Neutrals with a pop of tights

I am planning to do a 30 for 30 wrap-up, but I'd like to put some thought into it, and currently I'm not up for careful thinking.  Instead I'm all about showing off how I'd layer tights (ya'll may have figured out that I love layering things), since it's been quite cold for Houston these past couple days.  I'm also excited to start working through this back-log of photos that were taken between when I considered myself finished with the 30x30 and when I realized that I wasn't going to recreate outfit solely for pictures and needed to keep on wearing 30x30 items.  Fortunately I still adore the items I picked and they've gotten a lot of use since the end, but right now I'm just excited to post something that's not 30x30.  What makes me so excited about this outfit?

Outfit: Skirt: Gap, Cami: Lucy's, Sweater, Socks, Outer Tights: Target, Inner Tights: We Love Colors, Boots: Steve Madden Intyce, Bracelet: Gift, Coat: Old Navy, Scarf: Vendor in Montreal

Reasons why this outfit made me happy:
1.  It's positively frigid for Houston, which means it's cold enough to wear a coat and bike in (although unfortunately cold enough in my lab for me to need a coat inside- what the what building facilities?)
2.  This skirt is pretty ancient, as in surprised it still fits me that's how old- it's been lying in the pile of needs fixes.  It'd be more of a win if I'd actually replaced the zipper, but instead I've reconciled myself with wearing slightly broken items so long as it can be hidden, and I'm totally okay with that.
3.  I went through a phase where I wanted to dress preppy (think black pants, khakis and polos), and while I now realize that layering a collared shirt would've totally upped the prep factor (although the socks and coat probably balance this lack), it's fun to have a slightly prep outfit.
4.  Cold enough to need layered tights, but warm enough for one of them to have a pattern!  So exciting I needed to take a detail shot-and you even get a better look at the bracelet for a two for one bonus.

Have you guys recently rediscovered anything really great in your closet lately?  This baby is a nicely cut lightweight full skirt (bought before I even realized how valuable full skirts were in my closet), and because of the color I can probably sneak it into keeping with the military trend (I don't really worry about trends, but I'm tickled when something accidentally qualifies as trendy-ish).

Also, this is what I was wearing last night at the bar when I described myself as a nerd and my friend's friend (who I had just met), looked at me and said "oh, I wouldn't have categorized you that way."  Don't get me wrong- I'm totally proud of my nerdiness and wouldn't have it any other way, but it was a very weird and interesting thing for me to hear, since I've categorized myself as a nerd forever.  And now I'm wondering- when and where did this disconnect between the way that I see myself and the first impression I might give off others happen?  Some of it may be due to self editing, like in yesterday's post where I put up flattering pictures of a dress that I described myself as not being terribly comfortable in, only it's with my clothes and personality that I may be editing.  But I'd like to think that I'm not dressing to convey anything other than myself- the same girl who has an I <3 nerds shirt and wound up wearing bright blue fishnets on her first day of college.

Or it could be an argument over semantics- the two of us may have totally different qualifications for the term nerd, much like how I tend to think of fashion and style bloggers as distinct terms, something that I got into a little bit in the comments of my recent FBFF post.  Clearly, I'm just using what could have been a 5 second anecdote to overthink something, and grasp to make connections with my recent thoughts, but hey, I'm a grad student.  So how about you guys- have you had any experiences with a (perhaps shocking) disconnect between how you self-identify and how others perceive you?  How much do you think your clothing choices influence this?