Cropped tops was one of those trends that I swore that I would never do. For one, I’m not in my teens or my twenties anymore so showing tons of skin tends to make it look like I’m trying too hard. Two, as hard as I work in the gym, I don’t have abs like Marisa Miller. And third, my waist is short, so tops that are cropped emphasize my short torso.

But never say never.

I had an event to go to, and as any other time I have somewhere to go and I need to get a little dressed up, I pondered about what I would wear. I suddenly had this idea that if I could pair the cropped top with a high-waisted skirt so that only a teeny bit of skin showed through, it actually might result in an acceptable outfit that didn’t look like I wished I was 16 again. I could totally get on board with that.

So I did a quick online search. I really wanted to keep covered up as much as possible, so I opted for a long sleeved version, but I kept my mind open to sleeveless versions as well. I also didn’t want the top to be too short (although not that hard, since I’m short-waisted anyway) and I didn’t want to pay too much. I checked several online stores and settled on this top from Wilfred Free (by Aritzia). I lucked out when I went to the B&M store on my lunch break there was only one black one left, and it fit! It was meant to be!

I paired it with this white Zara pencil skirt that sits extremely high on my waist. So high, you can’t even see skin showing in the first photo. And for the most part, unless I was bending or reaching, you wouldn’t see skin at all, which I suppose defeated the purpose of purchasing a cropped top, but oh well.