Nautical Stripe Challenge Day 1: foux de fa fa in the North End

L-A: I do regret that I wimped out on the Heather’s challenge. I may yet do it. But you can’t dress like a mean girl from 1989 if there is a possibility of going to a meeting with people who (a) don’t know you have a blog, and (b) don’t know you are dressing like a character in a cult classic film.  So, when Ally issued the challenge to dress in nautical striped shirts for a week, I knew I couldn’t wimp out. Besides, it’s kind of an easy challenge for me.

We all know that I am in love with nautical stripes. Probably too much. If walk into a store and there is a nautical striped shirt hiding on a rack somewhere, my radar goes off and I find it.

Not everyday will have an inspiration, some days will just be the best way to work yet another striped shirt into my day. Today, however, is inspired by this:

That means it’s inspired by a parody of what is French. It’s totalment faux français with my new Joe Fresh beret ($8! An excellent price as I’m not sure I’m ready to commit to having a beret as a part of my wardrobe), my trusty, rusty bike Mr. Higgins and a baguette in the Hydrostone market.

Even my socks are striped.

Yes, you can feel embarrassed on my behalf.  If you don’t feel embarrassed for me, keep in mind that I loathe having my picture taken on the best of days and I really hate making a spectacle of myself. Just thinking of my plans to go to Julien’s Bakery caused me deep anxiety. For reals. The only thing getting me through the photo shoot is by reminding myself this: at least I’m not dressed like Carrie Bradshaw.

The rest of the outfit is actually pretty standard for me.  Minus the extra nautical/faux French accessories, I totally wear that outfit. Here’s a slightly better look at what I’m wearing.

Here’s a breakdown of my outfit: the shirt is J.Crew from Digby Frenchy’s (go Ally!), the bag is H&M (early spring), the beret is Joe Fresh, the scarf is vintage (it belonged to my Great Aunt Marge and it totally has a nautical pattern on it).  The pants are ancient Calvin Kleins and are not looking so awesome these days, so no close up photos of those (also, I was doing something weird with my leg in a bunch of the photos). The nautical socks are Joe Fresh and the shoes are ballet flats that I need to retire. The baguette is Julien’s French Bakery and went very well with dinner. The bike is vintage as well – 1963.  The only thing French about my outfit is my bike bell.  Not seen in the photo are my nautical rope bracelets. But don’t worry, most of my accessories will probably show up again this week. Heck, I may even end up working that shirt into another outfit, depending on how the week goes.

Ally: I’m writing this at 6:46am on Monday as I did not have time to get to it last night. So glad I started my day off this way. The smirk on L-A’s face says it all. CRINGE. Thank you for the bike, that was a delicious extra touch. Oh, I can’t wait to see what today brings.

Scoring like a french judge to come later. I need coffee first.

Update: Ok, I’m coffee’ed up. Let’s do this:

Wearing a ridiculous amount of stripes in public: +2

Wearing a ridiculous amount of stipes in the artsy north end where people don’t really look twice if you are wearing just pantyhose and a bra: -1

Riding a bike whilst wearing a beret and carrying a European loaf of bread: +4

Not tossing your hat a la Mary Tyler Moore (thanks Rawlsy!): -2

Smirk on your face in second photo: +5

Total: 8 ( I think, I can’t count good)

Also, I have a Great Aunt Marge! She passed away a number of years ago, but she was all kinds of amazing. She called herself Marge the Barge.