I wear full skirts, I wear high heels

Couple of years ago when Taylor Swift's song 'You belong to me' was on the air all the time my daughter asked me about the meaning of the lyrics. I tried to explain about this girl that wears sneakers and t-shirts is a better friend than the one in high heels and short skirts. My daughter pondered over this a little bit and then decided. 'Well, I want to be a good friend in high heels'. I could not help but high-five her with 'that's my girl!'.

I don't often wear full skirts but this is one of my favorites.

shoes Sofft, bag Kate Spade, scarf  L&T, sunglasses Ray-Ban

This camel tiered velvet skirt is by Odille, bought from Anthropologie, years ago. It is made from lovely cotton velvet and lined in acetate. It is luxuriously full and swingy and creates nice movement as you walk. I paired it with black v-neck cashmere sweater from Brora.
   

 

Those pictures were taken early in the morning and after I looked at them I decided to change the shoes. Because I am a short-shinner I have trouble pulling off flats and low heels (especially round toe ones) with skirts. I feel much better once my heels are higher. For me, the optimal heel height is about 2.75", enough to elongate my calves, but low enough to be comfortable. I think that's why I love the Valentinas so much.

Joan & David (2.75") heels

I can and do wear flats with capris and trousers. They also work better with shorter skirts and dresses, but once the skirt is knee length or longer I cannot pull it off. I always knew it instinctively but once I read this helpful post, I realized there is a science behind it.

I love those kind of posts because this is how my mind works and I think proportions are crucial in putting together an outfit (along with color harmony). I am also one of those people really bothered by crooked or unbalanced pictures on the wall, I drive my husband crazy every time we hang something up.    

Everybody have a great weekend!  I have tons of errands to run, including getting a Halloween costume for my daughter. She wants to be the witch and since she was a witch last year, I thought she can use her last year's costume but apparently this is Absolutely Unheard Of. Even if we did not have Halloween last year because of the huge snowstorm. Oh well. We stuffed her 2011 costume and now we have this cute witch guarding our front door.

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That's all Folks!

Do you like full skirts?

What is your ideal heel length?

What are you up to this weekend?

Faking it

The fall has finally settled in my corner of the world and the leaves are starting to turn. I love this time of the year and it makes me crave all the autumnal, warm color combinations..

I have bought this faux fur vest two years ago but never got around to wearing it too much.  I was determined to start using it more this year. Previously, I have worn it with jeans, but I decided it will also work with a dress. This is Linda wrap sweater dress from Diane Von Furstenberg (also worn here and in fact it looked very similar, after I took off the vest and scarf). I love DVF wrap dresses and my favorite thing about this one is that although it is a print (which is easier to wear in wrap style if you body is not model quality) it is neutral and not very memorable.

 
All the element of this outifit are old, fur vest and boots by Boden, bag by Banana Republic, scarf by Barbour, sunglasses by Ray Ban, gloves by Lord and Tailor. Nothing by J.crew this time.

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Do you wear faux fur?

Please share, it would be no fun without you!!!

Styling Blythe

I have previously tried the Blythe blouse in polka dots (see review here) and I liked it a lot. But since I already own a few polka dot silk blouses, I had hard time justifying the price. Then, due to J.Crew pricing whoopsie, I was able to snatch it for $22 before any shopathome/jcrew cc rebates. At this price, I was comfortable with adding it to my closet. I know that you should not buy anything just because of the price, but I feel like this was OK, since I loved the blouse from the beginning. What do you think? Did you get it?

Anyway,  I was excited to receive it on Monday and I wore it immediately on the next day. I take it as a good sign. I think it is very versatile and it looks good with about anything, trousers, jeans and skirts.  

I wanted to try it with all neutral outfit. I am tired of the constant pop-of-color on everybody (myself included). But when I paired it first with gray and then with black shoes I decided it was just too boring (or too corporate), so I swapped them for pink Valentinas. This would look better if my hair cooperated for the picture, but it was a windy day.

