Dress the Part

Hi there. I've recently had quite the shakeup, relocating from my old home in San Francisco to a new one in Dubai. I know I want to do something to capture, preserve and otherwise process this experience and this space came to mind, although I'm not sure it'll end up staying here. 
When I mention the move people have a lot of questions about Dubai and I feel like I have more questions than answers at this point. As of today I'm about a week + a handful of days into this new transition and I want to zoom in and just talk about something I do know something about: my outfits. 

Clothes always help ground me to a situation, whether I want to be confident in a meeting, joyful at a wedding, or whimsical on a weekend. You can't go outside naked, so "what do I wear" is a question that at least flits through all of our brains on a day-to-day basis. One way I've been documenting and processing the move is taking an outfit selfie everyday. The clothing experience here is particularly different from what I was used to in California for two main reasons. 

• The first is the culture. There is a different standard of acceptable dress here and I'd like to be respectful. I've received some conflicting reports on what that means for me as an expat and as a woman. I can seemingly wear most of my wardrobe as is, though, and my plan is to do a lot of people watching (which I love anyway) and get a sense of it for myself. As a result, for the first month or so I plan to lean conservative with my clothing choices. 
• The second is the weather. I cannot express to you how hot it is here. During the dead of night it is minimum 90 degrees Fahrenheit/32 degrees Celsius.  During the day it climbs to 109/42 degrees F/C. However, not only that, but it is also humid (right?!) and so my phone will report that with the humidity it often "feels like" closer to 121/49 degrees F/C. Currently, I'm only going outside when absolutely necessary, mostly during the small moments when transferring from the air conditioned hotel to the air conditioned Uber to the air conditioned destination (like the mall, more on that later). It also means I always have sunscreen, a hat, sunglasses and water. 

Combine those two elements and I'm targeting natural breathable fabrics, light colors, flowy garments and decolletage, shoulders and legs mostly covered. So, here's what we've got so far:

Posing Needs Work

Cardigan - 8telier
Dress - Theory Nutria Crepe Blouse
Shoes - Cole Haan 

I know this pose is a little strange, but I was trying to show the color-contrast of the lining of this cardigan/jacket. Instead, it looks like I should have a bunch of watches hanging from the inside that I am going to try to sell to you.

Photo from Lyst

True story: this dress is actually a tunic top that I had tailored. 
It is a few sizes too large and looked like a dress on me, since, as you can see, it sort of was more mini-dress than tunic-top on the model. (As an aside, the tunic/formal-board-shorts pairing in the stock photo seems like it has a very high degree of difficultly to pull off.) Normally, I wouldn't bother buying something like this that needs immediate tailoring, but it swayed me for a few reasons. I loved the neckline, and as it was heavily discounted and had a pretty simple construction (i.e, just side seams), I took a chance and took it to a tailor. She was able to bring it in on the sides pretty easily, and the end result - a lovely work dress.

The ribbons can be draped, like so, or tied in a bow.

Do you ever take a chance on tailoring? Does it ever work out, or usually end in heartbreak? 

Office Snuggie

Cardigan | 8telier
Pants | See Thru Soul
Boots | Fyre Dorado Riding

 I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but my office is freezing. Add to that the fact that I am someone who is typically always cold, and it is rough. Rough my friends. As such, I am always looking for something that can essentially function as an office blanket. This cardigan by 8telier is pretty darn close. It is soft, warm, and sort of has a blanket-essence about it, but it is also definitely work appropriate. I also love that it has different colors on the outside and the liner. If it only had pockets, I would probably layer it over my other clothes everyday. 

Also, to answer what is your obviously your next question, yes, those are two life size "little drummer boys" in the photo behind me. 

I added a pin - to give it a little something-something. 

When you're cold at work - how do you cope?

Swish

I was stopping to get some food and saw a boutique I'd never heard of called 8telier. They had a sign in the window that they were having a special sale, and I decided I'd quickly look in, only to find out that the sale was 50% off everything in the store, including sale items (which is always the best). I guess they are a newish brand and were trying to clear out the store in anticipation of the next season's clothing. The designer is based in Seattle, and, per the saleslady, they are committed to modern, architectural clothing that is practical (i.e., almost everything in the store was machine washable).  

This dress was actually styled on the manikin as as top (and try as I might I cannot get it tied up in a big loose bow the way it was shown) but I was pleasantly surprised to see it was actually a dress, It would have made a great beach cover-up in Hawaii, but for now I'm content wearing it as-is, or with a sweater for work.

 Definitely a happy accident for me. I guess the moral of the story is always investigate a window sale sign.