- MAROON AND BROWN, COTTON ON, COTTON ON, in DRESSES

- BLACK LEATHER BOOTS, H&M, in H&M HEELS & WEDGES

- WATCH, VINCCI, VINCCI, in WATCHES

While we whittle away our countdowns, I can’t think of a better way to pass the time that our Christmas THEME WEEK. Today is day four. Music, si vous plait?

If you’re just tuning in and feeling confused, well then…welcome to Nutcracker Theme Week! Here at the Closet365 project, I try to keep things fun by mixing up my daily outfit posts with a monthly theme week. This month, in order to celebrate Christmas and get me in the mood to attend a real production of the ballet, I’m theming my outfits around costumes and characters from “The Nutcracker.” So far I am loving the challenge of building everyday looks, while still incorporating a little of that stage flair. Are you ready then? Let’s see who’s up today…

Well, if my title lyric didn’t quite blow the lid off the surprise, then how about these cool pictures to set the tone. “The Nutcracker” acts as a showcase for a number of international themed dances and these are easily my favorite part of the show. I love all of the diverse and elaborate costumes and one of my favorites is the Spanish dancers. All the dark romantic colors with flamboyant accents. So cool! So now it’s my turn to try, I guess.

So I was going to do the Sugar Plum Fairy today, but changed my mind at the last-minute once struck by inspiration to try this look. I will do the SPF later this week, no worries, but today I’m kind of glad I went on another bent. Before going to work, I had plans to meet my junior mentoring buddy at her school for lunch. And while I’m sure a bunch of 10-year-old girls would have been plenty excited to see some random chick dressed as the Sugar Plum Fairy, it might have disturbed some of the administrators. I mean, walking into a school looking like you’ve come to teach the Argentine Tango is also a bit out there. But slightly more benign, I thought. And anyway, The Kiddo said I looked “fashionable” today. I’ll take it!

For as much trepidation as I’ve been having about some of the outfits in this theme week, I have to say I’m likin’ today’s outcome. This is just pure fun, as outfits go! Totally brightened my day to be prancing around in this double skirt action and with all the dramatic little trimmings. Why yes, that is another giant flower on my head. What can I say? I told you I was having a thing with headbands right now, and somehow the theatrics of this theme week are only feeding my fetish. The flower was a last-minute addition to the whole package, but by my estimation, the look would not be complete without it.

And two skirts? That’s just double happy right there! As many times as I’ve tried to rid myself of this polka dot skirt, I never can seem to pawn in off. So then I always end up wearing it again and it always makes me happy. Which, I guess means I need to stop trying to throw it out and just embrace it. Today it proved perfectly dancerific, with its swing and shape. But just in case that wasn’t enough pizzazz for a Spanish dancer, I ended up loving it with a swishy underskirt. In all this regalia, it was tough to resist breaking out into random salsa moves. Okay maybe not that hard. Since I don’t know how to salsa.

 Black Long Sleeve – Work
Burgundy Cami – Target
Polka Dot Skirt – Wet Seal
Maroon Under Skirt – F21
Necklace – Work
Earrings – The Icing
Headband – 5.7.9
Tights – Work
Shoes – Payless

Title courtesy of Counting Crows - “Mr. Jones”

I did do something exciting this morning ,though! My mother-in-law and I went shopping at the fabric store and acquired all the makings for Outfit #365: The Grand Finale. I almost typed Grande just then. But my final outfit is not something you can order off the menu at Taco Bell, it’s actually pretty Fancy McFancerton. Or at least it will be. That’s all I can really tell you but I’m pretty stoked. Now I’m just going to need to find a fancy party to actually wear it to. Does anybody want to invite me to their New Year’s Eve party? Can you believe there are only three months left until 2011? We better get planning. I promise I will bring something edible, probably involving frosting. And also I will not do any embarrassing dances. Well, okay, maybe just one. But that’s it. I promise.

Moving on.

So apparently I am on a little bit of a sticky-fingered bent with my clothes lately. After borrowing all last week from magazines, I then stole this idea from Elaine of Clothed Much. Everything she does is so completely adorable, I only wish I could pull off more of her styles. But this was a look that I loved and had all the stuff for already. So how could I not? I didn’t even do much tweaking of my own. I forgot some of the details because I put mine together from vague memory. Now that I’m tracking back, I wish I had opted for the scoop neckline instead of my collar. Either way, I love her version and I’m not a bit disappointed in my own. It was a really nice look for a casual fall day.

