Trippy heels.

• Top: Maurices (previously)
• Cardigan: Maurices
• Trouser Jeans: Maurices
• Pumps: Nine West
• Bag: Target (previously)
• Necklace: Maurices (previously)
• Bracelets: Torrid (previously)
• Umbrella: Crabtree & Evelyn (previously)

Some friends of ours had some guests over this past weekend, and I took the opportunity to dress up. I was really excited about my new trouser jeans, and I really wanted to wear heels with them, so I paired them these heels which I have never really worn other than the initial try on, despite owning them for a while. The weather was pretty rainy and dreary, and I briefly thought about switching things out for my rainboots, but I knew we weren't going to get any good outside shots, and I figured we would mostly be making a few brief trips to and from the car.

After a fun evening with friends though, in the dark and rainy night, I mis-stepped on their stairs walking to the car and tripped. The biggest casualty besides my pride, was my pair of heels, as you can see above. The jeans are mostly okay, but I will probably be demoting them to much more casual purposes due to the blemish on the knee. (I realize that logic may be flawed since I have a matching blemish on my leg...)

I admit I'm a little bummed out about the shoes, but I got to spend a couple of days dressed how I wanted last week, and it helped my mood out a lot actually. And I will have more on that (and the outfits) in a future post. Plus, it turns out there may be some hope for the shoes after all! I talked to some friends and did some searching and I found a cobbler, and when I dropped the shoes off yesterday, they didn't seem to think it was too big of a deal to fix them. And honestly, while replacing shoes in my collection can be a little difficult due to sizing, I feel a lot more bold about going out these days and this blog has definitely played a role in that. And frankly, I'm happy I wore the shoes outside to an event with friends, even if they did get damaged in the process. There was a time when I would not have believed that I would ever own a pair of shoes like this, much less severely damage them from wearing them out and about.

So I look forward to seeing how the shoes come back from the cobbler (this is a new experience for me), and hopefully I will be figuring out a better balance of blogging with the rest of my life. I really miss everyone! And of course, my beautiful wife helped with my hair and makeup and took the pictures for today's post! (She's also still letting me borrow her computer!)

Velma.

• Dress: Macy's (buy)
• Boots: Payless
• Pantyhose: Just My Size
• Socks: Target (previously)

This was an outfit from last week that I meant to blog. The dress was bought with Christmas money, but I've had my eyes on it for a while. So when I was doing some after Christmas shopping, and noticed it on clearance... I figured that meant it was time to make a purchase. When I picked it out, the burnt orange color was one of the draws, but it was only after I had the outfit on with some nerd-chic glasses (not pictured of course...) that I realized that with a few minor changes, I was dressed similar to a certain Scooby Doo character.

Now I have to take a second to thank some really awesome bloggers. First, AppGal of Musings on the Mountain listed me, along with some other wonderful bloggers, in her post on blogs you should read! So thanks the for wonderful shout out! And Lisa from respect the shoes reminded her readers about my giveaway in her Lazy on a Sunday Afternoon. And Meg of Questionable Taste kindly mentioned me in her post What I've Learned. Thank you so much for these mentions! And of course, I hope I haven't missed anyone!

And last but not least, Ariana of fatale fashion gave me a stylish blogger award! Thanks so much Ariana! Now as part of the award I'm supposed to list seven things about me.

1. I love ballroom and latin dancing. Its a passion actually, but where we're located, we don't have a lot of opportunities to go out and dance.
2. I love horrible movies. The worse the better actually. My latest favorite is Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus. Of course, some movies really are just bad, but there are certain types of Grade D cheese fests that I adore.
3. I secretly enjoy Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, La Roux, and other pop singers. And I don't usually want to admit it to my friends. (And I'll even admit that I owned a New Kids on the Block tape when I was growing up.) Now, I'm not one to obsess, so I'm not a super fan by any means, and I enjoy a pretty wide range of music.
4. I love traveling. I have seen (and waded in) both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean within the same two week period once.
5. I was involved in band all the way through college. I even stuck with marching band for part of my college career. Ironically (or perhaps not...) I don't usually enjoy watching football at all.
6. In addition to my personal addiction to shoes, my wife and I both have a serious addiction to collecting books. And books, like shoes, present serious storage issues when you have "too many". We have "too many".
7. I spend a lot of time procrastinating. Its actually gotten worse as I've gotten older. I try to compensate for this by reading nearly anything I can find on better ways to be organized. Of course, reading up on better ways to be organized is a great way to procrastinate. :)

I know I'm supposed to pass the award on to 8 other bloggers, but I have so many wonderful blog friends and I wouldn't feel right leaving someone out. In addition I truly believe all of my readers are stylish, so if you need a reminder of how stylish you already are, consider yourself awarded the Stylish Blogger Award!

Funky rockabilly?

