I would love to see your outfits - with the jacket!

Perhaps I can interest you in a pink down mini-skirt? See:

http://www.skhoop.us/skirt-mini-plum.html

A friend of mine markets these here, and a group of us are getting them in hot pink to ski a 26 mile race in February for my BFF's 50th birthday!

Seriously, I think those dresses are way cute, air rifle or not...

I have to say at the risk of being political that I was highly irritated that T9 made a positive reference to Sarah Palin in one of their bra descriptions. Whatever your political party, here in Alaska we feel she jumped ship to serve her own interests. and for T9 to give her props made me cranky..

Sorry to be butting in but I'm still trying to understand the difference between 'gear' and...well, everything else.

Would this skirt be considered gear or would be it an acceptable part of a regular outfit?

http://www.lucy.com/Solaris%20.....or=ASPHALT

NK-- imo that is a acceptable skirt, but a very casual one. Gear is more along the lines of clothing that's main purpose is function-- for an athletic-type activity. If an item is meant to be worn for running or hiking or you bought it for wearing to the barn or cleaning, it is probably gear. Cargo pants in ripstop nylon from a sporting goods store are gear, running skirts are gear, yoga pants are loungewear or gear. There are companies like Athleta that make clothing that is crossover clothing, for things like day-tripping and adventure travel which are more along the lines of the skirt you posted and the dresses the ladies posted. Generally these things aren't gear as long as you wear them in appropriate situations and with appropriate mates.

Ah...thanks for the answer, Elly. It's getting clearer.

I agree with Elly that the Lucy skirt is a casual skirt. I can see it being very cute with a short sleeve white button down and some espadrilles.

Am I getting the hang of mixing these types of pieces? I hope so!

I actually love gear. When I'm using it for swimming, rafting, running, yoga or biking, I love the utilitarian aspects of it. I love the functionality. I don't wear it outside of those activities though as I don't like the way I look in gear, and I prefer to change out when I'm sweaty.

So, as someone who loves gear, I actually don't think any of the dresses or skirts are gear. What sport/task/job are they used for? They are casual clothing and can be worn in public. IMHO, of course. (exception are those wierd running skirts, which I think are lousy gear.....)

I'm more forgiving of gear than some because I've found that for me, I'm a lot more likely to play hard with my girls (who are young) if I'm wearing something more "gear-like" (which means a casual Athleta dress or pair of pants) than if I'm wearing even jeans and a cute top. I came to this conclusion this summer when I went to the playground with the girls after I'd just been to the gym for my own workout. I wore my workout clothes, and I noticed that I played a lot more - I went down the slides, climbed, and ran around - than I did when I was wearing regular clothes because I didn't have to worry about my top gaping, my skirt riding up, or flashing anyone. While my girls are young, I'm willing to sacrifice style on the days that I'm home with them, especially since I can express my fashion sense more when I go to work during the week. I still want to look nice because I feel better then, but I also want to be able to run outside, dig in the dirt, and get out the fingerpaints without the rigamarole of changing my clothes.

My ultimate answer is this: I don't think that most of the clothes from T9 or Athleta can really look "fashionable," but I do think that they can look very nice, and that's good enough for me since they are quite functional. Part of my hesitance to call them fashionable is because sporty is just not my style, but I'm willing to trade my style for clothes that I still like a lot and that meet all of my comfort, machine washable, non-wrinkly needs.