more cheapie shopping finds

In my opinion, you have to have good basics.
These Express tanks fit so well. Body hugging. Long. Beautiful shades.
I am deaccessioning some older tanks to make room for these.
Buy one, get one half off at $19.50 per tank. I got these 4 yesterday.

Since it suddenly became SUMMER! with temps in the eighties in NYC, I have been studying colorful outfits walking down the street. And making notes on Twitter with the hashtag, #colorpalette. I will do this everyday, because there are so many great ideas to be noted and remembered.

I think all this noting has paid off. I have shed my black. Well not totally. Let's be real here. I mean I do rely heavily on black and silver. But I have actually purchased color! And plan to wear actual color-on-color with no black to set it off. Can I do it? Or is this all lip service? Who can tell. I will let you know when I do it.

Express, as I noted in the previous post has the kind of jewel tones that I love. I don't really like off-shades as it turns out. But then again, I did buy some olive-colored cargos from Esprit yesterday (not pictured on their site, too bad). Olive counts as an off-shade. I have plans to wear the olive with magenta and royal blue. Yum. I am even going to try to work in some tan with blue and magenta. Crazy. Well if you know me, it's crazy. My mom would be shocked, I'll tell you that much.

I have so many colored shoes (that I have been stockpiling, don't ask why, it's just what I do), and I can't wait to wear the perfect shoe with these outfits. At last, all my random purchases are coming together. In my defense, if I may, they are not random. I shop by item, just as I design. If an item is ideal in itself, I buy it. Or if it is totally versatile and will set off my other pieces in a new and exciting way, I buy it. Sometimes it takes a year for these items to be tied together, and yes, I feel like a nut owning all these great items that don't come together. I console myself with the thought that someday soon I am going to have a bunch of amazing outfits with all the details coordinated in a creative mix-match way. Yes I do get disgusted with myself at times for owning too much, and then I promote the values of minimalism to myself, hoping I will hear it. Please read this post from February if you want to learn more.

Now the weather is warm, and I'm feeling expansive. And colorful. And hopeful. Tomorrow I am planning a color-on-color ensemble with no black for miles. I think it's going to rain though. I might just wear it anyway. We shall see!


P.S.
Do you write your outfit combos on index cards? (like every piece -- top, tank, pants, tights, barette, bangle, shoe, etc.) I do! Saves time in the AM. I am thinking of switching to photos. Just photographing the good outfit combos (elements arranged on a white background). I might judge myself too harshly as a nut half way through the project and abandon it. But really, it's a good time-saving idea. It would force me to wear more of my wardrobe, rather than going to default black-with-black.