How to Wear a Pleated Skirt

The Scene


Delicious dinner at Tom Colicchio's Craft with the lovely Mr. and Mrs. Saint.

Hamachi with grapefruit to start

Duck Tortellini
White Corn & Mustard Greens

Washugyu Flatiron
Bone Marrow Custard & Morels

Winnimere
Apricot Mostarda

Nectarine & Blackberry Shortcake
Vanilla Crème Fraîche & BlackberrySorbet

And freebie Scooby snacks to take with us. 

Happy piglets went nomnomnom all the way home.

The Outfit
Banana Republic tank
BCBG Generation skirt
Louis Vuitton tote
Valentino heels
Canal street palm tree necklace
Forever 21 bracelet

The Grade
C+ (for super self-Conscious)

The Commentary

As I hurdle violently toward my 35th birthday, I am trying to come to terms with my aging body. I've accepted the fact that thanks to a slow thyroid, an appetite that rivals any hog's and a lifelong aversion to athletics, I'll never have a Kate-esque waist.

For this reason, I've avoided buying pleated skirts even though they've been everywhere for the past year. LOVE them on other bloggers. They come off as so flirty and lady-like. Especially on my girl crush Kate. Her whippet-thin waist and barely-there hips are ideal for the style, which inevitably adds bulk around the middle. My thick waist and child-bearing hips (barren and yet still broadening, ironically), not so much. 

However, I temporarily lost my mind a few months ago and bought this pleated beauty. In my defense, the print is pretty, it was on sale and the pleats are so thin that I convinced myself they almost made my hips look thin. I also blame my mom who is pretty honest with me in the dressing room and said it looked great.

Fast forward a few months and the skirt and its trickster pleats have been languishing in my closet like most things do when I'm not absolutely sure I've made a good purchase.  But recently on a warm spring night out with old friends, I decided YOLO. This side-by-side comparison of Kate and Kim in pleats might have helped me reconsider.

Paired the skirt with nude-ish heels to help lengthen the legs and balance the proportions.

Also decide to show off alot of skin on top to draw attention away from my mid-section. Since the girls are holding up, I might as well use them, right? Added the cute little palm tree necklace to further draw the eye up. Was in such a hurry that I didn't add a jacket or wrap sweater to give the look some structure and disguise the midsection - like I normally do.  Pretty ballsy.

Not one of my favorite looks of all time but I'm proud that I tried to embrace the skin I'm in as I enter my mid-thirties. Even prouder that I did it while enjoying a great (read: pig) meal ;) 

The Inspiration

Trevor Project Garden Party: H&M White Dress

Two years ago, the Trevor Project Garden Party was at the Versailles-inspired Fleur de Lys house. This year, the annual summer fundraiser was at the palm tree-lined, Morrocon-meets-Mexico house of Roland Emmerich, director of blockbusters like Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012.

Um, the pool house alone cost $2 million.
  Mental note: get into the doomsday movie business.

As with any Trevor Project event, it was heart-wrenching to stand next to some of my dearest friends and hear stories about gay teen suicide.  But it is always heart-warming to hear about all the incredible work the organization is doing to change society, like opening it's third suicide prevention call center in the old offices of Harvey Milk in The Castro.




Sable Crow is on Trevor's board. He's the reason I got involved. He is the bomb.com.





SC has not only pulled dozens of his friends like me into the organization as donors and volunteers
but he even got his PYT boyfriend to sponsor the event.

His bf's company is called NibNobs Sweet Company.
Remember, you heard about it here first, bitches.

Move over, Sprinkles, Nibnobs are like these heavenly bite-size cakes. Perfect for parties. Unlike cupcakes or actual cakes, they aren't messy or hard to eat when you are a fancy event full of hotties, richies and skinnies.  You just pop them in your mouth, they are all gone and you go on pretending you're not a pig ;)

This pig had more than a few at Sable Crow's housewarming recently.




With quite a bit of wine ;)



Delicious new house and a boy that bakes???



Delicious life we all have.

Dan Savage is right: it does get better. 

The Outfit
H&M dress
Vintage trench

The Accessories
Chanel bag
Valentino heels
H&M belt
Marc Jacobs sunnies

The Grade
A

The Commentary
I did the unthinkable at the Trevor party:  I wore the same white fluttery dress that I wore to Sable Crow's house warming. Yes, I repeated outfits...around the same group of friends...I know, I'm trash.



I just adore this white confection and want to wear it every day. Plus, in my defense, I styled it fairly differently each time. Dressed it down with a green army jacket for the housewarming.




And then dressed it up with bare arms, a black bow belt and studded Valentinos for the garden party.

The shoes were a HUGE hit with the boys. But mostly I think they stood out at the event because the ladies who like ladies aren't known for their footwear. Sigh. I want to start a shoe styling business for lesbians.

But frankly they probably have it right.  The heels are always a nerveracking call at the Trevor garden party. There's inevitably a huge pool at the event. And I spend most of the party worried I'm going to stumble and be THAT asshole who falls into the pool and is asked to leave looking like a drowned rat.

Ugh to clumsy straights.
Will it ever get better for us?

The Inspiration