Details: Ralph Lauren sweater & skirt, Nine West jacket, Brighton belt, Canadienne shoes (all secondhand)

Thoughts: This outfit made me so incredibly happy, I can’t even explain. It’s not just that I’ve been dreaming about this skirt for so long and it’s finally mine; the whole outfit is pieces I love, and came together beautifully. I continue to be obsessed with this jacket and its versatility, which is once again, evident here. This is just happiness in (Trailblazer) outfit form.

Details: Anne Klein blouse, Club Monaco vest, Ralph Lauren skirt (all thrifted)

Thoughts: I also adored this outfit. The vest has been sitting in my closet for months, and I just wasn’t sure what to do with it. When I thrifted this vintage silk blouse, I finally felt inspired. I actually didn’t have huge expectations for this outfit, but it came together in a way that blew me away. It’s so me! It’s a very Bohemian outfit that gives me all the feels — to me, it could tell so many stories. Bohemian moves to 1920s London and becomes a famous mystery writer. Bohemian becomes the headmistress of a girls’ school and also a secret agent. I could go on and on. I should call it my Agatha Christie outfit because that’s the main theme I seem to be circling here.

Details: J. Crew shirt, Uniqlo sweater, Frame blazer, Mondi skirt, Emmanuel belt (all thrifted)

Thoughts: I know it’s dicey wearing red and green so long after Christmas, but who cares about rules anyway? I only thought of this (Historian) combo in February, so I am wearing it in February. Besides, the different shades of green, together with the yellow, make this feel more spring-adjacent than holidays-adjacent to me. I will brook no argument 😉

Details: Liz Clairborne sweater, Ralph Lauren blazer, CoH jeans, Gap belt, Paloma Picasso bag, Laredo boots (all secondhand)

Thoughts: Like everyone else, I’ve had an eye on the Toteme striped sweater for a while. The original wasn’t in the cards for me, but this vintage cotton turtleneck was another story. It’s not super similar, but it has a cool vibe that makes it more interesting than a run-of-the-mill striped sweater. And you know how I feel about vintage cotton sweaters — we shall say no more. This is my “fashion girlie” version of the Historian avatar; it’s more minimalist (style and colours) than my usual outfits, but there are fun details, like the bag, that elevate it for me out of the “zone of anonymity” I feel that a lot of those IG/TikTok outfits fall into.

Details: Ralph Lauren sweater & skirt, Gap blazer (all secondhand)

Thoughts: I’m somewhat on the fence about this outfit because it’s a bit too matchy-matchy, which I don’t tend to love these days; on the other hand, I did it to myself because I couldn’t resist the matchy, so I can’t entirely hate it either. This vintage cotton (of course) sweater is the exact shade of blue as the skirt — I had to do it! But now that I am looking at this outfit a few days removed from wearing it, I think part of the issue might also be the length of the skirt. I love long skirts, but I feel like this one might be just a smidge too long on me. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about it; the pattern is so beautiful, it seems like a shame to hem it, even by an inch or two. Something to ponder …

Details: Pendleton sweater, Liz Clairborne dress, vintage belt (all thrifted)

Thoughts: Just a hit of serotonin in clothing form. That’s it. No other notes.

Details: Uniqlo sweatshirt, vintage cardigan, Gap jeans, Coach bag (all secondhand)

Thoughts: I’ll be frank: this outfit doesn’t really fall into any of my current avatar aesthetics, but I loved it anyway. The sweatshirt and cardigan are older pieces that suited earlier iterations of my style, but they still make me happy so, guess what? I still wear them. I’m comfortable enough with my style — and my own sense of self — that the occasional digression from it doesn’t faze me. Congruity was a huge preoccupation of mine for years, as I was figuring things out (myself and my style), but it has become a lot less critical. Just part of the journey, I guess.

As you may recall, one of my goals for the year was to shop more intentionally. I want to focus on pieces that are high quality and meaningful in the context of my personal style journey; this is the only way to bring real value to my already highly-curated wardrobe. I have been working to identify some of these pieces, and part of my focus has been dedicated to curating a Ralph Lauren “capsule” that embodies those aspects of the RL ethos which most resonate with me. I’ve been looking over the collections from the past 20-30 years (and re-reading my favourite book about Papa Ralph) and homing in on looks and trends that align with my avatars, then identifying the key pieces required to translate those looks into outfits for my own life. These are the kinds of pieces I want to include in my capsule.

