Double Breasted Sweater Vest

Today, I was in a shop that sells new clothes made of old clothes.  In the past, when I have been in this shop, I gravitated towards colour -- I wanted to see reds, greens, blues, yellows -- and I thought it strange that one would want the clothes in brown, black or grey.  How safe.  So what should I do today but the opposite of what I used to do in the past.  I turned away from colour and sought out brown items.  I had become that which I once thought strange.  Perhaps because of this, throughout my time in the shop, trying on all sorts of brown items, I kept wanting to say that I wasn't afraid of colour, as my outfit showed.  Would a person who was afraid of colour wear red and yellow?  It was just that, for some reason, for me this Fall was becoming all about brown and grey.  An explanation more for me, I think, than for any one else.

I am wearing an old Gap gingham shirt with an old Gap tie, shorts from H&M, a vintage wool sweater vest, an open wool cardigan from JCrew Factory, a cropped coat from Anthropologie, fingerless mitts from H&M and an old wool beret.  My winklepicker chukkas are Fluevogs.  I am carrying a bag from American Apparel.

Summer Flowers Peeking Out From Under Fall Leaves Jumper Dress

I really wasn't expecting to come across the fluorescent satchels today.  In fact, I really wasn't expecting to be in the store in which I came across the fluorescent satchels.  But there I was and there they were.  I was riveted by them.  They were what I have wanted since about mid August.  The most difficult part was choosing one of the four fluorescent colours.  Two I ruled out right away: pink and yellow.  That left orange and green.  I won't say which colour I ended up going with.  I would rather show it.  The bag definitely won't be missed when it finally puts in an appearance.

I am wearing an old Gap shirt with an old Gap tie, a floral flouncy tiered jumper dress from the Gap, an old JCrew jacket, an old H&M coat, an old wool/silk blend scarf and a hat and fingerless mitts from H&M.  My winklepicker chukkas are Fluevogs.  I am carrying a bag from H&M.

Long Black Wool Cardigan

This is what I wore yesterday.  I had planned on wearing something slightly different, but, when I woke up, I was feeling so crummy that I discarded some of the pieces in the planned outfit in favour of comfort pieces.  In particular, a jacket went back into the closet and instead a cosy sweater was pulled out.  Also, high heels were rejected in favour of low heels.  It was a long day, one that, today, I would like to leave behind me.  So, on to today.  I went hat shopping.  I think that I may have found some nice ones for Winter.  For some strange reason, I am really wanting to embrace Winter this year.  Part of this embracing Winter thing is dressing appropriately and stylishly throughout the entire period.  I don't want to succumb to the Winter doldrums!

I am wearing an old Mexx shirt with an old Gap tie, an old linen jumper dress, a long wool blend cardigan from JCrew Factory, an old Lands End field jacket, an old JCrew scarf, a cotton knit beret from American Apparel and fingerless mitts from H&M.  My boots are Fluevogs.  I am carrying an old batchel from The Cambridge Satchel Company.

Caramel And Chocolate Swirls Blouse

About two years ago, someone told me that body heat does not escape through one's shins and calves, so it is possible to wear knee length shorts in the depths of Winter (without tights) and still be warm, so long as one wears a hat and keeps one's neck and other parts of the body covered.  I was doubtful at the time.  And I certainly don't intend to bare my shins and calves in the depths of Winter to test out the statement.  But I can say that, so far, with temperatures just hovering around ten degrees celsius, I am not in the least bit uncomfortable going with partially bare shins and calves.

I am wearing an old Mexx blouse with an old Gap tie, an old jumper dress, a wrap sweater vest from H&M, an old JCrew scarf, an old H&M coat and an old Nine West cloche hat.  My boots are fluevogs.  I am carrying an old batchel from The Cambridge Satchel Company.

