Sorry for not updating sooner, but this conference has been a whirlwind!
On Monday I ended up wearing two separate outfits because I had not planned an outfit that would transition from day to late into the night. During the day I needed an outfit that would span both attending panels and walking downtown and back. It was also really chilly (+20 all week my ass!), so I wore the only dress I brought with my that had sleeves, added leggings, and topped it off with my navy and white blazer, which I wrote about last post.
The Dress
I bought this dress for my summer capsule the same day I bought my white Banana Republic dress. I was inspired by my colleague who had a printed wrap dress from BR from last season — so when we hit up BR while shopping I made an effort to look for a wrap style dress in a bold print. I found this dress in the clearance section and thought I’d give ‘er a spin since I am drawn to patterns like a bird to shiny objects (and it was a plus that the print fit my capsule colour palette).
I wasn’t sure about the fabric because I tend to lean towards very structured styles in heavier fabrics and don’t love clingy fabrics. Nevertheless, I liked the way the dress fit, so I purchased it. I got quite a few compliments on the pattern and the best part was that it didn’t make me like I was overheating when I went for a long walk over the canal with a few of my colleagues.
Styling
I styled this outfit very simply: a pair of cute red-rose Beck&Boosh earrings (a Truro-based accessory company), paired it with my navy and white blazer when I was cold, and finished it off with a red belt I had to purchase from Bluenotes because I forgot my good, red skinny belt in Hali (but, seriously though, Ottawa shape up! I shouldn’t have to go to Bluenotes to buy a replacement belt — I went into store after store in the Rideau Ctr with no luck — at least it was only $6!).
Transition to Dancing
That evening was the annual dance party and I needed something slightly lighter since I figured it would be a hot dance floor, packed full of people. I paired a red pencil skirt that I bought two or three years ago from Pseudio with a high-collared, sheer, light-weight, printed (yes, more print!) tank-top from Joe Fresh.
I kept the style basically the same from the rest of my day — same Beck&Boosh earrings, but straightened my hair and switched to Kat Von D’s Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in “Brick Red”.
The shirt was the perfect weight for a dance club full of people! My only wish was that I had an outfit that could transition from conservative, conference wear to a fun night out, but alas I do not. However, I feel that this is more of a reflection of my life and therefore how I dress; that is to say, 80% of the time I wear outfits for teaching/working on campus/ conferencing, and the other 20% of my wardrobe is casual. As I go out dancing maybe once a year, it makes a certain amount of sense that I wouldn’t carry an outfit in my capsule that would cover that category.
So, what do other capsule fanatics do? If you have a “special occasion” do you draw from a special capsule of clothes that you keep in your closet for such occasions as Unfancy does? Or do you re-purpose/ re-combine existing capsule items to fit the event? Do you count these items or outfits in your capsule?
3 thoughts on “Summer Capsule Day Three: Transitioning Conference-Conservative to Downtown Dancing”