Speaking of Gray...

Boots: Steve Madden
Tights: Hue via Plato's Closet
Skirt: Brass Plum via Goodwill
Sweater: Ross
Long sleeve: Kiabi via France

All Quiet

It's been pretty quiet around here lately--I am working on a new project, which is taking a lot of my time. More news to come soon!


Sweater: Chico's
Scarf: Self-made
Tights (Hue) layered over leggings (Target)
Boots: Steve Madden
Sweaterdress: Ross
Longsleeve: Kiabi via France

Twenty Five Pennies

After looking over my Two Thirds Review, I realized that I have been wearing cardigans almost every day for the past few days. I wanted to try to branch out a bit, so instead I wore a long-sleeved shirt underneath my sweater to have the warmth without the layering look. It's not a huge step, but it's something. Next: Outfits without scarves!

What items do you wear out of habit?
Do you have any 'safety-blanket' items you feel undressed without?
What has been your most ridiculous favorite item that you wore all the time?









Sweater: Gap via Goodwill
Long-sleeved shirt underneath: Kiabi via France
Skirt: Preview Collection via Goodwill
Tights: Black Tights from Target layered over Underamour
Boots: Giusti via Goodwill
Scarf: Self-made

Twenty Four Hours of Light

...is certainly not here! I'm having problems getting proper lighting on my pictures, as I go to work before the sun comes up and come home after the sun goes down. Yesterday it was raining and was therefore too dark all day to take any photos at all. I will be retaking those photos at some unknown, later date, maybe when the sun will cooperate a bit more. Does anyone else have this problem? I feel like I see so many beautiful pictures in the blogosphere, but I don't know how people manage to get pictures with proper lighting in the winter, especially if they are working! Does anyone have any creative solutions?

What other weird blogging problems have you encountered?






Pants: The Merlot via Plato's Closet
Shoes: Naturalizer via Goodwill
Long Sleeve Shirt: Kiabi via France
Short Sleeve Shirt: Language Los Angeles via Plato's Closet
Blazer: AE via Plato's Closet

Catch-Twenty Two

This is what I wore for Thanksgiving dinner (a backlogged outfit that I am finally posting). It's ok...but it's not great. I am still posting it, however, because it is a great example of why this is called DEVELOPING Style, and not Plummy: Life of Glamour and an Eternally Fantastic Wardrobe. I can't quite put my finger on what's wrong with the outfit though. I think it's a bit top heavy? With no patterns and no single focal point of interest? Is it the lack of accessories? Readers, please help!


I still love my shoes though!

Sweater Dress: Rhapsody via Ross
Long-Sleeve Shirt: Kiabi via France
Tights: Hue via Plato's Closet
Shoes: Naturalizer via Goodwill
Sweater: 22 via The Rack (oh, the irony! Wearing the brand 22 for outfit 22...hahaha...)

(I also can't help but think that these tights would fix everything...but that might just be a minor obsession talking...)

Nine Lives

I decided to drag myself out of bed and sweatpants into my equally-comfy-but-much-more-like-a-real-person-feeling sweater dress and tights. Ta-daaah!

Do you ever use clothing to change how you are feeling? Or does your clothing merely reflect what is already there? I notice that I tend to do both....
What kind of outfit do you throw on when you are under the weather? Is it sweatpants all the way, or do you have an alternative?


Sweater dress: Rhapsody via Ross
Cardigan: Goodwill find, altered by me
Tights: F21, gift
Long sleeved shirt: Kiabi from France
Scarf: Self-made
Boots: Steve Madden

Four Ways To Wear Episode 13: Orange Tweed Skirt

Now, don't worry--I haven't breached my 30 for 30 No(shopping)vember! However, in the spirit of working within my wardrobe, I decided to do a bit of sewing to turn a skirt I don't wear very much into one that fits my wardrobe better. This is not one of my thirty items, so you won't see this skirt again on my blog until December, but I decided to do a Four Ways To Wear episode amid my thirty remix challenge! (If I am not making much sense, it is because I am hopped up on strong pain killers--sorry!)

If you want to see the before, I wore it here. I enjoyed the color and the tweedy material, but the length was a bit too long, the lining was coming undone, and it felt a bit boxy to me. So I snipped, pinned, and sewed, and here it is! (If you were wondering, this skirt was the result of the inspiration from Orchid Grey--I love the silhouette of her skirt in that picture!)