I wore my stretch denim jacket (review here) for my commute because it is now chilly in the mornings. With the jacket the shirt looks much better untucked. I also swapped the shoes later for a pair of silver Sperrys. The necklace I am wearing was the first statement necklace I bought. I liked how the size of the beads echoes the polka dots and the color if the ribbon happens to be a perfect match.

My trousers are J.Crew 1035 superfine cotton. I love them and I also have them in navy and beechwood (see review here).

I think the blouse works well in all neutral outfit but I also wanted to try it with my yellow cords.

These are GAP sexy boyfriend cords (review here). I really liked them with Blythe and it was also a super comfortable outfit. I am also wearing a J.Crew necklace and little Gabby purse, that you cannot really see (other than strap), but it is exactly the color of the cords. I thought it was better than black. I stole the belt from my husband's closet, shhhh, don't tell.

Overall, I am thrilled with my purchase and I think I will wear it a lot. I can see it with almost any color bottom and I love that it looks fine untucked. I got a size 6, which is my regular size and it is quite roomy but not too big. I am wearing a perfect fit tank in white underneath. I don't mind wearing a tank under a long sleeve shirt but I think you could wear it without a tank with a nude bra. 

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That's all folks!

Did you get the polka dot Blythe? How do you wear it?

Please share, it would be no fun without you!!!

Pink and other girly things

I used to never wear pink. Then, somewhere in my late thirties, I thought: why not? Same thing happened with florals, polka dots, multicolored shoes and leopard. Somehow, I got tired of the tomboy style I sported in my twenties and early thirties and decided to embrace my feminine side more. This had some side effects, like overdosing on ruffles and liberty print romantic dresses and other frilliness. I hope that by now I figured what works for me. I can wear girly but I need to offset it somehow, or it does not feel like me. I think I still have a bit of that grungy, rebellious teenager in me and I am kind of fond of her.

I think the best way I like pink, is when it is paired with black:

I felt as Audrey-esque, as I can ever get in this outfit. I am wearing Tippi merino sweater and cafe capris with Nora cap toe ballets and pink necklace, all from (surprise!) J.Crew.

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This outfit was inspired by DaniBP, who posted (long time ago) about pale pink and black combination.

I recently discovered that my velvet Eden jacket is a perfect match for the skirt. The skirt is from J.Crew, I forgot the name but it was something Rosebud (?).

I came to work wearing my black Valentinas, but I later decided to swap them for Talbots pink bow slingbacks that I brought with me just in case. Is that crazy? I often have an extra pair of shoes with me and few pairs left in the office. 

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All J.Crew again!

This is Liberty perfect shirt from I think 2010. I actually paid full price for it, I liked it so much.  It is a very sweet print, so to counteract it, I wore it with my distressed matchstick jeans and black accessories. This was on Friday when I worked over 15 hours, so I wanted to be comfortable. My office is very laid back style-wise on Fridays, and this was not (by far) the most casual.

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The combination below makes me think of WMM. She was wearing pink and gray the other day and I commented that we are sartorial twins. I love pink and gray too!

The cashmere sweater is from 360 Sweater (review here), cords are J.Crew matchsticks, blouse is Banana Republic (old) and shoes are from Merona. My bracelet is from Arden B.

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Now, this outfit is one of my favorites to wear in the fall. Boots and dress are from Boden (old), cardigan is from GAP and my purse is Kate Spade. I manged to pull off a J.Crew-free outfit!

It may not be obvious at a first glance that this belongs to the pink series. But it does, look at the boots:

These boots make me happy. They are made of soft suede with leather lining and have super small (1.5") kitten heels. They are not as bright as in the picture, more of a dusty pink. They came from the previous round of pointy boots era. They were retired for a few years were only round or almond toes would do, but they are back in full force!

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That's all folks!

Do you wear pink and other girly stuff?

Please share, it would be no fun without you!!!

Transitioning in Blue

Here in New Jersey the summer is definitely over, but it is still not quite the fall weather, at least not the kind  where you wear cashmere sweaters or wool pencil skirts with tights and scarves. We have been mostly in seventies last couple of weeks and I have to say, I love it! It is the perfect weather and if we had it year round, I would not mind.

