I can’t tell you how much I love these quirky jeans. It helps that they’re very comfortable, of course, but that doesn’t fully account for the depth of my devotion. It doesn’t make sense. I mean, huge knee patches? A strange hybrid of skinny and peg-leg styles? Somehow, it all works for me. And it also works with a nice, chunky knit. Luckily, I have a few of those.
patched watch (Skagen)patched knees and toes
Somehow, sometime in the past year, I became a sweater lover. And not just any kind of sweater lover. The chunkier the sweater, the better. Who knew texture could be so much fun? Almost as much fun as a good floral print. (Yes, I did just write that. Are you shocked?) Now, of course, this particular sweater has other stuff going on to recommend it. Like, say, patches. More patches? When I had a closer look, I realized that I had unconsciously developed a theme. The shoes also have patches of a sort, if you consider the contrast toe. And the watch face looks like it’s made up of mother-of-pearl puzzle pieces … or patches, if you will. Funny how that happens.
For the last 3-4 years, I have been very particular about only posting outfits I have actually worn, photographed on the day that I wore them. (Hence the iPhone photos, I might add.) It is too tempting, otherwise, to choose outfits solely “for the blog” and, in my experience, those don’t necessarily reflect my authentic aesthetic; once you remove the requirement of “suitable for my actual day-to-day lifestyle”, I tend to veer off into questionable stylistic directions. Ahem.
I broke my rule in this case by necessity, because this is an outfit I wore while at a conference out of town. I took the photo before leaving for the conference because (a) I wanted to make sure the outfit looked good (I wore it while presenting and, hello, I’m vain); and (b) I wanted to have a decent photo of it in case it did turn out nicely. Well … there are iPhone photos, and then there are crappy shot-in-the-blinding-sunlight iPhone photos. Sorry, peeps. Still better than mirror selfies in a dark hotel room, I say. And this outfit definitely deserved a post because it turned out quite nicely. It’s very much Peak Adina, 2017 Edition.
black & olive
Now, you might be thinking: this doesn’t look very similar to stuff Adina usually wears. That’s true. I don’t always nail this vibe, and I was thinking about why that is recently. I think it comes down to the fact that I rarely repeat an outfit 100%. I know I buy a lot of clothes, but I still don’t buy enough to come up with 5 brand new outfits a week, every week, so there is a lot of mixing and matching going on. Sometimes, the mix hits just the right style note; sometimes, it’s close, sometimes, it’s not so close. I mean, the swings in style aren’t violent, but they’re definitely noticeable some days — and they become more apparent in my monthly recaps where all the outfits stand side by side. Consistency is something that’s becoming more and more important to me … slowly overtaking my love of variety and experimentation. Say, whaaa?
As much as I love playing with clothes, there is no denying that, at the end of the day, there are things I like wearing more than others, and outfits I like more than others. So I am thinking about spending less time re-mixing, and more time refining and re-wearing favourite outfits. Will that make for more boring/repetitive blog posts? I hope not. Some of my fave style Instagrammers have a very specific aesthetic that doesn’t vary much from day to day; maybe if you put all of their outfits next to each other, they might seem repetitive, but individually? On any given day, they look fantastic. In the past, I haven’t been particularly drawn to the idea of a signature look, preferring variety and the fun of trying new style personas, but I think it’s time for a new outlook.
This top was a consignment store impulse buy. I was drawn to the floral print (what’s new) and I was distracted by my kids, so I didn’t have time to ponder its purchase in-depth. Still, it could have been worse. The blouse is cute, and it works wonderfully well with my white cropped Pilcro jeans, which came out of hibernation as soon as the first warm weekend happened. And not a moment too soon.
all about that baglate bloomers
My favourite new thing, however, is this Coach Willis cross-body bag. I scored it, brand new, at Goodwill for $40. It was a relative splurge, but it was precisely what I had been hoping to find. Most of my bags are on the larger side, and I had been finding myself missing a smaller bag, preferably with a long strap, on the weekends. My husband and I are headed to Palm Springs at the end of the month, and I especially wanted that smaller bag for the trip. I hadn’t been looking for a burgundy bag in particular (any neutral would have worked), but I didn’t hesitate when I saw this rich, dark maroon colour. My instincts were correct; it has already proven to be a very versatile colour, and the perfect size for non-work days. I have been wearing it non-stop on weekends, and the patent leather looks to be of a kind that will hold up well.
I initially wanted to go neutral with my shoes, but I eventually went a different route because it seemed like a (rare) opportunity to wear my Tiffany blue Ferragamo flats. Gorgeous colour, hard to wear — at least, given my current closet. However, that’s not even their biggest drawback; no, that would be the fact that they are mega uncomfortable. I haven’t worn them nearly enough over the last 3 years to break them in, so they continue to give me massive blisters every time I wear them. It’s odd, considering how comfortable other Ferragamo shoes have been in my experience, which goes to show that you should never take things like comfort for granted. But hey, if anything is interested in a beautiful pair of shoes to admire (or wear at their own risk), let me know — I think I’m ready to be talked into parting with these for good.
(Also, pssst, I finally managed to update my Blog Shop page, so check it out.)