Blue Swirls Dress

The other day, I was clued in about an online shop that carries many (I mean many) shoe labels, including one of my favourites, Fluevog.  I went to the shop originally to check out some of my favourite shoe labels other than Fluevog, for why would I need to shop for Fluevogs online when I have a real live Fluevog shop in my city.  I am not sure why I clicked on the Fluevog icon, but I did, and into the Fluevog section of the online shop I went.  I browsed row after row of Fluevogs.  Then, all of a sudden, there they were.  I stopped dead in my tracks.  Where did these come from?  I had never seen them in my real live shop, at least I couldn't recall seeing them in my real live shop.  Were they old?  Were they new, yet to appear in my real live shop?  Where on earth did they come from?  I need to solve this mystery.

I am wearing an old H&M blouse and dress, a wrap sweater vest from H&M and a jacket from Zara.  My shoes are Fluevogs.  I am wearing an old Nine West cloche hat.

Fingerless Mitts Addiction

I was soooooo k-k-cold yesterday that, today, while I wore something similar to what I wore yesterday, I introduced some variations.  One:  Yesterday, I wore a short sleeve tshirt underneath my sweater.  Today, I switched out the short sleeve tshirt for a long sleeve thermal tshirt.  Two:  I added fingerless mitts.  (I would have said fingerless gloves, but they are not, strictly speaking, fingerless gloves, having only two openings, one for the thumb and one for the four fingers, like mitts.)  I can't tell you how much warmer I felt having my wrists, palms and backs of hands covered in wool.  I may have just become addicted to fingerless mitts.  Finally:  I layered a jacket over the sweater.  As soon as I put the jacket on this morning, it occurred to me that I had done what The Sartorialist had featured yesterday -- short over long.  I thought that I had done something new, until I was reviewing some of my past posts and realized that I  had done short over long on more than one occasion, and recently, usually with the same jacket.  How disappointing.  I was so excited to think that I had done something new today!  Oh well.  Tomorrow is another day.

I am wearing an old Old Navy tshirt, an old H&M sweater, fingerless mitts from H&M, an old Anthropologie jacket, a skirt from Madewell, an old Kensie coat, an old JCrew scarf and an old Nine West cloche hat.  My shoes are Fluevogs.  I am carrying a bag from American Apparel.

Special Specs

It was completely unintentional, my wearing more rust-coloured clothing today.  What wasn't unintentional was my wearing the dress and the vest.  I can't tell you how long I have been wanting to wear the dress and the vest.  I got the dress this past Spring.  At that time it was too cold (yes, too cold) to wear the dress.  Then, Summer hit -- suddenly as usual -- and it was too hot.  Then, Fall came.  I was too enchanted with jumper dresses and forgot about the dress.  When I finally remembered the dress, it rained ... and rained ... and rained.  This morning it was still raining, but I finally reached the point of not caring about the possibility of waterlogging the dress -- I would just be careful, avoid puddles, walk gingerly.  So I put on the dress.  Maybe luck was on my side today.  It never rained when I had to be outside.  The outfit was the perfect Fall outfit.

I am wearing an H&M dress (from the Spring just past), an old Zara vest, an old Anthropologie wrap belted sweater and an old newsboy cap.  My boots are old Fluevogs.  I am carrying a Roots bag.

P.S. Oh.  I suppose I should say something about my special specs.  When I turned on my computer today, I was greeted, as usual in the past week and a half, by a picture of Steve Jobs.  It occurred to me all of a sudden that my specs resemble the ones that he wore.  That's just one of the things that make the specs special for me.

Another Day, Another Jumper Dress

This Fall, I am finding that I have a thing for short, ankle length, boots (and chukkas, I suppose).  If my ankles aren't covered, I feel positively undressed.  Now that I think about it, this affinity for short, ankle length, boots isn't new.  I had the exact same affinity during my university days.  Then, I quite literally lived in a pair of ankle length lace-up boots (in black).  I wore them everyday, with everything.  Eventually, they had to be discarded -- I wore them into the ground.  I think that was when I moved on to other footwear, not so much because I really wanted to, but because I couldn't find a pair of short, ankle length, boots that I liked enough to replace the lace-ups.  I am so glad to have rediscovered a beloved personal trend.