Tomorrow I assure you that I will put together something completely of my own volition. The other night at the Muse concert, we were admiring all of the eclectic styles going on around us and I came up with the idea for the ultimate style blog. I would take pictures of people off the street and then use the pictures to create my own version. Like a hyrid of both street style and personal style blog. And call it IStoleYourLook.com. I am so NOT doing this, just so you know. Way too intimidating and too much work. But feel free to steal the idea. I mean, I’d read that blog. I’m just not willing to write it. I can be kind of lazy, sometimes.

Skirt – F21
Polo – Work
Striped Cardigan – Thrifted (Charlotte Russe)
Belt – Thrifted
Shoes – Payless

Title courtesy of Jay-Z – “Lucifer”

You asked for monochromatic week and I am delivering. All week I am creating monochrome looks from all the colors of the rainbow. Or most of them. Some of them. Anyway.

The good news is that I changed my mind about not going in order. See, I was really intimidated by going red. I personally love the color red, but I was certain I didn’t own enough items to create a solid red looks. And well, I still really don’t. BUT then I remembered that red has cousins, second cousins and third cousins once removed. There’s fuchsia, mauve, maroon, wine, burgundy, cardinal, pink…the list goes on. And thusly? I went to town.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. What I really love about doing a theme week is that it always challenges me to dress outside the box. I always end up putting together outfits that I would NEVER think to try in the day-t0-day, but that I totally dig. This is a good example of that. I would probably never pair these items together, ordinarily. Nor would I wear this much maroon/mauve/pink/etc. But once it was on? I loved it.

Someone asked if I plan to incorporate neutrals as part of my monochrome looks. I say no, for the most part. I think part of the fun of utilizing the colors of the rainbow is to really utilize them. With one exception – shoes. Because, believe it or not, I do not own shoes in all the colors of the rainbow. Sad day. I did own red and pink shoes but they were recently purged from my closet, due to how extremely worn and unsupportive they were. If it makes me you feel any better, I purchased two new pairs today. In memoriam, of course.

All in all, I am pleased with my red(ish) look. It strikes me as sort of strange dancer-like costume, but I thoroughly enjoyed swishing around in it all day. I even got one compliment from ,my teller at the bank this morning. She said, “Cute outfit” in a voice that was completely MONOtone and flat. This led me to wonder if she was a) really tired, b) hung over, c) being insincere, or d) just really in on the joke. I’m still not really sure.

Tie Top – Max Rave
Maroon Tank – Target
Skirt – F21
Necklace – Work
Shoes – Old Navy
Scarf – Work

Title courtesy of Elliott Smith – “Coming Up Roses”

But on the flipside, when I don’t spend two hours in the morning sitting at my computer with my coffee cup, I get other stuff done. Eureka! I kept thinking I was in a time warp this morning. Sleeping until eight, going to the gym, getting dressed and taking pictures, packing my lunch and tidying up the house. It was insane. So there are advantages to this thing after all.

How do we feel about the mixing of stripes with floral patterned tights? I was really nervous about this because I am not typically a pattern mixer. I’m very matchy and safe. Even the maroon and dark turquoise felt like a little much to me. I ended up going there, because I’ve seen so many other people do it beautifully. But I still felt a little out of my element.

Another thing I’ve seen flawlessly executed on other girls and other blogs is the milkmaid braids. I am SO not a hair person. I’m essentially a helpless do-nothing when it comes to my hair. I do the bare minimum to get by and it’s my least favorite part of fashion. Still, all these girls with their impressive braids really inspired me. I wanted to try. But I was still completely baffled.

Then along came Julia with her awesome tutorial. As it turns out, the braids are really easy to do, if you’re not a special case like me. Even with instruction, I failed several times. I tried one last time this morning, and I finally got it down. I think. They’re a little messy but I was pleased to find that they actually stayed in place all day and looked okay with the outfit.

One thing I like about this outfit is that the colors remind me of magic markers. These days markers come in umpteen colors per packet but back in the day, there were three packages – Classic Colors, Pastels and Bold. The Bold package was always my favorite because they were the jewel tones.

This coat is new. A strange thing happened. After I mentioned not owning many winter coats, we ended up marking some down at work. Because they weren’t moving and we’re trying to make room for spring stuff, it was a killer deal and I ended up acquiring two new coats. The husband is very excited about this because it means we won’t have to go coat shopping next winter and he won’t have to listen to me whine about it.

This little military number is just my new favorite thing ever. We were married this morning in a small civil ceremony, February 23rd in The Year of Our Lord. I’m not sure if the State of Colorado will recognize marriage between a girl and a wool jacket. Although, you can legally marry your cousin here. True story.

Skirt – F21
White oxford shirt – Can’t remember, it’s old
Striped sweater – F21
Textured tights – 5.7.9
Shoes – Payless
Earrings – The Icing

Title courtesy of John Mayer – “Heartbreak Warfare”