• Dress: Maurices
• Belt: Maurices (came with the dress)
• Socks: Target
• Shoes: Converse via Target (men's department, buy)

My wife and I had some disagreement over this outfit. My wife liked it less than I did, but I wasn't 100% happy with it either, however it's growing on me over time. I actually almost didn't post it, but its always fun to see what everyone else thinks! I wish this separates instead of a dress as well, but I do think its still fun as it is. Normally I also would have worn shoes with a heel, but I recently bought these sneakers, and I really wanted to pair them with a skirt or a dress. (Edit: eek is an awesome blogger who occasionally makes great use of Converse sneakers in her outfits, and I I realized I omitted a link to her blog!)

I also have a question to answer today, the awesome Genevieve from sandbox romance asked: Just out of curiosity, do you ever experiment with wearing more "gender neutral" clothing in public? I have to confess; I have no idea what that would mean for men!

I love to do small experiments with the clothes I'm willing to wear in public, and over time, I have slowly expanded the list of things I'm comfortable wearing. Most of those items are clothes labeled for women though. However, the first image that jumps to mind when thinking about "gender neutral" clothing are some of those horrible (and not so horrible) grade B sci-fi movies where everyone is wearing muted pastel colored jumpsuits. In all fairness, there are some fashion forward sci-fi movies like The Fifth Element (er, but then again how many sci-fi movies can get Jean-Paul Gaultier to design their costumes?)

Thankfully this is a blog post, not a research paper, so I can do some vacuous uncited handwaving :). I recall reading several writers who have pointed out that "unisex" styling almost always defaults to "masculine" styles, and is almost always "functional" (in contrast to "stylish"). When I try to think of "feminine" unisex styles its difficult. For instance, I guess the closest thing to a gender neutral "skirt" that comes to mind is a Utilikilt. However, I don't own one, and where I live I have the vague feeling a Utilikilt might draw more attention than "simple" crossdressing. (Interestingly, I do know some male hikers that prefer kilts to other lower body garments.) Historically, leggings, tunics, and togas all seem to have been fairly gender neutral at some point, and even high heels were once worn by males. Well, actually I suppose toga's still sometimes count as "gender neutral" party wear on college campuses.

In discussing some of this with friends who live in more metropolitan areas, I am aware that its more common and acceptable to see guys wearing skinny jeans, deeper V-necks, and other items that would be labeled more "feminine". Certainly some visions of "gender neutral" seem to be more androgynous, in contrast to more "masculine" versions. I also think its interesting to think about the role of homophobia plays for some males in deciding whether certain articles of clothing are too "feminine".

Some of the things I have incorporated into my daily rotation include women's jeans from a medium to a dark wash. Most of them are boot cut, although a couple of pairs have more flare. All the jeans are more fitted through the thigh though. I also have some women's oxfords and women's sneakers I wear on a regular basis out and about. My hoodie is from the women's department, and it has more fitted sleeves and a double zipper. My gloves (coming soon in a post!) and my new winter coat are from the women's department. I don't know if any of this counts as "gender neutral" though. I would like to incorporate more items into my daily wear though, but I admit it, I get really self conscious the more things I wear out. In my ideal world though, I would want to wear everything I post on this blog out, and it count as "gender neutral".

As always, I love answering questions, so feel free to ask away in comments or via email, and I already have another question from blog buddy Pamela to answer in my next post! (And I always tag posts like this with q and a.) Of course my amazing wife took the pictures for today's post.

Orange and purple.

• Top: Cato
• Cami: Cato
• Vest: Maurices (buy it)
• Skirt: Isaac Mizrahi for Target
• Purple Tights: JC Penney (previously)
• Boots: Target
• Bracelet: Torrid (previously)

I frequently associate orange and purple with Halloween, but when I put this outfit together, I was thinking they really work great for fall in general. I was also trying to break my neutral heavy rut. Of course, its cold like winter here, so maybe its not really time for a "fall" outfit anymore, and this was all just wishful thinking on my part. I know the short sleeves were wishful thinking, but I was indoors the whole time I wore this outfit, with no intent to go outside.

I have another question to answer today. This one is from the fabulous Pamela of Call Me Ishmael: Where do you most want to go dressed as a woman? For what occasion? I think you mentioned something about a wedding or ball before. Anything else?

What I really want is to get dressed in the morning without having to consider the gender of my clothes, and just go about my day normally. As it stands, I'm pretty sure that's not realistic most days, but I do feel like I'm close to a place where I can go out and about some of the time. It just takes some advance planning and preparation. However, there are some situations where I frequently find myself wishing I could wear an outfit I would post here. And since that's what Pamela asked, here is a list of those places in no particular order.

