Try-it-out Tuesday: being Olivia

dress, Forever 21

belt, from dress

ears, DIY

     For the last day of school before winter break, my class celebrated "Bringing Books to Life" by dressing up. This is my take on Olivia, the very stylish and assertive piglet who stars in Ian Falconer's picture books. (And yes, this is my second consecutive post in January with Christmas earrings. Don't ask whether my Christmas tree is still up ...)

    While assembling my costume, I had big hopes for this Old Navy dress, as it seemed to be very similar in cut to the iconic red dress Olivia wears on the cover of her first book. However, those hopes were dashed when the dress (in both petite and regular sizing) arrived and turned out to be very, very clingy. As in, even-when-I-sucked-in-my-stomach-I-still-had-an-unsightly-bulge clingy. And life is too short to wear things that require me to suck in my stomach. Luckily, I had this striped dress hanging in my closet, so I went with that. I also decided to forgo the striped stockings/tights because we had an outdoor evacuation drill that morning, which entailed a pretty good walk. So overall, this outfit is more inspired by instead of a faithful replica of Olivia's outfit, but that's OK. Next Halloween I'll keep my eyes open for some horizontally striped black-and-white tights.

    I was a bit baffled by people's response to the ears - one teacher asked whether I was some kind of "Christmas bunny" (uh, no). I know that conventional pig ears would be smaller and more triangular vs. elongated, but I was trying to be faithful to the illustrations. So I hooked my mini Olivia to my lanyard and had her at hand whenever people wondered about my costume.

      It's one thing to wear a costume when everyone else is, such as Halloween; it's another thing to wear a costume on a regular day. I did have a moment of self-consciousness before donning my ears in the morning, but overcame that. And you know what? I had fun being dressed up. At 36 (finally!), I think I've learned to care a little less about what others think and have fun standing out.