Sweatshirt, J. Crew; tee, J. Crew Factory; pants, AE; coat, Winners; boots, Josef Seibel; bag, MbMJ
Weekends have been a little rough over at Casa J over the last few weeks. The kids have been sick a lot, my grandmother was in the hospital for a bit, and I had to work, work, work. With everything going on, there wasn’t any time left for doing much except surviving. If left to my own devices, I tend to allow myself to wallow like you wouldn’t believe, so I’ve been working on staying focused on the things I need to do, and the people I need to help, rather than the negatives. With that said, I won’t lie: it was really nice to get a couple of hours “off” last weekend to spend alone with my husband. We went on a non-date date, and it was lovely.
And I wore my joy-sparking pink coat because, well … see description.
sunneeeeee!
Admittedly, I didn’t get very good photos of this outfit (it was cold and time my husband’s patience was limited), but you get the general idea. After wearing this floral sweatshirt non-stop for while last year, I kinda forgot about it – I don’t even know how. Rediscovering it now (with joy, needless to say) made me remember that I had toyed with the idea of getting the pants version of this Dutch floral print. I need you guys to talk me out of it, because eBay beckons … and we all know how that ends.
February was an Terrible Awful No Good Month for me in pretty much every respect. I don’t even want to get into the gory details because I’m trying to forget it ever happened. The only exception? My outfits – they were pretty good, you guys. Here’s a little confession from me to you: I rarely look back on any one of my monthly archives without cringing at least a little bit. Sometimes things don’t photograph well, to be sure, but more often than not, some outfits just don’t execute as well as one expects. But not this month! I would say that I’d rate almost every one of my outfits as a solid effort. [Side note: I have a hard time handing out superlatives, especially to myself. “Solid” is high praise as far as that goes, so please don’t think I’m humble-bragging or being stupidly self-deprecating or whatever. Deal?] The irony of which outfits did not make that rank will not escape you, once we get down to the details. But, first: I wore 27 pieces for 18 outfits, which is probably a new minimalist low. And I don’t mean “low” in the positive sense.
Now, whenever I plan these monthly “capsules”, I do tend to plan on wearing the same 5-6 “statement” pieces every week; there just happens to be more variability in the number of “completer” pieces that I end up using, and I find that I have little desire to push myself to pare down my selection. There are times when I already feel like I’m wearing the same things over and over – in an obviously repetitive way – and while no one at work has commented on it (or, I expect, noticed it), I just don’t feel inclined to take chances for the sake of some abstract goal. Well, I don’t know. Maybe I will; I’ll let you know in March. #fickle
Ok, so my favourite piece this month was clearly my 3.1 Phillip Lim dress. Duh, you probably knew that. Narrowing down my outfit faves was hard, though. Like I said, I liked most of them a lot. It was easier to pick the ones I liked the least, and hold on to your hats, peeps: that would #7, 10 and 14. Holy unexpected turn of events, amirite?
I have to admit, I’ve never been a huge fan of the floral print of this dress, but it really stands out (negatively) from the rest of my capsule this month. I’ll also admit that my first instinct, upon reviewing all the photos together, was to get rid of the dress. I’m all about only holding on to things I love these days, and, clearly, I don’t love-love this dress. It was only $12, so it’s not a huge loss. [Although, in case you were wondering, the current cost-per-wear is a whopping $3. That’s bad, you guys.] But I love the style and fit of the dress, and it is super comfortable. That (combined with the cost-per-wear situation) is making me seriously question the whole purging idea. So, I’m torn. On one hand: letting go of so-so pieces is good, as is the idea of not paying for purchasing mistakes over and over (once out of pocket, and thereafter by guilt-tripping over them). On the other hand: it’s a perfectly nice, serviceable dress. I know it sounds ridiculous, but this dilemma is bugging me. As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
And now, say it with me: ahhhhh, spring is coming!!!! [At least on paper.]
Blazer, skirt & shirt, J. Crew; shoes, Manolo Blahnik (thrifted); bag Marc Jacobs
So, this is a pretty straightforward outfit, except for one question: black or white?
white or black?
The white Manolos are so matchy matchy, you know they were my first pick. But then I started thinking that maybe they could be a little too “edgy” for a hearing (even a simple appearance on the peanut gallery). So I went with the “safe” black option …
“serious professional” option
… and then changed back into my preferred footwear once I was back in the office. But I may have been in the minority with my choice. When I posed my “dilemma” on Instagram, the reaction was mixed, though mostly in favour of the black. What’s your take on it?
Leaving the all-important shoe question aside, can I just say: how nice does this celadon green pair with teal? It’s so … soothing. Maybe I’m just being swayed by my love for this pretty Marc Jacobs bag. With the whole serious-business-neutrals-with-a-side-of-neutrals approach I’ve been taking lately when it comes to my work wear, I’ve been using my neutral colour bags a lot more (surprise surprise) – which is a shame because it means less time for this beauty. Note to self: I need to find more opportunities to wear it.
