I can’t believe I didn’t think to pair these two pieces — dress and necklace — before. They’re truly perfect together. I feel like most of the credit needs to go to my MaxMara necklace, which has proven to be a statement accessory superstar. So much for all the doubters (ahem, my husband) who questioned the wisdom of my decision to buy it. Almost every time I am in need of a special piece to elevate a simple outfit, this necklace does the trick. It’s a compliment magnet too. There is something surprisingly elegant about all those big pieces of resin.
oh hello there, dear feet!bell sleeves – love it or hate it?
My outfit was not the only good thing going for me. Behold, a Good Make-Up Day:
magical make-up
Don’t ask me what I did differently that day, because I have no idea. I just, somehow, magically, looked far more rested and fresh and glowy than usual. Like lightning in a bottle, this whole effect has proven rather difficult to replicate. If you’ve got some new must-have beauty items to recommend, I’m all ears.
Back to the outfit, with one more word on the dress. I am starting to be less enamoured of the bell sleeves. I know they’re currently trendy, and they’re not flappy enough to actively bother me, but I feel like they make the dress look a bit “fancier” than I’d like. Plus, they’re hard to fit into blazers without wrinkling them. I’m debating taking the dress to the tailor to consider a partial sleeve-ectomy. Thoughts?
Coat, J. Crew (thrifted); turtleneck, Club Monaco; skirt, Baraschi (thrifted); boots, Bandolino (thrifted); bag, Gucci (via consignment)
Since I am mostly focussing on work outfits on the blog these days, I wasn’t going to post this outfit at first. For some reason, though, it got a bazillion likes on Instagram, and I reconsidered. Don’t get me wrong; I thought it was a cute outfit too. But lots of outfits this cute (or cuter even) don’t get as much positive public feedback. I find these kinds of situations very interesting, and I often end up trying to figure out just what, precisely, about the outfit photo elicited a strong reaction from people. The colours? The silhouette? The angles? The backdrop? I tend to assume it has more to do with the outfit than the surroundings, but when you think about it, that’s not necessarily true in a visual medium. Anything could make the difference.
Feel free to offer your thoughts in the comments, by the way.
close-up on skirt
Since I blog for fun and am seriously lazy, I rarely do much except muse about these things. I think it would be exhausting to have to treat every IG post as a marketing experiment — constantly tweaking and adjusting your “presence” or “brand” or whatever based on the reactions you get. I know some people think that blogging is a lark, and while that might be true for amateurs like me, I don’t think it’s remotely accurate for professional bloggers. It’s hard work — not in a physical sense, of course, but hard nonetheless. It doesn’t appear that way because we’re sort of trained to assume that social media is some kind of effortless, spontaneous form of expression whereas for a lot of (professional) bloggers each post is more akin to an advertisement. They are selling their brand, even if they are not directly selling a particular product. Think about how much work goes into making a magazine or TV ad; the work isn’t simply in the execution, but in the strategy and the research and planning that goes into informing that strategy. Seriously, I’m tired just thinking about it. One of many reasons why I won’t be quitting my day job any time soon.
Moving on from that total tangent, I’ll say just a few words about the outfit. First, the coat. Now that spring is finally around the corner, I realized that I hardly wore my winter coats apart from my everyday MaxMara workhorse. Propelled by guilt, I made an effort to bust out of my routine, and pulled out this thrifted J. Crew Lady Day coat. I’m glad I did, even though it elevated this outfit to a more colourful level than I would have otherwise chosen, because it worked so well with the skirt.
The skirt is wonderful. It’s thrifted Baraschi, and I bought it even though it was about 3 sizes too big because I loved the print so much. And it has pockets too! I wasn’t deterred by the sizing issue, because I have a simple solution for circle skirts like this one; I just fold the waist over as much as necessary, and pin it with a safety pin in an inconspicuous place. The extra fold just looks like part of the design — quite unnoticeable, I assure you. Having the skirt professionally tailored is, of course, the better option; for this style of skirt, I don’t think the cost is very high, but I prefer to wait and see if the skirt becomes a closet staple before I commit. Learned that lesson the hard way, naturally.
