Jean-ius

Confession time: I'm 4'11."" I usually tell people I'm five feet tall, but height measurement devices say otherwise. The point is, I'm very short, and finding well-fitting clothes off the rack can sometimes prove to be a herculean task. Especially when it comes to pants and jeans.

I usually resort to (1) folding them up (outwards or inwards, depending on the dress code), (2) just letting them bunch up around my ankles (resulting in a sloppy/unpolished look) or (3) having a tailor trim them from the hem. The latter practice, aside from being tedious (I'm lazy), is problematic because it ruins or distorts the cuff circumference, particularly when skinny jeans are involved. That is, unless you taper from the inseam as well, which is even more tedious. 

Enter petite sizing, God's gift to the vertically challenged women of the world. Granted, many brands' petite sizes still run too large/long for me (local or foreign), but once in a while I get a respite from my shopping woes and find clothes that actually fit. Zara, it turns out, is very petite friendly. A few weeks ago, I found jeans there that miraculously cut right at my ankles, and voila, my legs have found their new best friend.

This is from the Z1975 denim line. I also got a pair in a blue wash.

Who knows, these could really be mid-calf pants designed for taller women, but they fit too well for me to care. It has the right length and silhouette, and still gives my ankles room to breathe.

I expect my legs and these jeans to be best friends for a very long time.

Nixperiment: Modified Capsule Wardrobe

Happy new year, everyone. One of my new year's resolutions last year was to limit my shopping for clothes. I got the idea from Caroline Joy Rector who used to run a blog called Un-Fancy, documenting her capsule wardrobe experiences. The idea of capsule wardrobes initially intimidated me because it presents you with the challenge of assembling as many outfits as you can for one entire fashion season with a narrowed-down number of pieces and items.  But I was excited to try it because it meant spending less money throughout the year (I needed to save up for a personal investment) while putting my creativity and mix-and-match skills to the test.

My (tweaked) rules were simple enough. I wasn't allowed to buy any piece of clothing except when there was a specific requirement for work or for an event. No new anything, including outerwear and accessories, although I did allow myself to shop for active wear. Shopping using vouchers or gift certificates that I already possessed was also occasionally allowed. Lastly, I relaxed one of Caroline's basic rules. Instead of limiting myself to a handful of pieces, I had access to my entire existing wardrobe, which isn't that large to begin with anyway.

It was easy in the beginning because I had a clean slate and was still immune to the effects of my self-imposed "deprivation." But as the months passed, it became increasingly harder to style fresh and original looks without the help of a new accent or a new statement piece. But in the end, I can happily report that I survived. Sure, I cheated a couple of times (e.g. about halfway through the year I bought a pair of nude sandals that was just too hard to resist). But by the end of it I found myself mixing and pairing pieces with more ease, so much so that there was almost an efficiency to it. There was also this surprising revelation: I didn't miss shopping (along with the euphoric feeling that comes with it), all that much.

It was such a personal win-win. And in honor of my memorable year, I've listed here some of my favorite or go-to outfits from 2015.

1. Last year I developed a greater appreciation for flare jeans. They elongate my legs and make me look taller without revealing the fact that I'm wearing my highest heels. Here I styled my jeans (Dorothy Perkins) with a simple floral blouse (Warehouse) and peep-toe heels (Topshop).

2. In October I attended a series of meetings in Napa and Sacramento, California, where the weather was cool at the time because of the season (fall). In the evening it would get chilly, so layering was key. Here I am wearing a thickish cropped sweater (H&M) over a white round-neck blouse (Banana Republic), with black slacks (The Black Shop) and black heels (Ninewest).

3. One of my goals in life is to buy myself a DVF wrap dress. I love wrap dresses. The one I'm wearing here is a dress I bought from Zalora (Attic). I paired it with my red stilletos from Lady Rustan for a holiday look.

4. This isn't an everyday look obviously. It was for our office Christmas party which took inspiration from the novel The Great Gatsby. I tried to veer away from the common flapper look and ended up with this fringe dress from Miss Selfridge that has a sheer outer layer. Because we had to dance, I wore my trusty cross-strapped heels from Aldo.

5. This photo isn't from last year but the basic elements of my outfit here were definite staples in my 2015 wardrobe: striped shirt (Zara), cropped pants (Topshop), and sneakers (Nike). I think it's great that in the last two years sneakers/running shoes have become more street chic.

6. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have an obsession with windowpane and quilt patterned clothes, bags and even shoes. Here I'm wearing a blue dress from Bayo with an interesting black and white window pane front. I paired it with black heels (Ninewest) and cinched it with a thin belt from Forever 21. 

Fashion Repair: Rust Stain Removal

Rust stains on clothes can be very unsightly. They are also quite hard to hide or camouflage. Recently, I tested out a simple way to remove them using an item that can easily be found in most Filipino kitchens: calamansi.

I own a pair of cotton shorts that, for the longest time, had this embarrassingly bright rust stain on the left front side. I’m not exactly sure what compelled me to take action after years of just ignoring it and pretending it didn’t exist, but recently I decided to finally do something about it.

Here’s what I did, based on some online research:

First, I laid the article of clothing on a flat surface. I then placed folded tissue paper just right beneath the affected spot.

I took two pieces of calamansi from the fridge and sliced each one in half. I squeezed the halves onto the rust spot and saturated the entire area, allowing the juice to soak into the cloth. I then let it sit for about 15 minutes.

I had the pair washed afterwards. When I got it back, I was very pleased to see that the stain had faded quite a bit, though not entirely.

I researched further and learned that it might have worked better if I had left the shorts aside for an entire day before washing it. Next time I also plan on sprinkling salt over the soaked area, which I read helps.

In the meantime, I am quite happy with the results I got. We happen to have a lot of calamansi in our household so I am definitely not giving up on this experiment. We shall see what happens next.