OOTD: Taking One for the Team

This morning when I left the house, it was 7 degrees outside. 7 ! Perfect boot weather, but I absolutely had nothing else even VAGUELY work appropriate that I could wear with my boots. So, yes, I am wearing dress shoes with no socks or tights. Crazy? Yes. My husband just did not understand this. I told him I was just taking one for the team and wearing my regular shoes. He said, "Yeah, taking one for the f*cked up team." Sounds about right.

Jacket: Old Navy
Striped tee: Gap
Trousers: Gap (Perfect Trousers)
Shoes: Mossimo at Target
Earrings: mega sale at JC Penney

Let's talk about this jacket. This was the other part of my Give and Get order that I received on Friday, about 420 years after I probably should have. When I first pulled it out of the box, I loved it. The color is amazing, especially if you are like me and have a closet that is a good 65% black and need any sparks of bright, saturated color that you can get. I tried it on over a tank top that I was wearing that day, and I thought that it fit well, albeit a little tight in the chest (I can button it, although I would probably not wear it buttoned for comfort and because I don't like the way things look when they are buttoned. This is probably because I came of age during the 90's, and have a soft spot for men in unbuttoned flannel). The wool did not feel ultra cheapy, as I expected it to for the small price I paid for it (and compared to a few other ON wool things I looked at/tried on in the week leading up to buying this jacket). So I hung it up and celebrated a win and not having to send any thing back.

Then this morning I put it on with this simple little striped long sleeve t-shirt and realized the sleeves are HELLA tight. I wouldn't consider myself to have big arms, nor have I bulked up since trying it on for the first time on Friday. In fact, it is hard to lift my arms above my shoulders in it. Not that I have a whole lot of reason to be doing that today. I don't think I'll be doing the wave any at my desk. But still. I am kind of wondering who this jacket is made for. I actually tried on the small in gray in-store, and it fit much the same as this one, although a bit tighter in the chest than this one. And the large was HUGE. So I thought a medium would be perfect. And it fits....but it is not perfect.

This brings me to a point that has been irking me lately: sizing. At the risk of sounding like my grandmother (who has been saying this exact sentence since I met her in 1983), sizes these days are getting OUT OF CONTROL. I never know from one store to the next what to expect, but I'm kinda used to that. But lately, I don't know what to expect from one ITEM to another. In the same store. Old Navy is the worst. I have jeans in every size from a size 4 to a size 10 from there that fit me. All of them. And I have tried on shirts there that SWIM on me in a size S and cardigans to top that are tight in a M. And I don't think I have an atypical body type. I mean, I'm pretty standard. So I wonder what people do who don't feel they are pretty standard. Just skip ON? Which, I guess, wouldn't be such a loss, but it is irksome.

The related issue is vanity sizing. Loft, I think, is the poster child for this. I am a size 4 at Loft, and all my shirts are a size S. I have huge boobs--there is no universe in which I should wear a size S. But that "S" used to make me feel good about myself. Now I just realize that everyone wears a smaller size from there. And people like my mom are completely sized out. She used to buy about 70% of wardrobe at Loft, but now has a hard time getting anything there. I once saw her working hard to try to keep up a size 00 in their boyfriend jeans--they would literally fall off of her were she not holding them. The SA just laughed about it (we were already totally cracking up at it when she walked up) and said that they have a lot of people who have that problem. So, um, why not just let people wear their regular size? I mean, I'm not going to just go to Loft because I wear a smaller size there. I'm going to go there because I like their clothes. And in fact, having to ponder, "Now, what size should I get in this?" every time I place an order is irksome. So why not just make it all standard? I'll gladly take my 6's and my M's just for the sake of simplicity.

Speaking of, I have a package at the PO from Loft that is just calling my name....HOLIDAY SPARKLIES.

(My name is not Holiday Sparklies. The box just contains items that are sequined...for the holidays. But now that I think of it, I kinda wish my name was Holiday Sparklies.)

ANYWAY, just my $.02 regarding sizes. Surely I am not the only one who feels like this. Or maybe I am and I really do have some kind of atypical body. Guess it's that hump and all those years of bell ringing taking their toll.

(JUST KIDDING! Little French literary funny for your Thursday morning. Or Disney movie funny, I guess, if you trend that way).