Normally, I don’t do orange – especially when it’s a shade this close to my hair colour. I don’t think I am the only ginger who feels this way. Nonetheless, I made an exception for this Maeve dress. I remember seeing it at the Anthro store a year or two ago, and being charmed by its colour palette, orange and all. I was not charmed by the retail price, however, so I left it behind … only to rediscover it recently at Red Pony for a much more reasonable price. The silhouette is right up my alley — I love shapeless sack dresses, especially for casual wear — but I think what I love the most is the one-two punch of orange and blue in the (floral, natch) print. So, naturally, I played up the contrast by adding more blue; to wit: my newly thrifted DVF cashmere blend sweater. It’s a gorgeous you-can’t-miss-it cobalt blue, and it has pockets, people!

Since the dress and sweater were new, I decided to go all out and wear my new AGL flats as well. I’ve been wanting to try the brand for years now, after reading various bloggers rave about its quality and comfort, so I was stoked to find this mint condition pair of loafers at My Favourite Aunt’s (my other got-to consignment store in Edmonton). Loafers are a fairly recent discovery of mine, but after wearing my Kelsi Dagger pair to death last summer, I am a convert. This AGL pair lives up to the brand hype; it is insanely comfortable. The metallic leather looks to be fairly versatile as a “neutral” so I think it’s fair to say that these puppies will be getting lots of wear this coming season.

This is an old outfit formula, updated with new (to me) pieces. I improvised it on the spot, and immediately loved how the palette came together. Blues and greys (with black and white accents) create the most soothing effect for me; when I look at this outfit, it just makes me go “ahhhh” and I immediately relax. It would probably become incredibly monotonous to dress only in these colours all the time, but it’s a formula worth repeating for sure. In fact, I wore it twice on the same weekend. Luckily, with Stylebook, it’s easier to keep track of favourite outfits like this one; I’ve created a separate folder for them and everything. That way, if I’m ever stuck for a quick outfit idea, I can have a peek at the app instead of trying to wring something out of my (terrible) memory.

Quite apart from how it looks, the other thing I love about this outfit is that it’s 90% preloved. More and more of my outfits boast similar statistics nowadays, and I’d like to think that my sartorial efforts have not suffered for it. If anything, buying secondhand (thrifting or consignment) is a great way to navigate style (and size) shifts, big and small, which have occurred with some regularity in my recent(ish) past. With that in mind, I figured this might be a good time to do another AMA on thrifting, since it’s a topic in which (judging from my blog inbox) a lot of you are interested. So, if you have any burning questions, shoot me an e-mail, and I will do my best to answer them all in a future post.

As you can probably surmise from the title, I wore this outfit for St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a tricky occasion for me, since I look Irish even though I’m not, and know nothing at all about the tradition. I also don’t drink beer, which is something you should try to not hold against me. I’m still a fun person, I swear. Anyway, I do try to make an effort for St. Paddy’s, and since I don’t have a lot of green in my closet, I pulled out this J. Crew top that Nicole gifted to me earlier this year. I like it, but the fabric is hella itchy. Fair warning to anyone who might come across it on eBay, etc. (It also fits very large. I’m wearing a XXS, and it’s pretty roomy everywhere except the sleeves.)

I am also wearing a new necklace I got at Saks Off Fifth. It’s pretty great. I love all the different types of beads, and I think it looks more expensive than the $30 I spent on it. I can never find any good deals on clothing, shoes or bags at SOF, but I’ve had good luck with accessories. Speaking of which, I was really excited by the promised new Nordstrom Rack we’re getting in the same location, only to find out that it’s not due to open until Fall 2018. Why they’re advertising it more than a year in advance I don’t know, but it bugs me. It’s like advertising Christmas in June … times a hundred. I am impatient, why you doing this to me, South Edmonton Common?

Ahem.

On my way home from work, I realized that my commuting outfit was cuter than usual, so I asked my husband to take a photo when we met up. It’s in front of Superstore, because our Friday nights are cool like that. Try not to be jealous.