Polka dot pattern mixing

The last time I wore this dress was almost exactly a year ago (in this post). Obviously I'm not great at wearing all my clothes on a regular basis. I really shouldn't have neglected this piece, though, because it has such a fun pattern, plus that magic ingredient that every woman loves in a dress - pockets. I decided to go for a bit of a retro look with the white collared blouse and white wedges, and I borrowed the idea of pattern mixing with the belt from the last time I wore this dress.

When I was putting together this outfit I had on a layered pearl necklace that I tucked under the collar. Josh took one look at it and said, "You should take that off. It makes your outfit too busy." Every year when Project Runway returns, he goes all Tim Gunn on me for a few months and styles my outfits. I kind of love it. It took a lot of convincing to get him to watch that show with me, but now he loves all the drama, and it's taught him enough about fashion that quite often he knows what looks good better than I do.

We discovered this park yesterday and used it for these outfit photos. It's right in the middle of the city, but in this photo it looks like it's far out in the country....

Red polka dot dress: possibly vintage

White blouse: free from my aunt

White wedges: Sam Edelman (Kendall wedges) from Piperlime

Belt: thrifted

Red watch: thrifted from Village Merchants

You win some, you lose some

First off, let's talk about this amazing building behind me. It's a Catholic school on the way to our church. I can't believe something this grandiose exists in Portland. We weren't sure if we were trespassing by taking these pictures (we even parked in their parking lot) and at one point Josh looked horrified and said, "Oh no! There's a bunch of nuns coming towards us, and they look angry!" Of course I turned around to look, and of course he was joking. He said he would have kept taking pictures, though, while the nuns kicked us off the property.

This is another vintage dress that I love but for the length. I'm thinking about chopping a few inches off the bottom. What I wish I could get rid of is the odd lumpy bit of fabric that sticks up around my stomach. I don't know what causes it, but it just looks awkward. When I asked Josh what he thought I should title this post, he suggested "Catholic schoolgirl with a third boob." Unfortunately, the bunchy fabric really does look like I have a third boob in some of these pictures. Oh well - you win some, you lose some, right? Awesome backdrop: win. Third boob: lose.

Dress: vintage
Shoes: Jessica Simpson Dany platforms from Macy's
Belt: thrifted from Rerun
Necklace: B. Lee Designs