Tonight, we went to a dinner party hosted by my department's recent Nobel laureate (!!!). It was just a casual dinner to welcome the past year's new faculty hires. I wasn't quite sure what to wear, but put together two outfit options that seemed about right for the event.

My boyfriend helpfully took photos of both so I could ask friends for advice, and they unanimously chose #1. It's a Theory cotton shirtdress over my skinniest R13 jeans, with these fun heels I almost never get to wear.

So, I wore #1, and it was great. Comfortable, sharp, and the right tone for the crowd. It's funny to realize how anxious I still am about dressing for events, just leftover feelings from many years of always feeling awkward.

Outfit option #2 will be revisited later, but I can see why no friends voted for it. It's a Zara wool dress with great ruching and draping. Unfortunately, it hits my calves in exactly the wrong point. I made it worse by choosing the ankle boots, but I wanted boots to make it less dressy because I knew the dinner would be fairly casual. Friends pointed out that the proportions of the boots with the hem weren't great. I'm going to get it hemmed to knee length, I think - as in the photos from Zara:
http://www.zara.com/us/en/woma.....31536.html
Should I try to hit just at the top of my kneecap?

My guy looked sharp in a black fitted buttoned shirt, black jeans (with the perfect real black denim, not overdyed solid black, so they had some visual texture), and his Fluevog boots. Wish I had a photo!

Bonus photo: A week or so ago I posted about a jacket that I love. I decided it was too big and returned it, but here's a photo of it. It could have worked but at the price, I didn't want to risk it.

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