Category: style

Sentimental Bouquet

What I Wore: Here and There

blue collar red lipstick; Anthropologie floral top; Rebecca Minkoff Cerulean MAC
Pants, NYDJ (via eBay); top, Anthropologie (via eBay); bag, Rebecca Minkoff (via Kijiji)

In news that will surprise no one, I bought this blouse because I fell in love with its print. Florals. Of course. This particular iteration reminds me of the painting on Russian matrioshkas, which remind me of my late grandmother, which makes this a more sentimental attachment than usual. Yet, I’m torn, because I’m actually not sold on the fit of this blouse on me, specifically in the arms. The sleeves are rather puffy. My arms … don’t need help in that direction. But, oh, the print! Indecision time. I think I’ll give it time to grow on me (it is a summer top, after all), but we may have our first contender for next year’s clothing swap. Already. Let’s chalk it up to the risks of buying clothes online, on impulse.

What else? I almost forgot my necklace, probably because it blends a little too well with the blouse. I think I want something similar but with a more modern/edgy vibe and a longer chain. Suggestions, hive mind?

vintage rose locket

Turquoise + Burgundy

What I Wore: To the Mall

blue collar red lipstick; Boden dress; Boden floral dress
Dress, Boden (via eBay); sweater and belt, J. Crew Factory; scarf, Aldo Outlet

Another reason why I love Boden dresses is that they are super easy to layer under my omni-present J. Crew sweaters; the colourful patterns give me lots of scope to mess around with various versions of “colour soup” – a.k.a. throw a bunch of colours together and see what sticks. This time, we got turquoise and dark burgundy. Yum?

Can we talk about my hair, again, for a minute? For one thing, I did not set out to have these bangs. I started with cute little side-swept ones, which grew out; I tried to remedy the situation by cutting them myself and … here we are. Straight and uneven, reminiscent of the radically sloping blunt bangs my grandma gave me when I was 5. They are driving me crazy. The other thing driving me crazy is my continued failure to master the sock bun. I got one of those mesh thingies and everything, but every attempt seems to be worse than the previous. I feel like I’m regressing because I’m pretty sure I used to be able to do this. The side view is truly tragic. Le sigh!

blue collar red lipstick

Frenchified

What I Wore: Errand-ing

blue collar red lipstick; talula; old navy striped henley
Blazer; Talula (via Kijiji); top, Old Navy; jeans, Cleo (via consignment)

Do you feel like you’ve seen this already? I feel like I’ve worn this already. But I checked and … not quite. I subbed in a blazer this time, and it looks a bit more pulled-together, no?

Recently I was reading this article on how to put together a French style capsule wardrobe, and thinking to myself (and commenting) that as much as I admire French chic, I love colour and prints too much to embrace that kind of minimalism. (Plus, I’m starting to think that I actually look Corpse Bride chic terrible in head-to-toe black.) But lo and behold – I managed to put together a monochromatic outfit, using a French-approved print (bonjour, stripes!). And, listen, I do love its simplicity. I really do. But if I wore something like this every. single. day. I would spend my days in a narcoleptic daze.