However, sometimes dressing for this weather can be tricky, because my mind is already on all the warm cosy items, but it is still too warm to wear it. On the other hand, any summer clothes definitely feel out of place now. So I just stick with lightweight items but in more fall-is colors and adding blazers and merino sweaters. I always complain that we don;t have a long 'blazer wearing' season, so I am trying to keep in mind that 'now is the time!'.

Here is what I have been wearing in the last two weeks or so:

Silk indigo skirt (also worn here, here and here) is a perfect transitional skirt, lightweight but definitely in fall hues. It is a very striking print (one of my all time favorites), so when I wear it, I usually keep everything else super neutral.

I am wearing J.Crew short sleeved boy shirt from last year, black Valentinas and black messenger bag from Banana Republic. My necklace is also from J.Crew, you cannot see it in the pictures but it has black stones mixed with crystals and it ties in the back, I love to wear it with white button downs.

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Here is the outfit very similar to the one you have seen before (see here) but I switched my anchor belt for the brown leather one, as I felt it was more appropriate for the fall. Then I threw on a blazer and voila, I have transitioned.

Wearing Madewell Charade blazer (reviewed here) and Madewell silk dot skirt (reviewed here) with J.Crew perfect t-shirt, belt and Bandolino navy pumps. My purse is from Kate Spade.

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One of my recent J.Crew purchases was Liberty print shirt in D'Anjo print. I have wanted this shirt from the moment I tried it in (review here). I just love the print and the cut is great. I just could not stomach the full price but I finally relented with 25% off plus 8% ShooatHome rebate and my 5% reward program bringing it below $100 which, to me, is still pricey, but reasonable for a Liberty print I love. I decided that even if it goes on sale eventually, I will not feel too bad about what I paid, since I expect to wear it a lot.

Throwing on a blazer again. This is Madewell Academy wool blazer (reviewed here). I love this blazer and the shrunken schoolboy fit of it is much better on me than the J.Crew Schoolboy that I don;t care for. What I also love about this blazer is that it is soft and thinner wool, more like the suiting jackets than the outerwear kind of blazer. I also does not have a bulk in the shoulders and I can actually wear it under a coat, while wearing most of J.Crew blazers under coats feels externally uncomfortable.

Also wearing Pilcro Stet jeans from Anthro (reviewed here), J.Crew Valentinas in pink and BR necklace.

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If you read my other peplum post, you have already seen a picture of this top. It is Ann Taylor's Ponte Peplum top. I like it a lot and I got it with the 30% off they were running for some time. The ponte fabric is thinner that some of the other ponte I tried, but it is a plus in my book, since I think it drapes better. It runs big so go with your smaller size.  I love the color.

I also managed to wear my J.Crew No2 pencil skirt in wool herringbone (review here) , not exactly transitional piece, but I think it works here because of the color. I am wearing J.Crew belt and necklace and Joan & David very old pumps.

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Foulard capris (review here) are another perfect transitional item. I am also wearing Tippi cardigan in navy (review here) and perfect shirt in white. My shoes look like Valentinas but they are from Bandolino. They are more comfortable because they are padded and they were under $30. This outfit is rather predictable and a bit 'patriotic' but I felt good in it and totally work appropriate. 

I think the classic colors offset the crazy pants factor. They actually don't feel like crazy pants to me, but I have to remember I live in the Crewland where bedazzling is the new black. Most of my coworkers would never venture there.

I wasn't planning to wear blue in all my outfits, but blue IS my favorite color, so it just happened naturally. But it did prompted me to try a different color story for the next week, a color I usually don;t wear too much...

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That's all folks!

Which outfit is your favorite, do tell!

Can you guess which color I picked for the next week?

Please share, it would be no fun without you!!!

Transitioning to Fall

This week the temperatures finally went down a little. Actually, in the morning it was a little chilly and the air was crisp. This is my favorite kind of weather and I am enjoying it. Dressing is a bit of a challenge, because it is still very warm during the day. I just picked a little darker and more autumnal colors, and swapped sandals for close toe pumps. It is not yet a weather to wear a sweater, blazer or boots.

