As we move ever closer to winter, let’s revisit my fall wish list and take stock of how my plans panned out, and what new ones might be shaping up. I’ve been a very busy bee thrifter this fall, and my closet stands proof – and also stands in need of some editing, but that’s a blog post for another day. I’ve added some fabulous (mostly vintage) pieces that have brought lots of small joy into my daily life, in a season that has otherwise lacked much cheer. Some of those pieces came straight off my wish list, others were gifts from the thrift gods that were too good to be refused. You’ve seen most of them in my weekly outfit roundups, because I won’t let a good garment go unworn too long if I can help it. Some things I’ve been buying with an eye to the future as well as the present, because good quality is getting harder and harder to find, and classic staple pieces – wool sweaters and jackets, base layers, leather shoes and accessories, etc. – are unlikely to go to waste. Not to mention, I am buying for two. There is now a constant flow of clothing from my closet into my daughter’s, and it doesn’t look like it will be slowing down any time soon.

Here is what I’ve checked off my fall wish list so far:

I had initially picked out a pair of cap-toe low-heeled pumps on Poshmark, but had not yet pulled the trigger when I found this vintage pair (Storey’s, first time I’ve seen/heard of this brand) at the thrifts. They’re beige-and-black, not white-and-black as I originally had in mind, but otherwise exactly what I was looking for. The heel is high enough to give me a little lift, but not too high to be uncomfortable. This is a classic shoe style that pairs well with my aesthetic, and I expect to get lots of wear out of them next year.

I haven’t found an olive leather jacket (yet) but did score this awesome red Tommy Hilfiger one. It’s such a classic 90s style, I love it. I paid $35 for it, which thrift-expensive but a great deal nonetheless. Red is one of my fave colours at the moment; more on that later.

I found not one but two cropped chunky cardigans: one in ivory and one in black. The ivory one is Abercrombie & Fitch, and while I don’t love its quality, it has proven extremely versatile. I have worn it a bunch of times already, so I think it will be worth upgrading when the opportunity arises. The black cardigan is Banana Republic Factory, and slightly better quality so I think it should last me a good while.

This wasn’t technically on my fall wish list, but as it’s something that I’ve wanted for years and years, I think it’s worth including here. Vintage Club Monaco crest sweatshirts like this have been a hot commodity on the resale market for years now, which may explain why – despite searching the thrifts for the better part of the decade – I’ve never managed to find one ‘in the wild’. I finally gave up trying and took the plunge on a Poshmark listing that was reasonably priced. No regrets!

There are a few items on my fall wish list that I have not yet found: brown cowboy boots (still!), chunky platform Mary Janes, olive leather jacket, diamond tennis necklace. I’m rolling these forward because they remain pieces that I would like to have in my closet. In addition, there are a few other things I’m adding to the list – not specifically for winter as such, as they’re pieces I could wear year-round.

Deep red dress & cardigan

I am obsessed with a specific shade of red I find difficult to describe: cool-toned, saturated, rich. Darker than lipstick red, but a true red rather than burgundy or maroon. I would love to find a maxi dress in this colour, preferably in a long-column sheath style, as well as a cardigan – something cropped and chunky most likely, because that’s how I roll. A sleeveless turtleneck would be nice as well; I recently got a regular turtleneck in a slightly-lighter-than-ideal shade of red and am finding it a very versatile addition to the closet. In the past, I’ve mostly stuck to a warm-toned poppy red (which I still love), but this deep red is a great complement to the other colours I’ve been wearing a lot lately, like navy and brown.

Polka dot maxi skirt

Polka dots are not a pattern I’ve tended to wear a lot in the past, but I have been drawn lately to the idea of a flowy, swishy, polka dot maxi skirt – either dark navy or black background with tiny white dots. I think a small-scale pattern would look elegant rather than whimsical (which I want to avoid). I am hoping to find a vintage option that ticks off these boxes. I’ve found some listings on Poshmark that have promise, but as always, will look to my local thrift stores first.

Gold-tone huggie and knot earrings

A while back, I thrifted a pair of huggie earrings in a vintage gold-tone finish (which is warmer than typical yellow gold, I find, and suits me better) that I absolutely love. They’re classic and elegant, but simple and versatile enough to be an ‘everyday’ option. They’re perfect … except for one thing: they’re clip-on earrings, and they start to pinch after a couple of hours. I would love to find an identical – or at least very similar – regular pair. Along the same lines, I would love to find a pair of gold-tone knot earrings; another classic design that would work well for everyday wear. I’m looking for the Goldilocks version: not too large, not too small.