Over the past couple of months, several readers have asked me to write about the most recent phase of my style evolution, and so I have been thinking about how to best approach that hypothetical post – this post – for a while. Though I love to wax analytical about style (it’s my modus operandi in all things, after all), I am all too conscious that such musings can very easily degenerate into a big ole pile of TL;DR. My Fashion Blogger Struggle® is finding the right balance of writing and photographs, and I often end up feeling less than successful. Because of that, my first instinct was to let the evidence speak for itself. I think the direction of my style – which is not entirely new, but not precisely “same old, same old” – is becoming more and more evident with each monthly recap. And, to be honest, it’s not something I have been over-thinking to the degree that is my usual practice. Which is to say, while I have a rough idea of where (I think) I’m going, I don’t have a concrete road map to talk about. Mostly, I’m just following my gut – whether that be when buying new clothes, letting go of old ones, and putting together outfits.
With that said, as I was going through this process, I came across the whole personal colour analysis/style archetype phenomenon, which did help to crystallize some of my more vague gut feelings. I’ve talked about my updated wardrobe colour palette before. I think my palette ended up being very close to what is recommended for Soft Summer. I may or may not be a Soft Summer; I’m still debating investing the money to get an actual consultation with a qualified colour analyst. But, for now, I am using that as a rough guide when considering new purchases.
soft summer palette
The biggest issue with this is that black is supposed to be a “no go” colour; meanwhile, black is one of my core “anchoring” neutrals. I have no desire to run out and replace all my black clothing with charcoal or navy equivalents, so instead I am being more mindful about how I use black in my outfits. (I still love wearing it head to toe from time to time.)
I am also not running out and buying all the colours from the Soft Summer palette. Instead, I’m focusing on my preferred subset of colours. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the years is the importance of an least somewhat cohesive colour palette. If the colours in your wardrobe are harmonious, it is much easier to weather any style evolution because you can mix old pieces in new ways.
Moving on, I have also self-diagnosed as a Dramatic Classic style (based on my facial features in particular, as recommended by this article), and have started using the tools available online – like Pinterest boards – to guide my style choices. I will say that the DC archetype alone is a bit simplistic, and does not fully capture my personal preferences. I prefer the triad system used by the Truth Is Beauty blog; in particular, I have been leaning towards the Dramatic-Classic-Ingenue and the Ethereal-Dramatic-Classic aesthetics.
Looking at things from this perspective/framework, I realized that my style hasn’t so much changed as evolved in terms of its emphasis on various sub-components. For example, my love of Anthro very much skewed to the Ingenue side of things; as I get older, it is perhaps not unnatural that I should feel more drawn to another existing component (e.g. Classic) or switch to a new one (e.g. Ethereal). Ultimately, this process has become more about fine-tuning than over-hauling, although there has certainly been some turnover in my closet as a result — mostly from things being purged, as opposed to added.
As far as my closet goes, I am largely happy with it — especially as it has become more stabilized over the last few months. I will never not love experimenting with different looks, but I am becoming more and more appreciative of cohesiveness. I do enjoy clothes as a hobby, but the more experimenting I do, the more time-consuming it becomes. Narrowing the scope of that experimenting has freed up time for other hobbies, like reading (and soon, perhaps, writing once more). Don’t get me wrong; it’s not a question of one hobby being better or worse than the other; just different. Right now, I am excited about different things.
With that said, I am embracing a kind of “French wardrobe” approach to my closet. I’m treating 70-80% of it as a “core” — stable, with low turnover anticipated. The balance represents my “statement” pieces, and this is where I expect to focus my experimenting going forward. Even in that respect, I am quite happy with my current pieces; the main exception is the dress category (and, specifically, my work dresses), where I feel like I need to shake things up a bit. To help me with the process, I’ve divided the current work dresses listed in my Stylebook app into two categories: core and statement. Here is a not-great snapshot of the 8 pieces in the latter category:
stylebook app snapshot
None of these are super old, but there are at least 2 or 3 that don’t spark joy as much as they used to (or don’t quite fit my evolving style as before). I plan to continue wearing them for the time being, but I will be keeping an eye out when I thrift for possible upgrades or replacements.
If my ramblings haven’t put you to sleep yet, I would love to hear what’s new in your sartorial lives. With spring and summer just around the corner (mother nature willing), what are your plans for your closet? Share everything in the comments.
