One of my favorite outfits is a babydoll dress or tunic over slim pants with boots and a cardigan. I feel very much myself in this kind of outfit, but it’s really not appropriate for ministry. It’s more appropriate for an art teacher or a gal who works at the gift shop at Shaker Village or someplace else warm and comfy and creative.
But sometimes you just have to get yourself a garment that’s for you and not for the church or your ministerial role. SOME of those garments shall remain nameless in the far recesses of our lingerie drawers and guest room closets, but some of them we can share here, can we not?
Look at this hideously inappropriate thing for any woman over 19 or maybe any woman of any age who is not Laura Ingalls Wilder:
Can you imagine me wearing this to church? NO. WAY. But I would certainly remove that bottom ruffle and wear it with a pair of jeans and boots on a day off.
Now here’s how I would wear a similar garment but make it professionally appropriate:
I would get it in black, wear it with black yoga pants and boots (not tights — too short!! And not leggings because you remember my rule: If you can’t wear the garment without pants and feel comfortable, don’t wear it with leggings, ’cause LEGGINGS AREN’T PANTS. They’re just heavier pantyhose!). I’d pair this with a cardigan and top it with a pashmina or a paisley shawl. A nice ring, a pair of beautiful earrings, hair did and make-up brings it up from “cute little girly dress” to “comfortable garment for a day at the office in winter.”
As you may have guessed, I wear boots almost every day once the cold weather hits. Boots are me and I am boots, and I love my collection a whole lot.
Where is the red tunic from? I like it. [From a TERRIBLE website called Woman Within, actually. – PB]