• I mentioned this one previously. I would like to wear a nice formal dress to a formal event. Maybe its because I remember all the formals, proms, and dances I went to while I was in school where I was often jealous of all the pretty dresses. One day, I would really like to get dressed to the nines in formal wear and go to really swank event or dance.
• This one is related to the previous one, but since I joked about it in the other post, I thought I would expand on it. I have always enjoyed weddings, and while I had a close male friend ask me to be a groomsman once, I have sometimes thought it would be really special if one of my close female friends ever asked me to be a bridesmaid. (And then my next thought is usually to ask myself what would a male bridesmaid be called?). Of course, this would probably be a horrible idea, and weddings should be all about the couple, but I like the idea of being there for my friends on their special day. Also, I have a long and highly qualified resume documenting my skills at extreme car decoration during the reception. Okay, maybe that last one isn't helping my argument! :) (Hehe, it also doesn't help that the idea of male bridesmaids shows up in pop culture occasionally, like here and here!)
• I also like the idea of going dressed up to informal parties and other social events with friends. This is actually something that I am getting the opportunity to do now, since I have a circle of friends who are accepting of how I like to dress. Its not like there are opportunities on an extremely regular basis, and most of our friends live one city over from us, but next year is looking up on this count.
• I'm sure to no one's great surprise, shopping is high on the list too. Especially the idea of making a real day of it with some friends, and going to a city with lots of great shopping options (and preferably reasonably far away from home for anonymity reasons...). Of course, this one is as much limited by budget as other concerns, so I guess I need to start saving up for it. :)
• A "(Mostly) Girls Night Out". The idea of getting dressed up and going out with small group of close friends to a nice restaurant, followed by a movie, play, or some other fun and/or cultural event or even a nice club. I'm not sure if this counts as irony, but I wouldn't actually want to exclude any gender from this sort of event. Earlier this year, some friends had a tea party and hosted a Mary Kay consultant during the tea. Afterward we all went to a restaurant and then to play pool. The evening was actually completely mixed gender. Okay, well, I was the only guy who elected to go to the Mary Kay part (the other guys watched a movie in a different part of the house), and I ended up changing before we went out for the rest of the evening. So I'm including this one because doing more things like this appeals to me, especially the part where I don't change clothes halfway through.
• I really enjoy office styles a lot, and so the opportunity to conduct business dressed up really appeals to me as well.
• When I was in college, a friend of mine showed up to class one day in a 3 piece suit. We asked him what the occasion was, to which he deftly responded, "Laundry Day." And so the last "place" it something I have probably mentioned before as well. Some days, I just want to get up and dress up for what many would say is "no reason at all". I do think there is a reason though. I want to dress up for myself, and when someone asks why, I don't want to feel embarrassed that I just wanted to look fabulous, and hide behind being out of "regular" clothes. (In all fairness to my friend, he was, in fact, completely out of other clean clothes. I guess doing your own laundry is a life skill too frequently learned in college.)

And of course more questions are always welcome, so definitely feel free to post more. I will always try my best to answer them. This week has been mildly crazy as well, so I must apologize for the lack of posts and being behind in general. And of course today's pictures were taken by my lovely wife.

Black and khaki.

• Sweater: Target (previously)
• Skirt: Old Navy
• Scarf: Maurices (previously)
• Tights: Lane Bryant
• Boots: Payless (previously)

Black with a khaki skirt has always been a classic combination in my mind, and when I saw eek's post the other day, I realized I hadn't posted a combo like that on here before. Edit: I also realized I was inspired by this outfit Hope posted a while back! And although I was keeping it simple with this outfit, I did want to add this scarf to add a little extra pop to the outfit. (And I tied it like this in case anyone is curious) And I realize I have yet again gone with a heavy neutral palette. I definitely need to remember to bring some more color into my winter wardrobe. I guess there's always tomorrow.

I also thought I would remind everyone that I love answering questions. I also realized that since I have attracted some new readers recently (Welcome everyone!), and also just for anyone who hasn't noticed this, that I always try to tag posts where I answer questions with "q and a". I also received a question from Thrifty Momma on my last post: Not sure if you addressed this but I wanted to say at least you are being honest with your wife!! and I was wondering if you two share clothing and give each other tips?

My wife takes the pictures, reads the blog, and reads the comments. So not only is she aware, she is also a (mostly!) willing participant in my interest in fashion, and that is hopefully clear to anyone reading as well. And for all of her help and acceptance, I'm profoundly grateful. But I do want to address the honesty aspect, since I'm pretty sure I haven't discussed it before. My wife is my best friend, and I always try to be honest with her about everything. The only secrets I try to keep are presents and surprises.