Calvin Klein vintage jeans

A couple of months ago, I thrifted a pair of vintage CK slim straight jeans and I have become obsessed with them. I want to find a similar pair in a slightly more relaxed fit and lighter wash. It’s giving “90s off-duty model” vibes. Well, a girl can dream, anyway. The silhouette works well with both long and/or oversized blazers, as well as boxy, cropped jackets. And we love versatility!

Kitten heel mules

Speaking of that 90s model vibe, a pair of 90s-style kitten heel mules would be fabulous to pair with jeans or column skirts/dresses. I’d settle for either a pointy toe or a tapered square toe, and I’m not too fussy about colour; black, brown, oxblood, or dark red would all be just dandy.

Navy bag

Currently, my only navy bag is a bucket style; it’s not as versatile as others in my closet, and I am not a huge fan of the stiff faux leather material. Since I’ve started wearing navy more frequently, I’m finding myself wishing that I had another option; something classic and chic, but easier to open and close. A navy-and-cream bag would also suit me very well, I think. Vintage Coach would be my first choice, but the current state of that particular resale market makes it an unlikely prospect – I don’t want to spend upwards of $200 on this bag. Another possibility would be a vintage Paloma Picasso bag. Her designs are fab and the quality is excellent, but being less well-known than Coach, prices are much more reasonable.

Having written it all down, it’s time to hope and wait to see if that whole manifesting business works … even a little bit. I’ll take every little bit I can 😉

Details: J. Crew sweater, LizSport vest, Ralph Lauren blazer, Fossil belt, Coach bag (all secondhand), Zara pants (retail)

Thoughts: This ended up being one of my fave outfits of the season. I thrifted the sweater and vest on the same day (same store) and they’re a match made in monochromatic texture heaven. I knew I would wear them together — not exclusively, but definitely to begin with — and then it was simply a question of choosing complementary pieces. With its darker olive tones, the blazer was an easy pick. And then the pants became the obvious choice because their colour matches with the plaid. It’s a kind of outfit domino effect: one piece leading to another leading to another. Easy peasy.

Details: Bonnie Strauss dress, Jaeger vest, Jones NY blazer, Sonoma belt, Fossil bag (all thrifted)

Thoughts: I love this vintage velvet dress so much, but it has a challenging (though stunning) wide neckline that really likes to go off-shoulder on me. Not particularly practical for the average day. But! Layering to the rescue. Layering is the hero who never fails to show up and get the job done. I recently thrifted this vintage Jaeger sweater vest, and it’s a nice colour match for the dress. Bonus points for the fact that it’s cropped, which makes it easy to further enhance the illusion of ‘separates’ by the addition of a belt. I was originally going to go full-monochromatic, but at the last minute decided to switch to a grey blazer for a bit of contrast. Grey and brown are supposed to work well together, and I took my cue from the vest itself, which has some grey in it.

Details: Ralph Lauren blazer, H&M turtleneck, Pitlochry sweater, unbranded tulle skirt, YSL bag (all secondhand)

Thoughts: I am a big fan of high-waisted silhouettes, as we all know, so this was a bit of a departure for me. Rather than go with my usual partial tuck*, I decided to keep the sweater untucked for a more relaxed vibe that leans into the volume of the chunky sweater and tulle skirt. I think it would have been 10/10 if the skirt were a bit longer, but I wasn’t mad about it as it was either. This outfit gave me the opportunity to pull out one of my favourite older bags, which still brings me a lot of joy. Even though it’s not as practical for my current lifestyle as my small crossbody bags, sometimes you gotta go with the heart.

*With longer and/or chunkier sweaters, my trick is to tuck just a bit of the hem then drape the extra material over the waistband. It ends up being less bulky and awkward than trying to tuck what might be as much as 5-7 inches of material. As long as the waistband is relatively snug, it will hold and keep everything in place.

Details: Calvin Klein tee & jeans, Limited cardigan, Fossil belt (all thrifted)

Thoughts: Super basic outfit that I inexplicably loved so, so much. I’m obsessed with the classic straight cut of these vintage CK jeans, which seems to possess the magical ability to make my legs look longer than they actually are. I mean, nobody is going to mistake me for an off-duty model, but I feel spiritually closer to that whole vibe when I wear these jeans. I am also obsessed with the cut, colour, and texture of this vintage Limited zip-up cardigan. There is something about boxy, cropped jackets that is really speaking to me atm.

