When in Doubt Wear Black Out

Dress: Dorothy Perkins, Shirt & Tights: Target, Weird arm placement: All Natural Baby

I changed my top 25 times before I left the house the other day. I had on a black tank top but couldn’t figure out what to wear over it to make this outfit look cute.

Then I remember DUH, I own 3 black t-shirts. I frequently forget that black is an option, I spent my formative teen years with a ‘goth’ older sister which really cemented in my psyche that I’m the ‘colorful one’. Also, I am still playing along with Mara’s ’30 Days of Dresses’, this is TOTALLY a dress, I folded down the top like a lot of bloggers do. I’ve never really tried that before but I really loved the look with this dress.

After work Curly-haired-boy, Ian-dog and I headed over to my mother’s house to watch Tin Tin, becuase I live two blocks from her, and sometimes go over for dinner & movie nights, because I am cool like that. The movie was ‘meh’, and my mother’s TV was so much smaller than ours. In our household the gender roles are frequently reversed, I am the one constantly pontificating we should upgrade our 42′ TV for one at least a foot larger, and Kent is the one that is rolling his eyes.

Maybe next time we will host movie night… THAT will prove him wrong.

  • Sara

    I love folding down dresses, it creates so many options with your wardrobe :) I do really like the black on you, it also makes your hair super vibrant. I also love your dress in the last post, cuuuute!

    • http://www.theinclinedplane.com/ Loren Cline

      I think the red hair really pops with the black shirt. Normally I’m so pale I just get washed out by really dark colors. The dress is a little bit see-through so folding it down adds a little extra security on the bottom as well…

  • http://kristinemachine.blogspot.com Kristine

    Love that you folded down this dress to make a skirt! Way creative. Maybe that’s something I need to try sometime! And I love your blue tights. Over in AZ it’s too hot for tights already :(

    • http://www.theinclinedplane.com/ Loren Cline

      Thanks darling! I’ve never done the ‘fold down’ before because most of my dresses don’t really work that way, but I will definitely be doing it more in the future.

  • Marie_McGrath

    Hahaha you know, what a coincidence, I almost never consider black an option for shirts. If i were to choose a neutral, 4/5 times it would be a white top. But you look fantastic with the black top, I should really try to wear them more often :)

    http://www.thejoyoffashion.blogspot.com

    • http://www.theinclinedplane.com/ Loren Cline

      My one good white t-shirt had to be retired to the rag bin. I am to messy to keep it clean. I’m normally more of a grey or brown person.

  • ThreadsAndButtons

    Haha! We have a REALLY old 46 inch TV that takes up like half of our living room and weighs about 100 lbs. I would happily allow my husband to buy a new, even larger, flat screen if it meant that nasty thing would be out of our house for good!

    Great job styling that dress as a skirt :)

    • http://www.theinclinedplane.com/ Loren Cline

      My first big purchase when I moved out on my own was a GIANT TV, the biggest I could afford! You should just ‘accidentally’ throw the Wii-mote into the TV one day. Or stick magnets to the side, it’ll mess up enough that you HAVE to get a new one ;)

  • http://14shadesofgrey.wordpress.com/ Salazar

    Yeah, I saw Tin Tin in the theater and was not impressed. There’s barely a plot, it was like they just strung together a bunch of different adventures.

    I’ve recently discovered the whole “folding down dress” thing, but I’ve yet to try it out. When I wear a dress as a skirt I just put a top over it… but I can see how this works out better. That print is super cute!

    • http://www.theinclinedplane.com/ Loren Cline

      That’s what I usually do too, but this shirt had buttons down the front and looked super weird layered. So I decided to try folding.

  • http://www.ofcorgisandcocktails.com/ Katherine McAdoo

    i’m glad to find someone else who loves large tvs like i do. i took the small tv (36″) and my husband the larger 46″ and i miss it. i’ve almost bought a new large tv before, especially after visiting my in laws with their huge tv and playing games on it.

    i had a thing where i wanted to buy a lot of black tops and dresses then pair it with annoying colors. i have like 4 black tops too! and i pair my black tops with a floral skirt like this one, and i happen to be wearing basically this outfit today, minus your cute blue tights. but seriously, i am wearing black flats + floral skirt _ black top. and i’m jealous of your blue tights.

    • http://www.theinclinedplane.com/ Loren Cline

      My mother’s TV is about 36″ and OMG I don’t even know how we watched TVs smaller than that.

  • http://myhereandnowlife.blogspot.com/ Jessica

    wow! that’s a dress!? I’m impressed with your creativity!
    xx

  • http://shybiker.blogspot.com/ Shybiker

    Very pretty look. And creative technique.

    When it comes to TVs, bigger is always better. The happiest moment of my life was watching a new 55″ TV get installed in my living room. Now, anything smaller looks sad.

    • http://www.theinclinedplane.com/ Loren Cline

      The TV we have is totally appropriate for our tiny living room. The point is that we COULD go bigger.

  • http://hemsforher.blogspot.com/ Hems for Her, a.k.a. Katie

    Very cute, and I love the color of the tights. I may try rolling down the top of the dress, but I am already so big in the waist- I’m not sure that will be flattering on me! Lucky you!

    • http://www.theinclinedplane.com/ Loren Cline

      The trick is to actually fold the dress in half so the bottom portion is around your butt, and your legs kind of go through the neck hole (I had to leave this one un buttoned). It’s hard to describe but I saw a tutorial once that explained it very well. I think it’s all about finding the ‘right dress’ because believe me it does NOT work with most of my dresses.

  • Audrey

    adorable floral print skirt!

  • http://porcelain-complexion.blogspot.co.nz/ Porcelain Complexion

    Your dress looks great worn as a skirt!
    And I totally agree, when in doubt black is an easy option.

  • http://www.othersideofgray.blogspot.com/ Annie

    Love that skirt Loren, and the black tee looks so cute! And I love that you have dinner/movie nights with your mom – that sounds fun :)

    Annie
    The Other Side of Gray

  • http://iamchiconthecheap.com/ Lyddiegal

    love the floral skirt , it looks so perfecti with those tights.
    (hope this comment works, my browser is being super weird.)