But that was only part of the process. Over the last few years, I’ve added a fair bit of RL clothing to my closet. (This comes from a number of brand lines under the Ralph Lauren umbrella, including blue label, Polo Ralph Lauren, LAUREN Ralph Lauren, Denim & Supply, and Chaps; for convenience, I refer to all of them as RL.) So the other part of the process involving going through those clothes and picking out the “key pieces”, so I could map out what the existing capsule looked like.

Here is how things stand:

Wool tweed blazers and sweater vests are cornerstones of my Historian avatar. I am obsessed with my RL ones:

As far as blazers go, I have enough for my outfit needs. That is not to say that I’ll never buy another RL blazer again — if I come across one at the thrifts, I probably will — but I am not adding this as an item on my intentional shopping list. When it comes to sweater vests, I’m a bit on the fence; I would like one or two additional ones in different (brighter) colour palettes, but this isn’t a high priority because I already have a decent selection to work with. I am leaving this off my intentional shopping list for now, but may revisit later if/when other, more meaningful items have been found.

Next, we have a bit of a mix: another sweater vest, a classic oversized men’s shirt, patterned sweater, and a selection of southwest-inspired pieces.

Based on recent observations, I know I need a similar oversized shirt but in white. Now, this doesn’t have to be RL specifically, and because it’s a fairly generic item, I am going to focus on sourcing it at the thrift store. Chunky, patterned sweaters are a different story. Ralph Lauren is famous for his knitwear, and there are several pieces I would like to add to my capsule, including a Polo bear sweater, and some Victoriana-style knits similar to his 80s collections (a floral intarsia sweater, a lace-trimmed cardigan, etc.). I say “similar” because, while I would love to own some original 1980s pieces, I would also be happy with latter iterations of those styles; the brand is well-known for referencing its own history, so there can be multiple versions of a particular trend from different eras.

Last but certainly not least, we have the skirts.

I think you all know how I feel about skirts. Ralph Lauren skirts, in particular, are some of my favourites (and I have a lot of amazing skirts in my closet!). I wear them a lot and they are a backbone for all 3 of my avatars. I have been editing my skirt collection for months now, to make room for the ones I love the most. And also room to add a few more, because I’ve had a couple of specific pieces on my radar for a while now. (The good news is that my daughter now fits the same size as me, so I am passing a few of my older faves on to her. Her style isn’t the same as mine, but I am hoping there’s some common ground when it comes to skirts, haha!).

Which brings me to my first intentional purchases of the year.

The first one was, what else, a skirt — from Ralph Lauren’s short-lived Country line.

Quite apart from being vintage RL with a prairiecore vibe, it is a very “me” skirt in many other ways. The silhouette is one of my faves: a full, ankle-length skirt with cinched waist and lots of volume. (My other fave skirt silhouette is the long column, like the brown tweed RL skirt above.) I have an obsession with patterns of pink cabbage roses on blue backgrounds; highly specific and totally unexplainable — I don’t even like chintz that much, generally speaking! The fabric is a linen-cotton blend, and there is so much of it! The twirl factor is off the charts. I fell in love with this skirt last summer, when my friend Josh wore it to my clothing swap. I knew immediately that it was RL, and I also knew that finding it would be a challenge. I spent months meticulously trawling Poshmark and eBay for listings, and in all that time, I only ever found one.

Luckily, it was in my size. Not so luckily, it was kind of pricey. The listing was set as Buy It Now, with no offer option. I watched the listing. And then re-watched it, 3 or 4 times, as it went unsold and relisted. The seller never dropped the price, and never sent me any offers on it. I hemmed and hawed for MONTHS. In fact, in the process of hemming and hawing, I ended up buying a different RL floral skirt I found on eBay while waiting for this one to either drop in price or pop up in another listing. You may remember that story; it’s the brown, pink and blue patchwork number in the photo above. While I have no regrets about buying that skirt — it’s amazing in its own way, and patchwork-style skirts are another RL category I would like to expand in my closet — it didn’t fill the hole in my heart for the rose floral skirt.

Eventually, in the game of chicken between me and the seller, I blinked first. A week into the new year, I decided to pull the trigger. By then, I knew that I would feel pretty devastated if the skirt sold; the chances of another one popping up again soon in my size — not to mention for a lower price — were relatively low. The price was an important consideration, actually. The market for vintage RL is hot right now, and I don’t see any signs of it cooling off. That patchwork skirt? The same style in a slightly different colorway popped up in a new listing a couple of months after I purchased mine; it was almost $50 more than what I paid for mine. The price of the rose floral skirt was also higher than what I paid for the patchwork skirt (which was already higher than I’m using to paying for, well, any clothing these days). With shipping, it was $130CAD. But, with the concept of intentional shopping in mind, I decided it was worth it.

