I rarely wear black tights to work, though it’s not because of any prejudice against them. Black tights are a godsend in the winter. My problem is that I can’t mentally reconcile black tights with anything other than black shoes … and I love me a bright coloured shoe. Anyway, I figured that there was enough colour going on with this outfit that I could safely forego any punchy footwear, and give my nylons a break.

I love, love, love this shade of jade (or teal, whatevs) from J. Crew, and it works so unexpectedly well with other colours, like purple. It’s definitely one of my “power colours”. Are power colours still a thing? Who knows. Another thing I didn’t know until after I got dressed in this outfit? That this skirt is a size 10, rather than a size 6. That’s what happens when you change sizes as often as I seem to do. The waist now sits at my hips, which brings the outfit dangerously close to “sad sack” territory – though I think it manages to skirt it (ha ha!) juuust barely thanks to the fact that it’s a petite size. The hem is a little bit shorter so that, even sitting low, it hits a little bit above “middle-aged schoolmarm” length. Realistically, though, I will have to retire this skirt for the time being – which is extra sad considering that I only just bought the matching colour pumps. Matchiness defeated *sad face*