The Lady In Red || All Dress April

As I mentioned briefly in my last post, this month I am participating in All Dress April, a fun little challenge someone started a few years ago. Much like Dressember, which I have done twice in the past, it’s a way to get out of a rut and wear dresses or skirts all month and forgo pants, yoga pants, jeans, whatever rut you’re in. While I and many others in the vintage community regularly wear dresses and skirts and rarely wear pants, I must admit I still need a challenge from time to time.

Before I had kids, I told myself that however hard it got, I wouldn’t let myself slide into “mom wear” which was, to me, the jeans-and-tees-and-hoodies I had been wearing before I ever started my style evolution. I didn’t want to fall back into that rut. Because, to this day, I feel so uncomfortable in jeans and tees. I feel so unlike myself, so exposed, so… wrong. While I don’t think jeans and tees are objectively terrible, and have many stylish mom friends who pull off jeans and tees in chic and fashionable ways, to me a pair of jeans and a tee shirt has always been my “I give up” outfit.

If I slide into a pair of jeans (or rather, dance and shimmy and squish until everything seems to be in place) it means I’m going to be doing the grubbiest work. It means I’m not feeling great that day. It means I’m probably having a pretty crappy day mentally or emotionally. It means I don’t want to invest in feeling better.

So when people ask how I manage to get dressed daily, even if only for a few hours, it’s usually a question I can’t really answer simply. Because getting dressed becomes second nature to me when I’m in a good mode. It’s a habit. On the good, energetic days, I wear clothes I love. On the tired, not so great days, I’m likely in yoga pants.

Lately, being pregnant and finding energy to deal with kids and mom life has meant I’ve been throwing on yoga pants and a tee shirt, or my stretchiest skirt, and not really putting a lot of effort into my outfits unless I know I’m going out on errands or taking photos. It’s not quite jeans-and-tee territory, but it’s close. All Dress April has so far been the perfect thing to get me excited about outfit possibilities again. That, and adding a few new fantastic pieces to my wardrobe.

My getting dressed daily also rubs off on my kids, especially the older one who loves it when I wear a dress and “look pretty.” I think they both sense the change in attitude that goes with wearing a good outfit, so not only does it make me happier, it makes them happier too.

I have been able to get out and photograph more of my outfits so far than I expected (3 out of 5, and one extra for a lookbook on YouTube), so rather than struggling to post outfits on Instagram like I thought I would, I’m having trouble deciding which ones to share here on the blog! It’s been forecast as 100% rain until Sunday, and yet every morning has been just a bit misty, or foggy with no rain in sight. I’m capitalizing on my energy and the weather’s semi-cooperation as much as I can now, because I know I’ll wake up and not want to get dressed, or the rain will be pouring down and I’ll have to figure out indoor photos.

Today I decided to wear this fantastic 1960’s swing dress from Lotty Dotty Vintage (from whom I purchased two other swing dresses recently, one of which you saw in my last post and the other you can see here) and it definitely helped me decide what photos to share. While I had another post almost ready to go, I was just too excited to share the real-time process of All Dress April.

Who knows how I’ll feel about it next week, but if you want to keep up with my daily All Dress April outfits you can follow along (and join in) on Instagram!

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