Friday, January 09, 2009

Practicality above all

I wore a nightgown under my dress to work yesterday.

See, I think I've left you with the impression that I am utterly impractical. And I am not. I realize that I sometimes look ridiculous. But there are often extremely practical reasons behind it.

And here's the thing. It seems to me that you are either a slip person or you aren't. I am in the latter category.

I own two slips, both from my mother, and both longer than most dresses or skirts I own. Plus, for the most part, I don't wear a lot of sheer stuff. So I feel very little need for them.

But I got this new black knit dress, which is really kind of fabulous. And it's just long enough that it grazed the top of my boots, so I don't have to wear tights with it.

But it turns out that while it's not sheer, on particularly dry days like yesterday, it's really clingy. Particularly, and oddly enough, in the crotchal area.

This didn't happen when I tried it on, but I was wearing tights and it was a really rainy day. It clung, but to other, more flattering places.

And the last thing I want to wear is a dress that features my hoo-ha. So I went casting about for slips.

Mine, as I mentioned earlier, are just too long.

The only suitable thing I could find was a nightgown. Which worked perfectly. And kind of amused me.

I commuted to work in my boots, which was fine for the six-block walk from Nick's office. But impossible for all the walking errands I had to do after work. For those, I needed my Dansko clogs, which I'd left at work the night before.

Now, here's the thing. Since I didn't have tights on, I had one of two options with the striped wool socks I was wearing. And these socks, they are great. They're Smartwool, comfy with really funly colored stripes. They are perfect under boots.

It turns out they look idiotic with clogs. But it was too cold for no socks.

My two options were as follows: Pull the socks halfway up my calves, as high as they will go. Pretend it's a look I am aiming for. Or - and this is the one I chose - fold them down to ankle height, thus minimizing the number of visible colors on the socks.

I probably don't need to tell you that I was already a vision in a turquoise wool coat with a slightly paler blue hat. They look fabulous together. They look less fabulous atop screaming white calves. And brown purple green orange stripey socks, tucked into black clogs - although they were significantly less visible outside in the dark.

Though I did catch several people looking down at my feet while stopped at streetcorners.

I wanted to lean over, wiggle my eyebrows, and say, "And I'm wearing a nightgown underneath all this fabulousness."

20 comments:

  1. This is exactly why you are such a cool person. :)

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  2. heh.

    It's a good thing you're just so darn cute. Because if you weren't people would think you're actually a little cuckoo rather than just a quirky, hot mess.

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  3. Oh, I would have guessed you'd pull those bad boy socks as high and they would go and rocked that look.

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  4. Zandria - Oh, thank you. That's really nice to hear.

    SD - I don't know that I'm not a little cuckoo. I fear I'm going to be one of those super-nutty little old ladies.

    saratogajean - In retrospect, I should've. It's not like the look I achieved was all that subtle.

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  5. oh you're killing me! and it's so surprising because everytime you show a picture you look really amazing and put together : )
    slips are for wearing under any dress, not just the sheer ones. i highly recommend getting a really pretty one, then you can wear it as a nightgown on those nights when you just don't feel like doing more than pulling off your bra... you can find them at most stores

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  6. You're awesome. That's all I want to say.

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  7. The look on their faces would have been priceless!! Or maybe they would have offered you spare change...

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  8. I don't own a slip either, so I think your solution was pretty practical. What I would have done, however, is to bring tights along to change into after work, I can't bear my fluorescent legs!

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  9. I'm reminded of your post last Spring about the cute outfit and curduroy skirt and illusion of a penis in the reflection of a window? Worth a giggle, that one.

    Let me know if you ever pursue a career as a personal shopper. Cool, practical, pretty - I'm not so good at pulling together all 3 in a wardrobe.

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  10. Laughing. With you. Again.

    And here I was complaining about having to wear a silly company-logoed shirt today (cheap POS shrunk the first time I washed it and now the sleeves are too short).

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  11. I'm wearing my PJ bottoms under my jeans today.

    No one suspects a thing.

    Except my teddy bear.

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  12. Crotchal never gets old.

    I say own it and work it. Also, I have definitely worn a nightgown under my clothes before too...glad to have good company.

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  13. All my slips are from my mom too! And I have worn my nightgown under my dress on several occasions too, both to alleviate friction and for warmth. The only time I've ever worn my pajamas under my clothes was here in Amsterdam. They were traditional men's style blue flannel ones with little chicks all over them. It was when I was a tourist and it was so viciously cold I ordered, paid for beers and sat down without realizing there was snot running down my numb face. Anyway, great minds think alike.

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  14. notsojenny - Sometimes I am outwardly pulled together and sometimes I am clearly hanging on by my fingernails. I've had a lot more fingernail days lately. And slips, oh, they just seem superfluous. Except when they're not.

    mysterygirl! - Oh, thank you. I think you are and I'm so glad to hear that.

    Sarah - Why oh why did I not think to solicit change?!

    J - If I had given it any thought ahead of time, it would've been smart to bring tights. My legs are scary.

    HKW - I wish I'd thought of linking to it! And I love that whole outfit, erectiony or no!

    I have thought about how fun it might be to be a personal shopper, actually.

    FoggyDew - Oh, I hate having to wear company logo shirts. We have them for our annual meeting and I hate them.

    Arjewtino - I would like to hug you, right now.

    Lemmonex - I am very glad to hear this. I figured since nobody could see it, who cares, but it's always nice to know I'm in good company.

    Maude - Ugh ugh ugh. I sure hope it isn't super grim cold when we come visit. Also, I think I know the PJs you're talking about.

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  15. I assume no one referred to your shoes as bi-curious, though. Phew!

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  16. Funly! Awesome.

    I too have worn pajama bottoms under my jeans as recently as a month ago. It was just too cold not to.

    Corporate logo shirts.. the library system where I work won a big award one year, and we all got t-shirts to wear for the award ceremony. They were cheap crap, and boring to boot, so some of my student assistants got the idea to tie dye them in time for the ceremony. Can I just tell you that tie dying in the back room of the library is FUN? Anyway, at the ceremony, they caught the eye of the Dean of Libraries and the kids were asked to do a few more for her and for the new incoming president of the university. It was great.

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  17. I definitely would have pulled the socks up as far as they could go. When in doubt, ROCK IT.

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  18. I was so voting for the socks to the knees and complete utter confidence look! I love the nightgown under the dress idea!

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  19. HAHA. That's fantastic.

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  20. That last line about knocked me over.

    Ohhhh have I had days like that.

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