Five Ways to Wear an LBJ (not the president!)

Happy Monday!

I got bored over the weekend, in the middle of the night (it's summer, so my bedtime has somehow shifted from midnight to two am...) and went closet diving in my closet. I was thinking about LBDs, since I'd just been reading an article about how to use them as day wear, and I came up with my LBD, and my LBJ - little black jumper (that's not one of these, any confused Brits - I don't actually know what you call what we call jumpers!) My LBD looks like this and is, to the irritation of all my current ideas, quite impossible to dress down. It looks good on me (and makes people believe I'm an adult and not a teenager, since it's knee-length - I didn't realize being a teenager meant you could only wear skin-tight super-short dresses, did you?), but it has fairly limited wear. Not really very LBD-y of it. My jumper, on the other hand, has suffered tons of abuse and tons of wear in the two years I've had it. I even wore it to Freshman Homecoming, over a blood red turtleneck (I've since chopped the sleeves off that one and some day it will make an appearance). The bottom button recently went missing, which has made it harder to wear, since it's a bit above the knees, and the button used to be around mid-thigh. I haven't had the time to sew on another.

I then, staring at it, remembered that a lot of LBDs I've seen while perusing websites lately have had buttons, rather like this one, and thought it might be fun to play around and come up with some looks. If you have had trouble with wearing an LBD like this, then keep reading, because I have some ideas.

My first choice was to pair it with a blue miniskirt. I buttoned the top, hiked the skirt to my ribcage (it's a miniskirt on other, taller people), and left the rest as a cardigan. To edge it up just a bit more, I added a fang necklace (thank you Grand Canyon trip), my studded heels, and that chunky gold bracelet. I really like this look.

Jumper - La Luna Loca | Skirt - Charlotte Russe | Heels - Payless | Bracelet - Thrifted | Necklace - some store around the Grand Canyon

For my second look, I tried wearing it plain. I have NEVER worn it plain before. For some glam, I added a little tiny clutch with shiny on the front, a shiny necklace, and peep toes. It worked well. I also tried an undone bun, which looks more like I have a bob. On the other hand, I seem to have developed tan lines. I didn't know I had gotten out enough to do so. (On the other hand, this may just be weird middle-of-the-night-no-lighting-except-camera-flash lighting, so I'm not sure whether to take it too seriously...still, I'm going to be spending a lot of time in tank tops anyhow).

Jumper - La Luna Loca | Heels - Payless | Clutch/purse - Thrifted | Necklace - present

This is so summer music festival or going to the beach wear. I hiked the skirt up to my rib cage (again, I know - this is super long on me) and tied the skirt of the jumper up in a knot. I left the top button of the jumper open to make it more casual, threw on my huge floppy hat and sunglasses, my tote, and some gladiator sandals. I think this look might visit Cali with me. I've always hated all my coverups that I've ever bought, but this looks manageable...

Jumper - La Luna Loca | Skirt - TJ Maxx (I thiiiink) | Sandals - Payless | Hat - Wet Seal | Sunglasses - CVS | Tote - university in Spain

Edgy schoolgirl? Or something! I took my uniform jumper into the mix for this thing. I hate it in its natural state, but when I pair it with a jacket of some sort, I enjoy it. I pinned the LBJ this time, and threw on some red heels to work with the red lines in the plaid. An armful of bracelets finished it. I wouldn't necessarily wear these two like this again, but it is a possibility.

Black Jumper - La Luna Loca | Plaid Jumper - my uniform | Pin - present | Heels - Payless | Bracelets - assorted places

Oh so preppy... That's what I felt like! I had to add the purple booties and scarf belt to make the look feasible, as far as I was concerned. You HAVE to have weird shoes to pull this off.

Jumper - La Luna Loca | Oxford - DEB | Scarf - SMU's The Meadows Museum | Booties - some little boutique | Watch - some other boutique

This last one, I just wanted to see what I could get with layering a shirt over. I wanted some metal in it, so I added this metal belt, metallic jacket, and my hardware encrusted purse (originally my aunt's gift to my mother, however, so not Mom's style). Since the metal was being statement-y, I skipped the jewelry.

Jumper - La Luna Loca | Top - gift | Jacket - White House|Black Market (via the lost and found) | Heels - Payless | Belt - Hot Topic | Purse - Saks 5th Avenue/gift

Lessons learned from this:

Do not take pictures in the middle of the night without at least turning the lights on (being blinded by flash sucks).

Things in my closet are not as impossible to work with as I'd been starting to think.

My biggest creative rushes really do come in the middle of the night.

Apparently, over half my shoes come from Payless.