My wife was made aware of my interest while we were just dating, and it was not an easy discussion. To make matters more complicated, at the time I did not think my interest was morally acceptable, so I certainly didn't ask her to think it was okay. It wasn't the easiest thing for her to deal with then as well. It has not been an easy road reaching acceptance for either of us. It wasn't until shortly after our marriage that we both reached a productive level of acceptance, and even still, I have times that I struggle with it. The thing is, I do think its mostly a positive part of our lives now, and fashion is a fun creative outlet for me, and we both accept this. Starting this blog has opened up a safe avenue for me to find other people that share my interest in fashion who also find what I'm doing acceptable. My wife has been thrilled at the response this blog has received, and its definitely helped both of us out a lot.

I have discussed before that we do not share clothes. Our clothing and shoe sizes are just too different for that to work. We do occasionally share accessories though, and my wife has borrowed one of my purses before. Of the two of us, I think I enjoy fashion and shopping more, but we do help each other put together outfits and shop for clothes, and I have picked out entire outfits for my wife on a few occasions at her request. :)

And of course today's pictures were taken by my awesome wife.

Little brown dress.

• Dress: Target
• Belt: Torrid (previously, buy it)
• Boots: Torrid (previously)
• Leggings: Maurices (previously)
• Cardigan: Maurices (buy it)

Whatever you can say about this outfit, I'll say this: it was comfortable. I felt so great and comfortable and warm that I didn't want to take it off. For the first part of the day I was freezing, and so when I finally got to the point I could change, I knew I wanted to wear this cardigan. And unfortunately for outfit pictures my wife didn't get home until after dark. But it still worked out I think.

And I feel like I need to give some credit for this outfit and some of my posing as well. I'm pretty sure I was inspired by Ashley from Free Honey both in my posing (and probably a bit of my wife's posing too) and styling from this post (and probably some others as well). Also I probably borrowed a bit from Fashion Momma's post here too. I might have borrowed more inspiration, but its not coming to mind, so if I left anyone out, let me know! And of course my amazing wife took today's pictures.

I'm not a lumberjack.

• Top: Maurices
• Denim Skirt: Maurices
• Socks: Target (previously)
• Boots: Payless

This outfit turned out far better than I imagined and it was extremely comfortable too! I really like plaids, but I have trouble finding plaid tops that work out, and that don't make me feel like I look like a lumberjack, but this one worked out pretty great I think (Not that its bad to look like a lumberjack, its just not the look I'm going for! ;) ). I was also a little nervous about the pattern mixing with the socks and the top, but I thought it worked out pretty great too. These boots are also a little different since they have zippers on the outside instead of the inside. Every time I pull them out of the box, I still find myself surprised by this and only remember because I'm trying to put them on backwards.

Oh, I'm still catching up on blogs, I haven't reached the "mark all as read" futility stage yet! :) And of course, my hair was done and today's pictures were taken by my beautiful wife.

Wow, it got cold outside...

• Sweater Dress: Isaac Mizrahi for Target
• Belt: Torrid (previously)
• Tights: Lane Bryant
• Pumps: Isaac Mizrahi for Target
• Necklace: Maurices

After a bit of an off week last week, I'm mostly feeling better, and I can't say how much I appreciate all your comments! And after a hectic weekend interspersed with some retail therapy, hopefully things will be back to normal soon. Uh, well, other than the 250 posts I have in Google Reader... that will probably take a few more days to deal with... :). About the retail therapy: I had some coupons to Torrid that expire this week, and so we set out to spend them. Unfortunately, the mall was crazy, and Torrid was extremely crowded, so I decided it wasn't worth fighting the crowds, and since we were already out and about, we wandered into Lane Bryant because it was relatively empty and we've never really shopped there. I actually surprised myself by finding a few things I really liked, and since they were also having a 40% off of everything in the store sale, we walked out with more bags than I anticipated.

It's finally also actually cold here, so for today's outfit I broke out the tights and sweater dress. Its a shame Target doesn't continue to have the Isaac Mizrahi collaboration they had a few years ago, because the shoes were really fun, and the skirts and dresses were generally cut in a way that fit me. And while this outfit is only grays and blacks, it was really warm and comfortable and made me generally happy. And of course, my patient and wonderful wife did my hair and took the pictures.

Remixed.

• Top: Maurices (previously)
• Cardigan: Old Navy (previously)
• Pants: Torrid (previously)
• Pumps: Isaac Mizrahi for Target (previously)

I'm pretty sure this is the first outfit I have worn on this blog that is completely remixed, and I am slightly embarrassed to realize how many outfit posts there are prior to this one. *sigh*. Also this top really is more of a green, but it always seems to photograph more of a blue. In other news, the last pieces of my halloween costume arrived today, so yay! Yesterday evening I got my order of tights from We Love Colors, which I ordered after reading a review by Louise of the awesome blog Coffee and a Cardigan, one part of that order was Halloween related, but the rest was because how awesome is a place that stocks 51 colors of tights in every size? And of course today's pictures were taken by my beautiful wife!