Emma Pillsbury: my style icon

Television isn't real. Wrap both hands around that concept and hold on tight.

So I love Glee. I used to be annoyed at the idea of Glee and was sort of hipsterishly "over it" before I sat down and watched an entire episode, and then I was hooked. Quite honestly most of the main characters annoy the sweet bejesus out of me. I mean Rachel, you're a psychopath. Finn, you're a moron. Quinn, you could be so awesome if you would just embrace the truly evil side of you again. Will, obviously the way to treat someone's serious mental illness is to bully her into confessing it to a bunch of high schoolers or forcing the issue in the cafeteria of her workplace, I mean duh. Etc. So I watch the show basically for Sue's (and sometimes Santana's) hilariously mean zingers and Brittany's adorable cluelessness.

AND, of course, to get style tips from the guidance counselor. I think it started because she's a redhead. "But that woman on Mad Men is a redhead, why aren't you all into her outfits?" Because both of my boobs together are still not the size of one of Christina Hendricks', and I don't want to dress like a vintage sex object...errr...secretary/pinup girl. I want to dress like a very colorful and somewhat quirky librarian. Emma opened me up to colors beyond green and purple. I can wear pink even! Peach! Potentially red though I haven't tried it! I can wear yellow and blue and green together in the same outfit and not look like a clown!

So besides color, what style tips have I picked up from Emma?

--You can never have too many bows. Or ruffles. Or ruffly bows.

--A skinny belt in pretty much every color of the rainbow is a MUST HAVE.

--That box of pins? That Great-Aunt Mimi left you? You know, butterflies and poodles and cranky-looking owls? Totally wearable. (Yes I actually did have a Great-Aunt Mimi.)

--You don't have to have LOTS of shoes, but the ones you do have must be fabulous. (You can also have lots of fabulous shoes, Emma doesn't judge you for your abundance.)

--Skirts and dresses make you feel feminine and adorable even when you're doing totally crappy work (like pulling file folders full of thousands of pages of ancient debate evidence out of Rubbermaid tubs to figure out if you need to scan it or not. Or making pamphlets or scrubbing down the common area of your workplace kitchen with an electric toothbrush).

--Pencil skirts are more flattering than you think they will be. Also true of clothing with higher waists.

--Anthropologie is Wonderland. J Crew is for serious clothes with good tailoring for not a ton of cash. Kate Spade is for clothes that only Pretend-People-In-Totally-Not-Real-TV-Shows wear into a high school.

*Credit for the Emma screenshot goes to the amazing blog What Would Emma Pillsbury Wear? Visit them at wwepw.com and revel in the Emma-ness.