dress more stylishly

Since I prefer paying my bills online, using ATMs and generally avoiding the human element, life has become more convenient. Once in a while though, I do have to line up and deal with a human… I can’t deposit USD through the ATM and generally, anything to do with foreign funds has to be done at the counter. Having to do this has reminded me of the one thing I miss about coming face to face with bank tellers: seeing what they wear.

They’re a great source of ideas. I’ve gotten some nifty ideas on what to wear from them. It makes total sense. They have a mandatory dress code, they’re required to look presentable, neat, tidy and professional. But, at the same time, they also have quite a bit of free range within their guidelines to allow for personal taste and style.

I’ve never thought magazines and run-ways were a good place to look for fashion ideas. Models in the fashion industry actually have adolescent boys’ bodies, sometimes with breast implants, sometimes without. I can’t speak for anyone else, but that’s nowhere near what my body looks like, so whatever they’re wearing will usually not work for me at all. But bank tellers are more likely real people, real women with real and different body shapes and sizes. I’m much more likely to see them modelling something practical and accessible that would look good on me than a run-way model.

It’s a crap shoot to be watching bank tellers for fashion ideas. I don’t always see something spiffy enough to copy, but when I do, it’s fantastic. Especially when it’s something that I can do with things that I already have! And it’s random enough that I can’t be accused of copy-catting most of the time because I’m not in the same environment.

The other day, I saw a bank teller girl wearing a black lace-trimmed camisole underneath a midnight blue button-down cotton shirt. Only the button at her diaphragm (right under her breasts) was done up. The rest of the buttons were open. The black cami was one colour and in a tasteful style. The colours were muted and not flashy, bright or loud. It didn’t show a lot of skin because there was a fresh, ironed, cotton shirt over it, so the whole thing was stylish without being trashy. She was a fairly heavy-set girl, but the princess cut of the shirt made it very flattering on her body.

I have a black lace-trimmed cami. I have the same shirt, except mine is burgundy/wine red. I recognized the ‘V’ cut on the sleeve. I did the same thing that she did with clean, crisp black pants and non-descript black heels. My boots are very similar to this Ralph Lauren pair except mine are no-names and were only CAD$45.00. My pants cover most of it, so the buckle on those Ralph Laurens would not be visible anyway. I got mine three years ago and I’m still wearing them. I wore that to work one day when we had a VP/Product Champion in the office for meetings.

It wasn’t dressy enough that people thought I was interviewing for another job, but I did get positive comments on it from others in the office. It was up a notch from the regular, geeky, IT Jeans-and-Blah™. =)

I carry a Jeanne Lottie Canvas Day bag. It retails for $150. I got it at an end-of-season sale with an extra discount-on-discount with my Bay credit card. I paid a total of $60 for it. Even thought that still hurts a bit, I’m beginning to accept that good quality merchandise just costs a lot more than it used to. It’s harder and harder to luck out and find something fabulous for around $20 anymore. Still, it’s best to wait for sales, because that’s closer to how much things are really worth.

I needed something bigger for a binder full of documentation and paper for Work. That, and I just have too much crap to tote around.

I also wanted something bigger because I was reading Across The River And Into The Trees. It was a pain to have to carry the book in my hands and balance my coffee and get doors open and everything else, but by the time I decided on the bag, I had finished the book. =P Which is fine. I have Suite Française now.

Incidentally, my Dell Inspiron 630M fits perfectly into it if I felt like carrying that with me. =D

And here’s the What’s In My Purse survey.

My Mother-In-Law is back in town. =) And since I paid for a bunch of things for her while she was gone, she picked up some loot for me while she was in Taiwan. I have clothes! -teehee-

Bras are cheap, great quality and come in very pretty colours in Taiwan. Among pants and shirts, I have some very nice bras now. However, the original bunch that she got for me were way too small, even though the size on the label is the size that I always get here.

Well. I could maybe wait for that Four-Boobed™ look somehow magically become the latest fashion rage out of Paris… and with some of the crazy shit that you see on the runways, that wouldn’t surprise me one bit.

But, in the meantime, I’ll stick with what I know.

My Mother-in-Law wears a bigger bra size than I do. She ended up giving me all the bras she originally bought for herself because they’re too small for her and they’re just right for me. And the ones she originally got for me will have to be given to someone else much smaller.

When getting bras from Asia, I have to remember that the frame and cup size are different. I have to go up a notch or two from what I get here in North America. It just makes me sound like a whale. I actually look okay.

Bras sold in Asia tend to be super padded. Padding COMPLETELY changes the fit. As much as I hate padded bras, you virtually cannot get anything that isn’t. =P

I currently carry a black nylon map bag, cross-wise, as my purse. I got it for $15 to replace my little blue nylon map bag that I got at London Drugs for $5 (yay Back-To-School sales). It has tons of compartments and organizes everything in an easy-to-reach fashion: multiple key sets, cell phone, wallet, pen and scribble pad, etc.

I also have a stylish brown demi that my Mother-in-Law got me from Taiwan. I really like it, it’s dainty and very elegant. It goes well with a wide range of clothes that I wear. It has a very classy upscale look, but it’s not one of those overpriced-for-no-bloody-reason brand names that I abhor. The only problem is, it’s too small. I keep having to “budget” my space with it; if I bring this, I can’t bring that, but if I’m desparate to bring them both, that means I can’t do up the zipper. I’d just as soon not use it.

I have a straw tatami-ish purse with brown faux leather trim that I got from one of those cosmetic gift specials. I like the look and it’s big enough, but it’s just one big melting pot of a bag. Everything that goes in will slosh together and I like being able to know exactly where things are when I need it without having to root around. It has no zipper, so I can’t close it.

I have various other purses, but they’re all formals that go with my evening gowns.

I really like some of the stuff at www.coach.com (like this cutie or this thing), but I’m not paying $200+ for something like that. The place where I got my current black map bag also sells other purses and handbags for no more than $20 or so. They have some fun, cool summery ones that look like they’re big enough for my stuff. I’ll have to wait until the Mother-in-Law comes back from Taiwan next week though. She was going to grab me some clothes while she was there. I wanted to wait and see what my clothes are going to look like before I pick a purse to go with it.

I’m starting a new job as a part of the IT group at a Finance Company. Our offices are in the financial district of downtown Vancouver. I can learn to dress better in this part of town. People (well, minus the panhandlers anyway) dress well around that area because they kinda have to. The co-workers are all in jeans and floopies, but I’ve always worn pants with blouses as well as jeans. I’m still a geek, I just have a lot of fun defying stereotypes.

Yaletown, where Now-Ex-Work was, wasn’t too bad either because it’s a trendy place as well, but it’s more of a hi-tech district with executives and film crews once in a while, so it was still very casual.

But I can probably get ideas for styles, colours and accessories from everyone else. Once in a while, I’ll see a woman walking opposite to me wearing a really spiffy outfit that jumps out. I try to remember and once in a while, I’ve actually gotten around to doing something very similar with whatever I could find on sale at the malls or Costco. It’s usually worked very well.

My last big wardrobe makeover was in 2000 and, I think, was quite successful judging by all the people who kept asking me if I had lost weight or had body sculpting/cosmetic surgery done… =P

I will be collecting clothing ensemble notes here. I will also have to make better use of my little note pad and pen that I keep on me for miscellaneous things like that.