a play with light and reflection. The vintage oval rhinestone earrings are at once simple and ostentatious, my favorite amalgamation.

Perhaps subconsciously mourning the discontinuation of Blair Waldorf's fictional life, that absurdist fantasy of an elevated socioeconomic echelon and an infinitely enviable wardrobe, I had to wear these charcoal and black polka dot tights, with these low steely gray heels, embellished with a plain silver bow.


Friday morning soundtrack: First Utterance Comus