Thanks for the suggestions and commiserations! Yes, this was really unexpected and a little perplexing, because my summer (mostly sleeveless) top collection is in really good shape. I have a few long-sleeve tops purchased in the last year or two that I'm feeling right now, but a lot that are quite a bit older that are not quite sparking the joy when I look at them and think about what to wear.
I agree that some of this is adjusting to transitional weather, and some is the shift in silhouette. I have been wearing my flares more.
I also realized yesterday while getting dressed to go out for dinner that flares feel more inherently dressy to me than skinnies and straight legs do -- they seem to beg for more delicate or refined footwear: pointier toes, heels, etc. Stompy boots like I might wear to a rock show just don't work with those jeans (but that's what the studded cowboy boots are for, right? :-)) So I end up wanting to temper any dressier footwear with something more easy on top -- a lightweight knit but these days nothing clingy. And with wider bottoms, nothing oversized either. So I'm looking for this mysterious unicorn of fitted but not tight tops that are not cropped and not too long, that have sleeves but are not too warm, are knits but not tacky polyester, and have some bit of casual yet edgy style that appeals to me. Nothing office-y.
Crazy one, I did get a cold shoulder top with 3/4 sleeves a couple of months ago (again when it was too warm to wear it), and forgot about it until yesterday. I'll need to pull that out and play with styling it.
Dresses are an interesting idea, but they are such a hard fit for me that I have serious doubts about finding what I'm looking for, since I need things that work for really casual life. After finding YLF, I made the mistake of buying skirts and dresses and trying to wear them for my casual days but always feeling a little too dressed up. Plus, add tights and I instantly feel too fussy. I would love to find a simple yet interesting long-sleeved CASUAL dress but it's been a HEWI for years. I have the grey shirtdress I got in the spring, and I can probably get in a wear of it in the next couple of weeks, but it will soon be too cool for that.
Staysfit, you and I have opposite dressing issues! Even in my fittest days when I'm running and biking a lot, I never look like an athlete. I just have the kind of curvy, soft-ish body type that falls into the hourglass/pear category, and that's never going to change. I would like to be more at peace with it than I am, and maybe a silhouette change in current fashion that is more flattering on my body will help. However, I have come to find skinnies so easy to throw on and wear with nearly any kind of shirt and any kind of shoes or boots, that I doubt I'll give them up anytime soon. I thought about trying some of my tops tucked with a belt, but, ugh, with weight gain, I'm not sure that's my best look these days. And tucking into higher waists is not a good option for me.
I also remembered this morning that there is a really short window of time right now -- only about two weeks -- before I will be on the ranch for a month. So I'm not going to be rushing to buy a bunch of tops. Maybe I could find one or two, since I have a little down time now before I leave. Anything I buy now needs to be workable when I'm back home in December and through the winter, and likely into spring. I am not even looking at heavy sweaters these days because, well, hot flashes, so it actually simplifies things that I only want lighter weight tops and sweaters. I can always layer when it's cold, and I still have thick, warm, heavy sweaters for the days when our temps dip.
