The day I wore this outfit I woke up to a thunderstorm, so the moody floral print seemed very apropos. I’ve worn almost this exact outfit before, but since on this occasion I updated it with a couple of new pieces, I thought I’d show it to you anyway. Real life and blogging collide, run for your lives. Just kidding! Come back and read on, please.

I finally found a classic style navy blazer after searching for a few months. I gave away my old Aritzia one because I wasn’t crazy about the sleeves (couldn’t get them to roll up properly, grr), but then I missed having the option in my closet. So I looked and looked. And looked, until I got lucky. Blazers, like dresses, are almost always good bet for me at the thrift store; sometimes you have to wait a bit if you’re looking for a specific colour, but the selection is quite good if you’re starting from scratch. This blazer is from Theory, and looks to be the same style as my oft-worn greige blazer — love it.

The shoes are also newish, and the colour is proving so, so versatile. These are the Elsie d’Orsay pumps, and they are still available on the J. Crew website although this particular colour (cottage purple) might be an eBay-only option at this point. It might be worth tracking down because the muted, greyed out purple is such a nice, subtle colour accent.

I wore a version of this outfit at a conference last year, and figured it was time for a repeat. The weather has taken a definite turn towards fall, and I’ve been blessed with a nasty cold, so the cozy scarf was an ideal outfit builder — functional and decorative all at once. On my commute, I also had to throw on a coat because Mother Nature doesn’t play around when it comes to Edmonton’s cold seasons.

All in all, it’s a pretty basic outfit, so I added a few pops of blue to pick up on the colours in the scarf. Not much else to say … but if you’re looking for things to read, check out the next chapter of my book here.

Somehow, I’ve accumulated an extensive collection of casual pants — denim, cords, chinos, you name it — in a variety of “Adina” colours (black, blue, grey, olive, mustard yellow) — which is (a) weird, because I’ve always hated pants, and (b) nice, because maybe I don’t hate them quite so much anymore. It’s a strange turn of events, for sure, but this is basically my go-to weekend casual outfit these days. And these Clarks booties are a great addition to the line-up, especially now that the weather is exhibiting some worrying signs of fall. Shudder.

So, what am I wearing? My trusty Joe Fresh moto leather jacket which has replaced my denim jacket as my most versatile casual topper. It goes really well with my grey fisherman-like (sleeveless) sweater, which is why I wear them together a LOT. Plus, the sweater is a great layering piece because, hello, sleeveless. These (new to me) Pilcro cords are great — soft & comfy. They’re actually a dark khaki but look grey here. The scarf is a warmer olive, so there’s a bit of a clash going on there but … eh, close enough. The boots are Clarks, as I mentioned, and they are fantastic. I know I’m late to the game, but I would definitely recommend the brand for comfort.