Muting the Flash!

I've been having difficulty styling the skirt that everyone seems to have a crush on because it seems so, well, FLASHY!  Which is great if you're going out for drinks in a low-lit bar, but what about wearing it to the library or a lecture?

 SFE channels Wendy Brandes' pose

sweater - GAP (remixed)

skirt - GAP (remixed)

tights - LOFT (remixed)

earrings - Corcoran Gallery, DC (remixed)

scarf - London street vendor

shoes - J-41via Zappos (remixed)

I have been racking my brains to figure out how to mute the skirt and finally had a eureka moment in the bathroom the other day--I was flipping through the J.Crew catalog. Over the past few years, you may have noticed, J.Crew stylists have paired flashy accessories and clothing pieces with earth tone knits, Breton stripes, and neutral leather. For example, see the following taken from their website:

The skirt might remind you of a disco ball, but the rest of the styling distracts from that association. Using this sort of concept as I guide, I paired the skirt with same navy blue sweater as before but chose gray tights, casual shoes, and picked up on the flat cranberry hue of the shoes in the scarf.  The result  made the skirt appropriate for attendance at a morning/afternoon colloquium at my university for three reasons:  color, shape, and style. 

Color:  Sparkly silver thread runs throughout the skirt which makes it flashy. I toned that down with navy and a drabbier cranberry on both my feet and around my neck. I also forewent any other silver:  my legs were gray and my earrings were amber, rather than gold, glass, silver, or rhinestones.  When the light hit my legs, the opaque gray soaked that up and when it hit my earrings, it went right through them. The only reflective flash was the skirt and no other piece picked up on this; rather, everything else resisted or diverted the light.

Shape:  I do not have the body type of a J.Crew model and that is fine. But one thing that will make this skirt look immediately more nighttime than daytime is my curviness.  If I paired the skirt with heels, then my booty would have been elevated and I would have walked in a way that also drew more attention to the skirt.  Not only did my shoes help mute the effect of the skirt through the color, but the clog-like build of them kept me from strutting.

Style:  The shoe + tights combo here kept the outfit casual--it is an outfit for walking, public transit, and coffee shops. I also wore little makeup and neither curled my hair nor blow-dryed it straight. It was left natural and I pulled it back. If I were going out for dinner, I would have worn heels, smoky eye makeup, and paired it with flashier accessories.

I probably wouldn't have worn this if I were faculty, but as a grad student in an urban area, it wasn't inappropriate.  And actually, I'm really thankful for this time in ABD land in which I can still have a bit more freedom in my sartorial choices.

Do you have any advice on other ways I might mute the skirt? Also, how do you mute your own flasher/nighttime pieces?