Details: Zara top, Judith & Charles jacket, Ralph Lauren skirt (all secondhand)

Thoughts: Shoutout to my favourite statement skirt. Still making a statement.

Details: Gap turtleneck, Tommy Hilfiger jacket, Calvin Klein jeans, vintage bag (all thrifted)

Thoughts: Those jeans again, with another boxy, cropped jacket. It’s like I have a type. Well, duh. I am a creature of fairly predictable outfit formulas.

Details: H&M top (retail), Ralph Lauren vest, Tough Duck jacket, American Eagle jeans, Gap belt, vintage bag (all thrifted)

Thoughts: Chore coats are trendy this fall, and it’s a bandwagon I’m happy to jump on because the vibes are aligning. Chore coats are Ralph Lauren-coded, aren’t they? I don’t remember the last time I was near a barn, but I watch a lot of shows set in the English countryside and I like to pretend that my life in suburban Edmonton is, somehow, the same sartorial ballpark. Anywhoo, this vintage Tough Duck coat came fashionably distressed, courtesy of its previous owner who obviously had a more outdoorsy lifestyle than yours truly. I am obsessed with the corduroy collar, but then again, I am obsessed with all things corduroy.

Details: Club Monaco turtleneck & sweatshirt, Mackage jacket, Gap dress, Canadienne boots (all secondhand)

Thoughts: It finally happened: I caved and bought a vintage Club Monaco crest sweatshirt, a thing I’ve been coveting for years. You might even say decades, since teenage me couldn’t but dream of owning one of these at the height of their original popularity in the 90s. I kept hoping I’d find one at the thrift stores, but it’s one of the few items on my thrift wishlist that has eluded me for the better part of 10 years. This ended up being a Poshmark pick-up, after many months of patiently waiting for a decent deal to pop up. These sweatshirts are once again (niche) popular, so resale prices are higher than you’d expect. Anyway, holy grail having been acquired, I had to do it justice with a ‘cool girl’ outfit, and this was my best effort. I even wore a short dress, which is effort indeed on my part. Between you and me and the rest of the internet, I am mostly wearing this sweatshirt with leggings at home … but it does ‘clean up’ nicely.

If you are a dedicated watcher of British film and television, I guarantee that you know who Samuel West is, even if you don’t recognize the name. The man has an impressively extensive and diverse filmography, to put it lightly. Indeed, it took years of “wait, I think I’ve seen that guy before” before it finally dawned on me that West was Period Drama Boyfriend^TM material. In that regard, he had a couple of strikes against him, the most obvious of which is the fact that, whereas most of my PDBs have dark hair and blue (or green) eyes, West is a brown-eyed blond. The second is the fact that, as he himself observed in a 2020 interview, he has mostly played “evil members of the white establishment or Victorian perverts” on screen – which isn’t exactly promising in terms of PDB status (though I do get a kick out of this delightfully mordant summing up his acting resume). But I wouldn’t be writing this post (probably) if that was the whole story. As it happens, West has played plenty of perfectly respectable non-perverts, starting with his breakout role as Leonard Bast in Howards End, a movie that has hurt my feelings almost as much as Atonement. Actually, come to think of it, West’s ability to play anti-heroes and villains as well as (if not better) than ‘good guys’ is something he shares with all my PDBs (as you will see in due course) … which probably means something. I’m not sure I want to speculate on what that might be 😉

Anyway, let’s take a look at Sam West.

Birthday: June 19 (Gemini)

Middle name(s): Alexander Joseph

Posh?: Not in the proper English sense, though his parents are famous (actors Prunella Scales and Timothy West) and he was educated at public school and Oxford, where he studied literature. Fun fact: he is also a passionate philatelist and birdwatcher. We love a man with nerdy hobbies.

Height: 6’0

Favourite period drama: All Creatures Great And Small is probably what tipped the balance for me as far as West’s potential as a PDB. If this is not a case of “tell me you’re a middle-aged woman without telling me you’re a middle-aged woman”, I don’t know what is. As soon as I started watching ACGAS – the cozy, heart-warming series to top them all – I was more or less immediately smitten with Siegfried Farnon, tweed-wearing grumpy “dad” with a not-so-hidden heart of gold. The show is a visual delight (and no, I am not just talking about eye candy here) and the best kind of soothing escapist fare for our troubled times. In every episode, there are misunderstandings, scrapes, and at least one cow in distress, but nothing truly terrible ever happens, and every character is lovable in his or her own way. The only way ACGAS could be better is if, in between farm visits, Siegfried, James and the rest of the gang solved a cozy mystery or two.

