Back To The Start
Posted: May 7, 2021 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: black, black lace-up boots, brown, brown plaid midi skirt, brown tweed blazer, mustard cardigan, suspenders, white short sleeve shirt, yellow Leave a comment
It’s funny how my style is coming back full circle to the vintage-inspired looks of the blog’s early days. Luckily, trends are coming back, too – it’s now all cottagecore and dark academia, which are just different versions of twee (not that my style was ever that twee.) I was looking at my archive and found this outfit, which I’d be happy to wear today (yes, including the big collar, which is trendy again). So here I recreated the outfit with what I have now, and added some current touches – blazer and suspenders. The suspenders are bit much, but the skirt is slightly large for me and the suspenders are the best way to hold it up, plus they added a dark academia/menswear touch to the outfit, so I’m not complaining.
A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood
Posted: April 23, 2021 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: brooch, brown, brown wool pants, red, red cardigan, saddle shoes, socks 1 Comment
When I first saw this red cardigan, it immediately reminded me of Mr. Rogers’ iconic sweater. Unlike many of my US friends and readers, I didn’t grow up with Mr. Rogers and only heard of him when I went to college in the US. Still, Mr. Rogers was such a major figure in pop culture that I couldn’t help but become familiar with him and admire him for everything he did. So for this outfit, I took some inspiration from the man himself and put together a Mr. Rogers-esque outfit with these pants and shoes. I don’t have a pair of canvas shoes like his, so I made do with my saddles shoes instead, and my cat brooch is a nod to the puppets on his show. Tom Hanks, eat your heart out.
Northern Lights
Posted: April 19, 2021 Filed under: Clothes, Style Imitating Art | Tags: blue, brown, brown heeled boots, navy fair isle sweater, navy plaid wool skirt, style imitating art 5 Comments
My outfit for this week’s SIA, inspired by Frederic Edwin Church’s “Aurora Borealis“, is a bit of a loose interpretation. I thought about wearing one of my pleated velvet skirts to mimic the luminescent light, but ultimately, I decided on this wool skirt instead because the dark background + brighter plaid actually reflected the painting quite well. I paired it with my Fair Isle sweater because it’s similar to a Nordic/Icelandic sweater, and of course, Nordic countries are often where you go to catch the Aurora, so I thought it would be appropriate. Plus, it also has that dark background + bright pattern that is reminiscent of the Aurora. All in all, I’m quite pleased with how the outfit turned out.
Don’t forget to send me your outfit if you haven’t done so (the deadline is Tuesday) and to check back here on Wednesday to see other outfits inspired by this painting!
Pencil Skirt
Posted: April 16, 2021 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: beige short-sleeve sweater, belt, brooch, brown, brown heeled oxfords, brown plaid pencil skirt Leave a comment
I used to wear the occasional pencil skirt back in LA, but ever since I moved home and started to bike to work, I’d given all of them away. I’ve never been crazy about them anyway – they always come off too “business corporate” for my taste. However, when I saw this skirt in one of my favorite vintage/secondhand online sellers, I was drawn to the kick pleats and the row of buttons (and of course, the brown plaid), so I decided to give pencil skirts another try. It took some getting used to on the bike, but the pleats help a lot in making it easier to move in. It’s too bad that I got it so late and the weather is getting a bit too warm now, but I’m looking forward to wearing it more next fall/winter.
Four Seasons
Posted: April 14, 2021 Filed under: Clothes | Tags: black, black jeans, black turtleneck, brooch, brown, brown chelsea boots, burnt orange wool jacket 1 Comment
Here’s my latest experiment with brooch clustering. It’s the time of transition between winter/spring/summer (because let’s face it, we barely have a spring. Usually it’s just a couple of weeks of horrible humidity before the heat begins), so I thought it would be fun to do a “seasonal” cluster. I was happy to discover that I have all the necessary pieces – the blossoming branch for spring, the bunch of grape for summer, the bird for fall, and the snowflake for winter – and they are all the same color/style too. The rest of the outfit I keep super simple, so the brooches can really shine. All in all, it’s a very cohesive cluster, and probably my favorite so far!
