Dress, Club Monaco; shoes, Manolo Blahnik; bag, MbMJ
You know what’s the best? Wearing a thick, soft sweater dress that feels like you’re wrapped in warm (but not too warm) puffy clouds. That’s what I wore last Friday, and it was a good consolation on a busy day when the office was too cold, and the diet Coke not strong enough. I adore this shade of blue, a close match to Pantone’s Fall 2016 colour, Riverside. (Was Club Monaco taking notes?) It just so happens that Riverside is one of the core colours I’ve settled upon for my wardrobe going forward. More on that next week.
As a total aside, the product name for this dress is “Edvard”, which is amusingly random. I always wonder who comes up with names like this, and where they find their inspiration. Is my dress an ode to Edvard Munch? Perhaps.
Edvard Munchwearing a puffy (blue) cloudbest/worst case scenario
Who’s the worst?
the woooooorst
This chica. For being wholly unable to resist buying yet *another* Club Monaco sweater dress.
Look at that: wearing my fave new sweater and my fave skirt, together. You can’t go wrong pairing favourite things. Well, I suppose you can … but even in the worst case scenario, you will still be happy because you’re wearing things you love. If I had to summarize my new approach to clothing, it’s just that. I mean, I’ve never worn things I *hated* per se, but I used to be much more lax in my definition of “love”. It’s probably why, for a long time, I didn’t find Marie Kondo’s “joy” test all that useful; anything over a 7 (on a 1 to 10 scale) would get classified as “joy-inducing” … and I had a lot of 7s in my wardrobe for years. Things that were nice, and useful, and just “okay”.
No more.
I’m all about the best now. The crème de la crème. There are still some straggling “good enoughs” in my closet, but they are mostly placeholders — things I need, and will eventually upgrade, or things I’m keeping for the sake of variety at this point, with a plan to retire them in the near future. It’s a work in progress, but progress is definitely being made. So far, I like how it’s translating into my day-to-day style.
my fave necklaceYOLO … wear a bright bag
This outfit itself is pretty basic; sweater and skirt, shoes, bag, done. Because there is so much colour going on, I knew that black shoes were non-negotiable. I was also initially going to go with a black bag, but I switched it up at the last minute; this bright red bag hasn’t been getting enough love (and it’s definitely a “joy”-ful one) and it goes well with the red shades in the skirt. The end result might be more colourful than I initially intended but … YOLO, my friends.
Blazer, J. Crew Factory; top, Theory (thrifted); pants, Club Monaco; shoes, Manolo Blahnik; necklace, Banana Republic
Um, yes. I am indeed wearing culottes. If you have not already turned away in horror and dismay, let’s plunge on. I did buy a pair of trousers that were described as culottes, at least by the sales associate at Club Monaco. First of all, I hate the term “culottes”; it always makes me think of the sort of underclothes that French ladies might have worn at the turn of the last century. Second, I am not entirely convinced that the term is appropriate in this case. I thought culottes were cropped much higher than the ankle. Regardless, this is definitely a “look”, and one firmly outside my comfort zone. I think (and my husband agrees) that photos don’t do it much justice; I swear it looks better in real life, although that’s cold comfort in a blog post. The reality is that, after years and years of skinny pants, it will take a while for my eyes to adjust to a new silhouette.
new lengthsthe view from the back
I ended up buying the trousers (new, on sale though not inexpensive) for a number of reasons. One, my evolving style is skewing more towards the archictectural/minimalist direction, where the cut of things is the key to staving off visual boredom and the goal is not necessarily figure flattery. It’s a strange new land for me, but I’m having fun trying to find my way. Two, the colour is one of my favourites, and a core non-neutral in my wardrobe palette. I knew it would work well with several existing pieces, which makes that whole discovering-a-new-style thing much more manageable.
So, there we are. I am wearing culottes and we are (hopefully) still friends. Happy Valentine’s Day!
