A wardrobe in a suitcase

Dear fabbers, I just wanted to say you were right on the money by calling my new printed pants "diva pants". I did keep them, and wore them and loved them. Then I washed them. And my love changed a little bit. 

The instructions say to hand-wash cold, line dry in the shade. The pants are made of 100% rayon. A little fussy, but not a problem. I put them in the washing machine with 2 other fluid tops of similar colouring, put them on the hand-wash cold setting, line dry. All is well. 

At the end, they were a bit wrinkled, so I ironed them out. They looked a little bit small, so I put them on to see if the fit had changed. THESE PANTS WENT FROM LOOSE TO TOO SMALL TO PULL UP. I couldn't believe it. I've sewed for 20 years, and have bought hundreds of garments. Short of machine felting, I've never encountered that much shrinkage in the wash. I pondered what to do about it (take the darned things back to the store they came from), and read the label a bit more closely. This is what it said: 

"Despite hand-washing, this garment may shrink. Restore to original shape with steam iron on med. heat. If you have any questions about the garment, please call #phone number." 

Has anyone else ever encountered a garment so fussy the manufacturer thinks it necessary to put their phone number on the garment tag, so they can give you specific instructions on restoring a garment to its original size??? 

I posted a few weeks back that I was re-evaluating my shoe collection, in preparation for moving (again). It now looks like I'll be in the UK in mid-late November, and then back to Australia in March-May 2014, then back to the UK. So the current seasonal rotation is: Spring-Winter-Autumn-Summer. 

The upside to that schizophrenic seasonal structure is that I can move in pieces and I don't have to winnow quite so much. I intend to leave my summer clothes behind, and then wear that when I'm back in March, then take it with me when I leave in May.  Some of this travel will be via the US, where I have every intention of shopping. :) 

Photo 1 is the entire shoe collection, as it stands. I notice that I don't get quite as much rotation from it as I'd like. 

Photo 2 is the shoes I plan to leave behind in Australia. 

Photo 3 I'm on the fence about. The black shoes I generally like, are comfortable and walkable, but I've been leaning away from such rounded toes lately. But I think the amount of wear they're getting is from the hole they fill, rather than my love for them. The flats I like, but they don't love me back--the leather tears up my feet. I may try to work with them some more and soften them up before I let them go. The 'vogs aren't as comfortable as I'd like, as well. I'm not sure if I'd keep them or re-sell them. 

So I took everyone's advice on styling this tube skirt, and I think I'm starting to figure it out. Many, many thanks to everyone! I went looking for a lower-contrast top, with structure around the shoulders, and not a knit. I found this pale citron top (the label says it's green, I think it looks yellow), with fluidity. It's comfortable, and perfect for the summer-disguised-as-spring we're having at the moment. 

And now I can add to the "list of things I never thought I'd wear": a garment with "tube" as the primary descriptor. :) 

So I brought the patterned pants home with me, and played with them a bit. I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts! My face/hair is cropped in the first two because I didn't have them done. Then I realised the pictures looked better if *I* looked better. Also playing with new poses. 

1. With a pale lemon/lime tee (I think it's yellow. The tag said green.)
2. With a black chiffon top. This top was given to me, and is set to be donated. I don't like the fit, but I may look for something similar. This is just to illustrate colour. 
3. With a white top. This is also new, and was purchased with these trousers in mind. But I may keep it anyway--even if the trousers don't stay. 
4. Denim jacket added. It doesn't get much wear right now because I wear jeans a lot, and I won't do double denim. 

A few lessons for me already: 
1. If I'm taking pictures (even just test-driving), I need to fix myself up as if I were actually going to go out of the house. 
2. I like this new pose (feet placement, stand up straight)
3. I think I need a haircut--time to cut it off again. 

Thoughts?