The Candidate: An altered orange tweed skirt.

The Goal: A cute, professional skirt that will add a fun color twist to some of my basic outfits.

The Results:


Skirt: Vintage via Goodwill, altered by me
Sweater: Unknown via Goodwill donation pile
Shirt: Loft via Plato's Closet
Tights: Hue via Plato's Closet
Boots: Steve Madden
Belt: Unknown via Goodwill


Skirt: Vintage via Goodwill, altered by me
Sweater: 22 via The Rack
Long sleeved shirt: Kiabi via France
Tights: Hue
Shoes: Naturalizer via Goodwill


Skirt: Vintage via Goodwill, altered by me
Sweater: Goodwill find, altered by me
Shirt: Kiabi via France
Necklace: Vintage via Goodwill Outlet
Tights: Hue
Shoes: Merona, gift


Skirt: Vintage via Goodwill, altered by me
Long sleeved shirt: Kiabi via France
Cowl-necked sweaterdress (worn as shirt): Rhapsody via Ross
Tights: F21, gift
Boots: Giusti via Goodwill

The Verdict: I like this silhouette and shape much better than before. I'm still not enamored with the color--is it too much of a blue-hued orange? I think that might be it. However, hopefully I will get more wear out of it this way than I did before (when I wore it once in the past six months!).

Do you alter your clothing at all, or even do any of your own alterations? What do you think about the alterations that I did--successful or meh? Finally, do you agree with me about the color being not quite right, or am I too drugged up on pain meds to accurately judge the skirt? ;)

Seventh Heaven

Today I had to return some stuff to the Goodwill (a few items that didn't even make it to Four Ways To Wear status, that's how bad they were. Why did I buy them? My brain overheated? It's a mystery) and it was a test of my willpower to not browse all of the new items. But I did it! First I tricked myself into thinking that I would look but not buy...and then I YANKED the rug out from under me and kept walking towards the exit after my return went through. I'm a tricky fiend...



Sweater Jacket: 22 via The Rack
Longsleeve Shirt: Kiabi from France
Skirt: Preview Collection via Goodwill
Tights (gray, outer layer): Hue
Tights (brown, inner layer): Target
Shoes: Naturalizer via Goodwill
Scarf: Goodwill

Two Much Rain

Well, the weather drastically turned overnight, from Sunshine McSunnyson to Rainy Gloomy Coldberg. So, I took the liberty of swapping out my Champion Tennis Shoes for my (relatively) new black Capelli rainboots (via Goodwill, as usual) in my 30 items of clothing. Kendi said coats didn't count because she didn't want to penalize us for weather differences, and I briefly thought that might apply to rainboots as well, but let's face it--if it's raining all November, then I will be living in these rainboots all November, and that should count as one of my pairs of shoes.

When building this outfit today, I thought to myself 'self, today let's aim for warm and comfy.' Inclement weather always provokes me into wearing massive amounts of layers and forgoing my jeans, which I find to be not as comfy as wearing leggings and a dress made out of sweater material.

Believe it or not, but I am wearing three layers on bottom AND three layers on top here. Secret weapon, ka-ching!


Boots: Capelli via Goodwill (purchased the night before my 30 for 30, thank you very much!)
Leggings (base layer): Underarmour
Tights (middle layer): F21, gift
Tights (outer layer): Lacey tights from F21
Longsleeve shirt (base layer): Kiabi via France
Sweater dress (middle layer): Rhapsody via Ross
Sweater-coat (outer layer): 22 via The Rack

Four Ways To Wear Episode 12: Black Silk Shirt

Whenever I see something by Banana Republic at the Goodwill, a little bell goes off in my head. On the whole, I love BR items more than is usual for any particular brand. Of course, at the Goodwill I can find a whole variety of non-flattering BR items, but still--every once and again I find something like this. I found this silk/viscose blend shirt and it jumped from the rack into my hand before I had realized what had happened. I tried it on and it was perfection. I tried to rationalize--Plummy, how many black shirts do you have? Plummy, what about trying other, non-black and non-gray neutrals? But it was all for naught as I decided that this shirt had to belong to meeee! I'm glad I did decide to take it home--it will replace one of my other black shirts, which I rarely wear anymore because it is looking a bit worse for wear. Anyways, enough blabbing, you want the goods! Here is my Four Ways To Wear for this shirt!

