Secret Vice

I have a thing for belts. It is not unlike my thing for boots. Well, it is unlike my thing for boots in that my belt obsession is more easily hidden, as I can fit all the belts on a belt hanger in my closet. Here is the one I am most recently obsessing over, $14 with a coupon. Perfect for one of those 'it's-a-shirt, no-it's-a-dress, no-it's-a-shirt' shirts. Or dress.

Flowered Dress: The Saga

I am obsessed with this dress.

I'm not sure why -- I have a sneaky suspicion that it will look TERRIBLE in person. But nonetheless, I have decided that I need it. However, it's not available in any of the Ann Taylor LOFT stores around here, so I have to order it from the site and can't try it on. I figured I can just return it to a store if I don't like it, but I don't want to be out the cost of shipping if that happens, so I need a free shipping coupon code. The only one I could find (free shipping + 15% off!) required a $75 minimum purchase. After getting this dress in 2 different sizes (at $29.99 each), it still wasn't enough, so I had to order another dress to get my order high enough for free shipping (+15% off!).

I'm still not sure either size of the first dress will fit. So when I went back to the site today and saw that they suddenly had it another size that could maybe possibly fit (I'm super-weird when it comes to dress sizes), I of course had to order that one, too. But how to get this new order up to $75? Well, these shoes.
And this belt.

So to recap: One dress in 3 different sizes. Another dress. A pair of shoes. A belt. The things I'll do for a coupon code.

Of course, I may still wind up returning ALL of it. Stay tuned for the next chapter . . .

Go to Waist

I just like this. I do. It's a nice suede belt with smart detailing around the buckle, only $20, and doesn't it do a lovely job of reminding us that there is a waist under that cozy, but bulkifying, vest? Of course, I would like to be reminded just a little less that there is a bosom under that cozy, but bulkifying, vest.

Belt Dy-No-Mite

I got this groovy belt at Anthroplogie's big sale for $8. I love the linkiness and the seventies-ness. I'm not quite loving that the purchase of this belt has sent me on a mission, scouring stores and sites for a nice sweater or dress or sweater dress to wrap this belt around. Who am I kidding? That's actually an added bonus.

Luckier Belt

I unabashedly love Lucky Brand Jeans. It's not just that I adore the clothing that resembles those of my beloved seventies. I mean they sell those shirts worn by everyone who smoked out in my high school's east parking lot - and while I didn't go to high school in the seventies, that's what they were all still wearing. (Why is that? Did smoking and procuring smokes take up so much of their time that they were unable to go out and purchase new clothing? Did all their purchasing dollars get spent on heavy black eyeliner?)

It is also that the Lucky store resembles the beloved seventies as well. The rugs on the floor. The drapey, fringey decorations. Right down to the music - I mean, what other store plays Richard Thompson and Eric Clapton? So, to paraphrase Janeane Garofalo when she talked about George Clooney playing a pediatrician on ER, "I'm not made of wood people." You got me.

So that brings us to this belt. I just love it . Yes, it has multiple colors, but see how they are corralled into a single 2 inch wide strip, that may even be partly hidden by your shirt? This is a pattern of multiple colors I can live with. And so seventies in its execution - look at the overstitching, the big brass buckle, the hearty leather. This belt would be so at home in the east parking lot, stamping its feet to keep warm in the colder months.

While you would be lucky to find it at Macy's for $38, on sale from $48, how much luckier was I to locate it at my mecca, the Lucky store itself, for a mere $10. What a small price to pay to both hold old up your jeans and pay homage to the greatest decade that ever lived. Now that's luckier.

Cinch It

Right around now you may be tiring of your swing-y, smocky dresses. Just how many witty retorts can you come up with to the question "do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" Keep wearing those dresses, just take them in a yard or two at the waist with this bargain of a belt. Of course, you'll have to close down that baby registry. No, really, you will.