What I Wore: May 2016 Workwear Review

May, May, May. You little heartbreaker of a month. I’ve had enough of you, so let’s talk about something else. Such as … what is going on with these monthly recaps. When I first started posting them, back in the fall of 2014, my goal was to do an honest-to-goodness monthly capsule for work, rotating pieces as my fancy struck. Basically, at the beginning of every month, I would pick 3-4 dresses, 2-3 skirts, a bunch of tops and pants, and plan a sort of 30×30 type of dealio.

Gradually, that began to lose its appeal, and sometime in the last year, I more or less gave up on it completely. I still plan my outfits ahead of time (I’m a type A, list-maker extraordinaire to the death), but I tend to just pick whatever I feel like wearing that month, without making any concerted efforts to remix a limited selection. Out of sheer laziness, I’ve continued to call these recaps “capsules”, but I realized recently that this might be misleading. I do hope that they tend to show how pieces can be mixed and matched (and new things added to build on existing ones), but anyone looking for a minimalist approach to dressing is bound to be disappointed with my approach.

But you guys already knew that, right? Minimalism, c’est pas moi. On to the clothes!

one, two, three
one, two, three
four, five, six
four, five, six
seven, eight, nine
seven, eight, nine
ten, eleven, twelve
ten, eleven, twelve
thirteen, fourteen, fifteen
thirteen, fourteen, fifteen
seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty
seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty

This is a good example of an anti-capsule month, because there wasn’t much repetition or any sort of cohesive theme. With that said, there was a decent representation of older pieces mixed in with some news ones. Some decent outfits, some forgettable ones, a few awesome ones (if I say so myself). It is always interesting to me to see which outfits photograph well (or not) versus feeling great on the body. Which ones felt the best to me? Numbers 1, 4, and 9 for sure, although others certainly didn’t look too shabby (11, 13-15).

Your turn: do you like these monthly (non-capsule) recaps? Do you enjoy seeing the everyday versus only the highlight reel?

Throwback Thursday

Dress, Pink Tartan (via consignment); jacket, Tristan; shoes, Stuart Weitzman; bag, Mulberry
Dress, Pink Tartan (via consignment); jacket, Tristan; shoes, Stuart Weitzman; bag, Mulberry

I feel extra proud whenever I wear this Tristan jacket, because it’s one of the oldest pieces in my closet. I bought it when I was pregnant with my son, which would make it … five and a half years old. Um, excuse me while I get this pesky something out of my eye *sniff*

pop of fuchsia
pop of fuchsia
cropped lengths
cropped lengths

OK, I’m back. The jacket is actually from the late-2000s, but I bought it at a consignment store long after lusting over it at the mall. It’s still holding up — style- and quality-wise — very well, all things considered. I paired it with my colorblock Pink Tartan sheath dress, for a made-in-Canada party. And I resisted the urge to spice up the outfit with a pop of red … by adding a pop of fuchsia instead. I hope you are impressed by my creativity 😉

open & closed
open & closed

Golden Girl

Cardigan, Nougat (thrifted); dress, Anthropologie; shoes, Ivanka Trump; bag, Chanel
Cardigan, Nougat (thrifted); dress, Anthropologie; shoes, Ivanka Trump; bag, Chanel

My bestie hates this cardigan with an inexplicable (to me) fiery passion. Me? I love it. And it goes very well with this Anthro dress I also love. Last time, I wore it with a black cardigan, but I enjoyed this iteration a great deal as well. There is something soothing to me about this greyed-out teal colour. Or something. I don’t know. Maybe we’ve got an Emperor’s New Clothes situation here? At least one person thinks so …

blues & golds
blues & golds
pop of ... black?
pop of … black?

Can we talk about these shoes for a minute? The metallic finish is unusual yet surprisingly versatile, so I actually wear these pumps far more often than you might think considering we are talking about GOLD shoes. But, holy hell, that heel! My “happy place” when it comes to heel heights is 3.5 inches, and these are definitely higher, but the lack of platform and any sort of cushioning doesn’t help either. I wore this outfit to a function, and after an hour, I regretted it soundly … even though I got complimented on my fancy footwear. No real moral to this story, except to say that you probably need some gold shoes in your life, but they should probably have a sensible heel.

moar photos, plz
moar photos, plz
OK, that's a wrap
OK, that’s a wrap