The Candidate: A black BR shirt I found at the Goodwill.

The Goal: A long-lasting, high quality black shirt that will be able to skew both casual and professional.

The Results:


Shirt: BR via Goodwill
Pants: Martin & Osa via Goodwill
Shoes: Naturalizer via Goodwill


Shirt: BR via Goodwill
Long-sleeved shirt: Kiabi shirt from France
Skirt: I.N.C. via Goodwill
Scarf: Goodwill
Tights: Hue (sadly ripped and rarely worn now)
Boots: Steve Madden


Shirt: BR via Goodwill
Long-sleeved shirt: Kiabi shirt from France
Skirt: H&M via Plato's Closet
Scarf: Gift
Tights: Hue (sadly ripped and rarely worn now)
Boots: Steve Madden


Shirt: BR via Goodwill
Long-sleeved shirt: Kiabi shirt from France
Dress worn as Skirt: Forever 21
Tights: Hue (sadly ripped and rarely worn now)
Boots: Steve Madden

The Verdict: It's black. It's silk. It's Banana Republic. Of course I am in love!

The Sun is a Late Sleeper Too

These shorter days are wrecking havoc on my photo-taking schedule! I apologize for the graininess in this photo, I took it right before I left for work and apparently that is still too dark for decent photos.


Skirt: Express via Plato's Closet
Blazer: Costa Blanca via Goodwill donation pile
Shirt: Kiabi Women from France
Scarf: Too bad it didn't photograph well--it's very pretty, with Parisian landmarks on it in yellow. I found it at a garage sale ages ago.
Tights: Hue
Shoes: Naturalizer via Goodwill

Where The Cotton Blooms and Blows

Jacket: 22 via The Rack
Shirt: Kiabi Women from France
Jeans: Martin & Osa via Goodwill
Shoes: Naturalizer via Goodwill

Four Ways To Wear Episode 2: Purple Embroidered Shirt

The Candidate: A deep grape silk and cotton blend loose fitting shirt from Lucky Brand (via the Goodwill, of course!)

The Goal: A cute work-appropriate shirt, something that will go with pants and skirts

The Results:


Shirt: Lucky Brand via Goodwill
Pants: Martin & Osa via Goodwill
Shoes: Naturalizer


The same outfit, but with a blazer by American Eagle via Plato's layered for a more formal, professional feel.




Shirt: Lucky Brand via Goodwill
Sweater: The Limited via Goodwill
Skirt: Vintage, unknown brand, via Goodwill
Tights: F21, gift
Shoes: Aerosoles, gift




Shirt: Lucky Brand via Goodwill
Long-sleeved shirt: unknown brand, from France
Skirt: Express, via Plato's Closet
Scarf: Gift
Tights: F21, gift
Boots: Steve Madden


Shirt: Lucky Brand via Goodwill
Pants: The Merlot via Plato's
Shoes: Naturalizer
Blazer: H&M (from six years ago, and I still wear it!)

Final Verdict: Success!

To-Do

After my (somewhat) massive shopping spree yesterday, I feel that I have nicely rounded out my school wardrobe. There are still only a few main things left to get, but they are so specific I think I will just make them and be done with it. Actually, I think mainly it is just three skirts: one jean pencil skirt (dark wash), one light neutral colored full skirt with the waistband at the natural waist, and one black full skirt with the band at the natural waist. All three should be a snap to make (I even have a pencil skirt pattern I have used before that I love, and let's face it--the other two are just a series of different sized rectangles sewn together) and I just need to get the fabric.

However, I am going to save these projects for a bit later in the summer. I have spent far too much money recently, and can keep an eye at thrift shops for material or even for the specific skirts (although it will be a miracle if I find something to fit my exacting standards).

So that this is not a post just for words, here are some photos of an item I bought yesterday!



This red sweater top was one of my last purchases, but I very much enjoy it! Originally 150$ (!!!) I snagged it for 30$ at Nordstrom Rack. It is made out of a sweatshirt type material and is going to be perfect for the fall or for layering in the winter. The sleeves are 3/4 but I may hem them up another one inch to bring the line more squarely between my wrist and my elbow, we'll see.

In this outfit I paired it with a black long-sleeved shirt from France, navy blue cords (blue, not black), and ballet flats. I think it will also be cute with my (soon to be made) dark wash denim pencil skirt.