I wear a lot of black to the office. Black and white and blue. Part of it is the whole New Look thing. Part of it is … well, black is just easy. Easy and safe and conservative. But you know what is also easy and safe and conservative? Tan. Yeah, there’s a risk of looking like a walking bowl of oatmeal; but, honestly, black doesn’t always do a pale complexion any favours either. Anyway, I don’t have a lot of brown in my closet, so whenever I need a “warmer” neutral, I pull out my tan sweater and, hey presto! Outfit.
My one pet peeve about these sweaters (the Factory version of the retail Tippi, the name of which escapes me at the moment) is that they wrinkle and pill like nobody’s business. I really probably should invest in some better quality versions but (a) I hate spending money on sweaters (yep, another weird shopping quirk), and (b) I feel like I need to refine my sweater colour palette first. I have a rainbow of these J. Crew sweaters, and if I’m going to splurge on the next level s**t, I need to be more selective. I do think that “tan” will make the cut, though. And black. Of course.
Oh, and the post title? The skirt feels very autumnal to me because of the colours in the print, and it feels strange to wear it any other time of year. Which is, erm, a stupid reason to not wear a perfectly serviceable skirt. So, here we go: fall in January.
I love this outfit on you. It’s a combination of crazy pattern and “the new look” in the best possible way. You have hit the sartorial sweet spot! Great colors for you, too. And blue and black both snuck in… What about grey as another neutral for you? Warm grey would be wonderful.
A good suggestion, for sure, although I always seem to have trouble with greys – I end up with 2 or 3 mismatched shades, and it drives me crazy. I’d love to try a monochromatic, head to toe grey outfit, but I’m afraid I would miscalculate terribly.
I do enjoy tan on you – but I find Beige/Tan to be so boring!!! I like how you kick it up though. It still is plays into boring territory for me.
Hahaha! Well, it’s not neon green, for sure 😉 Maybe you just need more persuasion to come around to beige …
the Charley sweater! I have the Tippi in 3 colors and the Charley in 1 (the same one as you, in fact), and I actually like the fit of the Charley better – its a bit looser and lighter-weight. I haven’t had the pilling problem yet, but I also havent washed/dry cleaned it yet….
Totally agree re Charley vs. Tippi. I own one Tippi sweater and I’m not as big of a fan. I will probably continue buying the Charley sweaters, quality issues notwithstanding, because they do look quite nice (for a while, anyway) for the price point (on sale, always on deep sale!).