Here are a few of my transitional outfits:

 I started with the last of my summer whites but with long pants and sleeves.

This could have been a summer outfit, but I felt that with a darker top, shoes and purse it still works well in September. I think next time, to make it ever more fall-ish, I will wear the skirt with olive/brown tone top. This skirt is definitely one of my very favorites at the moment. I love the print, but it is also super comfortable and goes with so many things.

OK, bring on the Fall. I always thought of wearing this skirt with blue and this linen shirt links it with many of my summer outfits. My shoes are deep burgundy and very comfortable low heels (2") from Sofft. They have little black bows attached and I love to wear them in the fall. This necklace I got this year from Banana Republic goes with everything, I have been wearing it to death this summer.

This was my casual Friday outfit. I am still not ready for jeans, but black capris are another perfect transitional piece. I told you I love the necklace, here it goes again. And yes, I could not resist to get another color of the slubby v-neck tee from Anthro, I am obsessed with them.

 
Do you remember this Deco skirt from couple of years ago? It is also one of my favorites, it goes with any solid top!  And with all the burgundy popping up everywhere this fall, I remembered about this perfect fit v-neck.  I always liked it, but it is suddenly on trend.

Of course, leopard is another obvious transitional piece. I am surprised how much I love this skirt and that it somehow does not wrinkle throughout the day, despite being unlined. Pink shoes are my concession to summer. This slub cotton tee from Loft outlived so many of similar J.Crew tees and it is still going strong. Strangely, there are no holes developing  and the sequins stay securely attached ;)

I think I will continue the transitional theme for the next week.

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That's all folks!

What are your favorite transitional outfits?

Please share, it would be no fun without you!!! 

White before Labor Day

I have nothing against white after Labor Day.  In fact, I believe winter whites are very chic and pretty. But for now, I am trying to hold on to the ever fleeting last days of summer and wearing as much linen and white as possible.

Scout chinos, perfect linen shirt, Valentina pumps and BR necklace.

J.Crew perfect fit tee, necklace and belt, Brooks Brothers cotton voile skirt and Michael Kors peeptoes.

 J.Crew superfine cotton Attache dress, BR cashmere wrap and Joan & David shoes

J.Crew scout chinos, silk striped top and elephant necklace, GAP denim shirt and  Repetto ballet flats

J.Crew superfine cotton pencil skirt, Talbots slinbacks and BR top.

We will be away for most of the Labor Day weekend. We are planning to go the the beach to spend time with some friends that have a summer house at the Jersey shore and on Monday we are heading for a BBQ with some other friends. 

It should be a nice break from the soccer craziness that recently overtook my house. My daughter will be on a travel team this year and she is currently doing two weeks of all day soccer camp. She will also play recreational soccer which means 3 practises a week and games on Saturdays and Sundays. We just went to a MLS soccer game, my husband is watching soccer on TV, my dayghter is playing soccer in the backyard AND in the living room, by herself, with her friends, with my husband and with even with her stuffed animals! At night I am tripping on soccer balls left in the hallway. 

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That's all folks!

Are you truing to use the rest of your summer outfits or are you ready for fall?

What are your plans for Labor Day weekend?

Please share, it would be no fun without you!!!

Crew Brothers

Today I wanted to show you my recent OOTD including Brooks Brothers Cotton geometric pleat skirt and J.Crew Perfect Linen Shirt in festival green. I am also wearing Madewell anchor belt and Bandolino shoes (my substitute for J.Crew navy Valentinas).

shirt size 4, skirt size 6

I got a surprising number of compliments on this outfit. I think this might be because I almost never wear green and rarely wear full skirts. Element of surpise I suppose.

Cotton geometric pleat skirt

The skirt was originally $198 and I have to tell you, it puzzled me a little why it was so expensive. It is made of cotton voile (woven in Italy) and lined in cotton and while I always thought it was pretty, it seemed way overpriced. It is now marked down to $99, which is still pricey, if you ask me, but since I had a gift card to use, I decided to get it. 