I would be remiss not to add an honourable mention in this category: Cambridge Spies, a 2004 miniseries ostensibly about the famous ring of British spies who betrayed their country to the Soviets from the 1930s through the 1950s. I say ostensibly, because this series is extremely unserious about history – “inspired by actual events” would be putting it generously. That being said, it is an extremely entertaining drama featuring top notch acting from a ridiculously attractive cast that includes Toby Stephens, Rupert Penry Jones, and Tom Hollander in their respective youthful primes (plus a bunch of other faces you will definitely recognize if you’re a fan of British TV). West plays a charming (if you forget the traitory part) Anthony Blunt. I am not the only fan of his performance; in 2019, the producers of The Crown asked him to reprise the role in season 3 of that show, which I think is kind of neat.

Sexiest period drama role: This may be a slightly controversial opinion, but I think West’s Mr. Elliott in Persuasion (1995) is sexy AF – an Austen bad boy you almost want to root for. He looks fantastic in Regency costume, and it’s one of the rare roles where we get to appreciate his glorious curls.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t tell you that this version of Persuasion is the absolute best, and worth immediately tracking down if you have not already seen it. (And I say this as someone who remains pretty devoted to Rupert Penry Jones as Captain Wentworth in the 2007 adaptation.) You can find it on YouTube, if your streaming apps (like mine) don’t have it.

Side note: if you’re an Austenite, you might enjoying looking up on YouTube the 2022 Jane Austen House Annual Carpenter Lecture on YouTube, in which West co-chairs a panel discussion about the best Austen film adaptations — I thought it was excellent.

Also, if you go down the YouTube rabbit hole a little bit further, you might also come across a fairly obscure two-part WWII-era comedy-drama set on a RAF base called Over Here, in which West played a cocky, sarcastic, motorcycle-riding, leather-jacket wearing squadron leader. In case that’s more your speed than breeches and cravats (though why not both, I say) …

Austen adaptations: see above. Back in the 2000s, I think West could have been an interesting Mr. Knightley. (As a frame of reference, my fave Knightley is Jonny Lee Miller.)

Favourite contemporary role: Most of the contemporary roles I’ve seen West play are of the “evil white establishment dude” variety, and while he does that well, I wouldn’t call any of them ‘favourite’.

Least romantic role: Peter Judd in Slow Horses. Not a period drama, but a must-watch nonetheless – one of the best shows currently streaming. (The books are brilliant as well.) The character was – allegedly! – based on a certain floppy-haired former UK president, enough said. West plays him with relish, but ew. Watching ACGAS and Slow Horses back-to-back gave me some serious whiplash, let me tell you.

Murder mystery cameos: So many! He’s been in the Inspector Alleyn Mysteries (series 1, episode 5), Foyle’s War (series 2, episode 3), The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (series 5, episode 3), Midsomer Murders TWICE (series 10, episode 2 and series 19, episode 5 — the latter features a modern day Austen-centric plot); Agatha Christie’s Poirot ( the David Suchet version of Murder on the Orient Express), and Death in Paradise (series 9, episode 1). He’s always one of the suspects, though not always the killer, and it’s rather fun to try to guess if he’ll turn out to be the bad guy or not. Watch out for Waking the Dead (series 2, episodes 1-2), in which he plays a disturbingly charismatic convicted serial killer (that isn’t a spoiler, by the way) who terrorizes Jane Bennett from the 1995 Pride & Prejudice series — that one is definitely NOT cozy mystery territory.

Watch at your own risk: Hyde Park on Hudson is one of those movies that is weird enough to make you wonder how it got greenlit, but not weird enough to be campy good. It’s about the time that King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) went to visit President Franklin Roosevelt at his rural retreat, the eponymous Hyde Park on Hudson, to try to shore up British-American relations on the eve of WWII. I can’t speak to the historical accuracy of the movie, but it doesn’t really matter; it’s probably best approached as a story about a fish-out-of-water couple trying to survive an awkward house party. That almost makes it sound appealing, but it’s mostly just odd. West plays the king and Olivia Coleman plays his wife, which was jarring enough in itself since I had previously watched The Crown (which had Coleman as the other Queen Elizabeth and West as the aforementioned traitorous Blunt), but then BILL MURRAY plays FDR and that took me all the way out.

Alright, darlings, till next time: happy period drama watching!