Further to my post yesterday about the prep required for this trip to South Beach, there is the whole wardrobe issue to contend with.  Apparently, I have lost all ability to dress myself.  As I was trying to pack last night, I couldn’t help but think : How do I leave the house in the Summer because CLEARLY I have nothing to wear??  And as a result, it is taking every ounce of my self control to try NOT to re-invent my ‘style’ (such as it is…) for this trip. 

I often do that before a trip- somehow things that I would never wear here at home (but totally love…) seem reasonable and wearable to me.  Of course, there is a reason I don’t wear this item/outift at home (chances are it is too short, too tight, generally unflattering (still beautiful but not on me) or too NOT me) but I seem to feel like I will be bolder, thinner, prettier, less “me” when I am away.  Which I guess could not be further from the truth.  When I am away, although I suppose there is this hope that I will be all of the above, at the end of the day, once I am there, I find that I have never wanted to just be MYSELF more… flaws and all. 

So, with that in mind, although I will admit that I expect to utterly OVER-pack for this 3 day weekend, I am trying to keep my packing to things that I would wear here in Montreal.  I figure that there are enough issues tied up in this whole weekend, the first of which I will invariably be sharing with all of my friends “Holy CRAP… we are 40!?” plus my own ‘baggage’ (oooooooooh… you see that!!?? baggage?  packing?  over-packing??? There are a lot of things to think about on this trip…) including (but not limited to) “OMG… I’m the only one out of 8 of us who is not married and does not have kids”.  The last thing I need to add to this is the whole “WTF am I wearing???” question, riiiigggghhhht?

So, here are some of the things that I have packed already and while I do plan on chucking in another random selection of 5-10 items tonight, I feel like these pieces will cover me for most/every occasion, and most importantly, keep me feeling like “me”

Filippa K long v-neck jersey dress… while I have put the picture here in grey, I am actually bringing this dress in black.  Yes, I should probably try and mix it up and stay away from black, but I won’t, so get over it.  Also, this dress is MUCH tighter on me than on this skinny model.  Perhaps that should make me not want to wear it, but I think it looks better a bit tighter frankly.  Or at least that’s what I am telling myself.  The Funktional dress is gorgeous.  We have it in stock in the ivory version (seen here) and while in my dreams I would be able to wear the ivory one, I barely trust myself to stay ‘clean’ wearing a white cotton tank top… a full length silk ivory dress… I don’t think so (perhaps this has  meaning when paired with the above admission that I am not married… OMG… This trip might lead to some sort of mid-life crisis…) Anyhow, long dresses = fave for me because they hide my calves, which as you all know by now… I hate.  So, these 2 dresses will surely serve me well on this trip.

Jeans: I figure I am pretty much covered with these two pairs of jeans.  Old faithful black skinny JBrand jeans and new Joe’s Visionnaire wide leg in pale Leah colour.  Both are worn as easily during the day as at night, and both can carry off a heel should I force myself to bring/wear a pair.

If I do wear heels, they will be these ones:

RoseGold black cutout heels; although they are SUPER high, they also have a platform which makes them a little more steady for me.  I’m not THAT stable on heels… sad but true at the age of (almost) 40.  Having said that, sometimes they just make everything look better and so I do occasionally suck it up.

I’m bringing these two Free People tops: black lace and gold sequin because again I feel like these can be worn casually or more ‘fancy’ (what a ridiculous word…)

Round it all out with a couple of these American Apparel U neck rib tanks (my favourite tank, by far) and some havaianas

Making sure to pack a whole bunch of jewelry (mostly bracelets as I remain obssessed with wearing as many as I can), a couple of scarves, 2 clutches and some beach dresses that I have collected over the years, none of which owe me a PENNY at this point… and I think I am safe. 

I do promise to report back after this trip and admit whether I wore ANY of the above items, or if somehow I was re-inventing my style even in this post and spent the better part of the night putting together a whole new suitcase!  Wish me luck.  It could be a long night.

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