I am wearing size 6, which is a good fit on me, with some room left in the waist. I would have probably been fine with a 4, but they did not have it in store and I don't like full skirt to sit too high on my waist. I have to admit, the fabric feels dreamy, very light and soft, I would describe it as 'floaty'. Perfect for hot summer and easy to wear. I love the cotton lining and the fact that the fabric is not printed but the pattern is woven in. I also like that the side zipper has a silky loop and button closure as opposed to metal hook, so the top of the zipper does not rub against your body. Not sure if all of it justifies the initial full price, but worth noting.

The skirt has definitely old fashioned, vintagey vibe, so I like to pair it with a bold color to make it more modern. I like it the way it is styled on the website, but it does read a little school girlish to me. Looking at the pictures,  I think I could have used bolder, more chunky shoes, what do you think?

Perfect shirt in linen

                 Perfect shirt in linen

The shirt I am wearing is a J.Crew perfect shirt in linen. I love those shirts and I have several, including two identical white ones, because this is the kind of shirt that needs a backup. What if (oh the horror of it!) they  discontinue making them?

Those shirts run large and, in my mind, the key to a good fit is to size down. I am wearing size 4 and I am almost always a 6 and sometimes 8 in J.crew perfect shirts. A 6 still fits but it does not look half as nice. So it also means that some of you will be sized out, boo... The shirt is long and lean, so if you are shorter, definitely consider a petite size.

I do like how this outfit turned out. I think the shirt looks good both tucked in and untucked. The color is divine. I don't wear much green and I was hesitating whether to keep it, but I tried it with a few things in my closet and it emerged as a winner. It looks fantastic with Porcelain Paisley and Seersucker skirts. It is great with jeans and, of course, white or black, so I think I can wear it enough.

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That's all folks!

Do you like the BB skirt and is it worth the price?

Do you own any of the J.Crew Perfect Linen shirts?

Please share, it would be no fun without you!!!

Camels and Elephants Remixed

My 'color story' for this week could be called 'Safari'. I love all the sandy shades of cream/ivory/beige mixed with brown and black. And I still did not get bored with my Elephant necklace!

Anthro skirt with J.Crew cami  (both older pieces)

This outfit got the most compliments. It was a gift from my husband, from couple of years ago. I am proud of his good taste. I don't like wearing a strapless bra but there is no way around it with this top and I make an exception.  I did bring a cardi to cover up but it it was hot that day and my office is casual.

J.Crew perfect tee and No2 pencil skirt

I never thought I would wear animal prints until last year, but I do like this skirt. I usually tone it down with simple t-shirt and soften it up with pink shoes. Miraculously, this skirt does not wrinkle, even if it is all unlined cotton. I usually don't like unlined skirts but this one holds its shape and feels cool.

J.Crew cami and linen trousers (older)

This Grand Ruffle cami was one of my favorite purchases from J.Crew despite having big ass ruffle, mixed fabrics and unfinished edges. I wore it a lot, machine washed it on regular cycle and it held its shape and did not unravel. It is also not a see through, rarity at J.Crew and I love the color.  

J.Crew Jenny dress with Jack Rogers sandals

I wore this Jenny dress on my work from home day, it is super comfy. I think I paid under $20 for it last year. It has a big exposed zipper in the back and it came in numerical sizes (I am wearing a 4). It even has bra strap snaps! I like that it is finished in the woven fabric, it dresses it up a bit. Still there is something off about the fit, so I like it but do not love it. 



Ann Taylor Shift with old sandals

You have seen the review of this Ann Taylor dress HERE. This was my husband's favorite from this bunch. I love this dress and it does not need any styling imo. I just wanted to wear a black strappy sandals with it. It did wrinkle but not horribly; this picture is from the afternoon. This is the only piece in this post that was purchased this year.

J.Crew perfect fit tee with Hutton pants

This is one of my basics outfits, so I like to add a little punch with my red Repettos.

J.Crew Rowboat dress

The Rowboat dress did not get much love in the blogosphere but I love it. I am wearing a size Small. I reach for it a lot, when I want to look casual but still polished.

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That's all folks!

Do you like 'safari' theme for summer?

Do you own any of the pieces? How do you wear them?

Which look is your favorite, if any?