Chance With Madewell

Sometime ago I have ordered this striped tee after Chance was featured on A Cup of Jo. I was quite disappointed with my purchase.  Partially because, as a sad case of a marketing victim, I was expecting the Holy Grail of striped t-shirts, only to receive, well, a striped t-shirt with a wonked side seam.

I should have sent the shirt back immediately and give Chance a chance to redeem themselves. Possibly, the tee was a one-off defective item, but I was too lazy to bother with it. OK, maybe I did not want to admit that I felt duped, so I convinced myself that I kept it because I liked the colors and the fabric (I do) and that a wonky seam was a part of its charm (hey, who is snorting here?). 

The color is perfect with my Madewell Academy blazer (reviewed HERE).

I said it repeatedly but I love, love, love this blazer (my nod goes to the lovely Rynetta).  I never liked the J.Crew Schoolboy fit and I thought it was because of its shrunken shape, but this one is even more shrunken and it does not bother me. 

I think it is the proportions and the way how Madewell blazer is nipped in the waist, while J.Crew Schoolboy is very boxy on me. I also like that the wool is thinner, shoulder padding is minimal and I have no problem wearing it under my coat or in the office.  

Also wearing a pair of (old) matchsticks in saddle and MacAlister suede wedges in navy (reviewed HERE). I wore this outfit to work on Friday and I liked how it felt casual but still polished due to the blazer.

After all, maybe that Chance tee was not such a disaster...

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That's all folks!

Do you have a favorite navy blazer?

Did you ever feel totally duped by clever online marketing?

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

Sequin Festival And Wearing The Nevers

I am usually drawn to similar styles and silhouettes, clean lines, natural fabrics and minimal ornamentation. But there is not a trend or style that I would completely eschew. I wouldn't say 'I will never wear x' because for one, I don't take fashion too seriously, and two, I love to have fun with reinventing myself. Plus, I am just fickle and easily bored in general. And sometimes I find that nothing is easier than wearing "The Nevers". 

With all the sequins and bedazzling going on in the last few years, I was not terribly drawn to sparkly clothes. Two years ago I bought this sequined sweatshirt and I have worn it twice, both times with jeans. I thought it was excellent idea when I bought it, but somehow it was always either sweatshirt or sequins but never both at the same time. But for some reason, last Sunday was the day when I suddenly felt like wearing it. And I did.

It was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the mid 60s. I wore it to church with No2 pencil skirt in Festival blue and a pair of Glenbrae boots from few years ago, both from J.Crew. I thought I would need a scarf at first but it was too warm, so I took it off. I liked the look and I felt polished and casual at the same time. I liked the Festival blue with it, but I think almost any color pencil skirt would work.

Quick note about the boots: they are 'extended calf' version. This is what was available at the sale time in my size and I thought how bad can it be? Well, I would not recommend it, unless you really need it. My calves are average and definitely not skinny, but the opening is too wide and the regular calf would definitely look better. It is not so visible with pants tucked in, but I just wanted to mention it, in case you ever consider 'extended calf', especially on Final Sale.
 

 

In the afternoon I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go for a walk with my daughter. I exchanged the skirt for a pair of matchstick cords and replaced the boots with a pair of Shearling McAlisters.

I really liked the combination of blush and gray. We took a long walk and even at the playground I never felt inappropriate in all those sequins. Not sure what everybody else was thinking...

The sweatshirt is a little less blinding and more subdued irl, because the camera magnifies the effect of reflecting light. Still, I was one human disco ball and I did not mind at all.

 Everything is difficult until it becomes simple...

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That's all folks!

Do you sometimes feel like wearing something that you never did?

Do you wear sequins in daytime?

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

Taste of Cherry

"Taste of Cherry" is an Iranian film about a guy who tries to find someone to bury him after he commits a suicide. It may sound depressing but it is a great cinema and I highly recommend it, if you haven't have a chance to watch it. This post has nothing to do with the movie, and I don't have any such plans, in case I got you worried. I still plan to kick around for a while, fitting room ban drama notwithstanding. I just could not resist a title for some reason. I watch a lot of movies and I suffer from random film title association syndrome.

If you are a regular reader of this blog you may know that I love Liberty of London prints and specifically J.Crew button down perfect shirt in Liberty prints. With the previous round of new arrivals I posted that one of my favorite new items was Liberty perfect shirt in claire-aude in cherry. I decided to order it with the 25% off (plus 9% off cashback and 5% rewards), which brought the price to more reasonable level (although still expensive).

I ordered my regular size 6 and it fits TTS, like my other Liberty shirts (see more HERE). What I did not expect from the website pictures, was that there was so much green in the print. Actually, the same thing happened when I ordered Margaret Anne print, so now I know that the greens tends to recede in the pictures. I thought it was more of a creamy background with red and pink flowers. Even now, when I zoom in, the green looks more like light sage green, but irl it is a rather grassy medium green.

It is still pretty, just not what I expected. It is not that I don't like how the green looks on me, there is just something about the color itself that I have a problem with. Maybe it is that I consider green earthy and traditional, as oppose to urban and modern and this is how I'd rather think of myself?

With the green, the shirt has much more 'folksy' vibe to it, imo.  Instead of fighting it, I decided to double down by wearing traditional coral necklace from my place of birth (Krakow, Poland).

Here is the closeup of the print so you get better idea of the colors. As you can see the coral tones are dominant (the necklace is real coral so you can compare) but there is plenty of dark green. It is rather vibrant, don't you think?

Also wearing my matchstick cords in sage green, stretch denim jacket, Nottingham boots, all by J.Crew and Kate Spade purse.

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That's all folks!

Anybody watched the "Taste of Cherry"?

How do you like the shirt?

Have you found that certain colors are not reflected well in pictures, even without photoshopping?

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