So, almost 8 months after I first saw it, I finally bought the skirt. And you know what? I have no regrets. (Even though I got burned on customs … but that’s a story for next week.) It is a beautiful piece I know I will treasure for a long time. I’ve already worn it. I couldn’t wait for summer.

Another recent additional to my RL capsule was, strictly speaking, a 2023 purchase but I am adding it here because it fits the intentional shopping criteria.

This piece is vintage blue label RL, likely from the 80s. It’s 100% cotton and has a cozy, almost flannel-like feel. And it has that Victorian vibe that I want to have represented in my capsule. This blouse will work well, I think, with quite a few of my skirts. I paid $25 for it, which is frankly a steal these days. I got it from a local vintage reseller I met through Poshmark a while ago, who has a great eye for vintage boho pieces and who always offers amazing deals. As she travels to the US and visits flea markets and thrift stores there, I’ve asked her to keep an eye out for me for RL pieces. It’s good to have a network!

Come back next week for part 2 of my intentional shopping diaries, and a kinda epic eBay story.

Details: Mexx shirt (Poshmark), Uniqlo sweater, Ralph Lauren skirt, Anne Klein belt (all thrifted)

Thoughts: What happened here was, I loved the skirt/shirt combo, but I also liked how the green looked with it, but couldn’t decide whether to wear it or not, so I split the difference. Maybe it’s because I’ve been finally listening to the Articles of Interest exploration of Ivy style, and the whole preppy thing has been on my mind more than usual. I never thought I’d be the kind of person who wears a sweater over her shoulders, but here we are. It does have possibilities as a styling trick, I have to say. LOL!

Details: Bonnie Strauss dress, Banana Republic sweater & necklace (all thrifted), Ralph Lauren belt, Lena Bernard necklace (both Poshmark)

Thoughts: I love the richness of the chocolate brown velvet and wanted to pair it with something that complemented it. This plum-ish purple was perfect, as was turquoise as an accent. I used one of my fave styling tricks, of “tucking” a sweater into a wide belt over a dress to create the appearance of separates. This is a simple outfit formula, elevated by a fantastic colour palette.

Details: Tommy Hilfiger shirt, Mexx vest, Ports International blazer, Esprit belt, CoH jeans (all thrifted)

Thoughts: Another much-used formula, and I decided to create visual interest with a bit of subtle pattern mixing. Florals (shirt) and stripes (vest) are always a good combo. And I am loving brown as my default “neutral” these days; a big change for me, as I used to be a “black all the way” girlie. Brown is softer and suits my current aesthetic better, I think — it doesn’t call for as much contrast as my previous ones.

Details: no name turtleneck, Ralph Lauren sweater, Issey Miyake skirt (all thrifted), vintage belt (Poshmark)

Thoughts: Back on the Ralph train with another big skirt/big belt moment. Instead of a jacket, I stuck with a statement sweater, layered over a contrast (thin) turtleneck for an extra pop of colour. I could have (should have?) gone with a more subdued black belt, but I picked this white one because I thought it would be fun to extend the stripe pattern. Sometimes, you have to take a little risk and see what happens.

Details: Joe Fresh shirt, Eaton vest, Cartonnier pants, Escada blazer (all thrifted), Steve Madden shoes (retail)

Thoughts: Doing the villain colours again, this time with plum purple (my usual) and a bright kelly green (not my usual). I was inspired to try this because I thrifted, in quick succession, this older Joe Fresh shirt and this even older Eaton vest; the greens in each piece match, and the vest also has purple in its pattern so … idea born. This preppy take on my villain colours was an interesting departure for me; the combo didn’t feel badass per se, but did feel jaunty and fun.

Details: vintage sweater, Ralph Lauren skirt, Oak & Fort coat (all thrifted)

Thoughts: After an unseasonably warm winter, it was a struggle to adjust to a cold snap — including when it came to dressing. I had to pull out the closest thing I have to a winter coat, which is getting a bit tired after several years; I have been putting off replacing it because (a) finding a heavy-duty coat that is versatile and at least a little stylish is hard, and (b) the weather didn’t make it a priority this year. I guess this is a sign to start looking. Anyway, to make up for the coat, I had to come up with a fun but still extra-warm outfit. Stripes on stripes (and many layers) it is!