I am wearing an old Urban Renewal plaid blouse with an old Urban Outfitters tie, a jumper dress from a local arts and crafts import shop, an old Anthropologie jacket, an old JCrew scarf and an old Nine West cloche hat.  My boots are old Fluevogs.  I am carrying a Roots bag.

P.S.  Apologies for the black and white photos.  The best I could do, in poor light, was shoot in black and white.  In case there is any curiosity about today's colour palette: my blouse is a rust, navy and taupe plaid; my tie is navy with white stripes; my jumper dress is rust; my jacket is gun metal grey; my scarf is a gun metal grey and white large gingham; my hat is black, my socks are grey, my boots are caramel brown, my bag is caramel brown, my specs are grey.

Not The Ruby Red Slippers Shoes

As soon as I get inspired to start dressing in a different way, the weather abruptly changes, in a way that makes it near to impossible to start dressing in that different way.  For example, yesterday, I got inspired to start wearing some of my maxi dresses (as an aside, I hate that description of long dresses -- maxi dresses -- yuck!), styled up appropriately for Fall.  Of course, today, it starts raining, and it doesn't look like the rain is going to let up for several days.  I am not sure that maxi dresses mix with rain -- too prone to getting water logged from the hem up.  So any desire I may have had to wear my maxi dresses will have to be put on hold, until the rain lets up.  I certainly hope that that is sooner rather than later.  Otherwise the desire to wear maxi dresses may pass and I may move on to something else.  While I am on the subject of being inspired to dress differently, it occurred to me this morning that, as soon as it becomes so cold that I have no choice but to wear tights, I will probably give up wearing anything long (or longish) in favour of short lengths.  So much more comfortable with tights.

I am wearing an old Old Navy shirt with an old Gap tie, a jumper dress from a local arts and crafts import shop, an old Preloved shawl collar cardigan and an old silk/wool blend scarf.  My oxfords are Fluevogs.  I am wearing an old Nine West cloche hat.  I am carrying an old Roots cotton canvas satchel.

Grey Shirt

There is only one reason why I wore what I did today.  It's because on Friday, when I wore a similar outfit, albeit in green, the moment that I left my house, I wanted to wear the boots that I wore today, instead of the shoes that I did wear.  So, today, I was determined to wear something similar to what I wore on Friday, so that I could wear the boots.  Not a very inspiring reason to wear what I did wear, but clothing choices are always deeply inspired.

I am wearing an old H&M shirt with an old Gap tie, an old jumper dress (originally from a local arts and crafts import shop), an old Anthropologie jacket and an old JCrew scarf.  My boots are old Fluevogs.  I am wearing a cotton knit beret from American Apparel.  I am carrying an old Roots cotton canvas satchel.

Blue Uniform Skirt

I just passed three days "surviving" with the same six pieces of clothing, the same footwear and the same accessories.  Funny how can I so easily do this when I stay at home, but ask me to do this when I travel somewhere and I just can't.  For each day that I am away from home, I can only seem to think of a completely different outfit to wear, composed of completely different separates, footwear and accessories.  (No wonder a carry-on never suffices.)  As I said, funny.

I am wearing an old Old Navy tshirt, an old Lands End uniform skirt (held up by old H&M suspenders), an old Gap cotton wrap vest and a chunky cropped sweater from H&M.  An old souvenir scarf is tied round my neck and I am wearing a cotton knit beret from American Apparel.  My boots are Fluevogs.  I am carrying an old cotton canvas souvenir satchel.

The Black Tie

I wear this black tie often these days.  I have other ties.  There is, for example, that brown knit tie that I favoured for a while (just as I favour the black tie these days).  There are also other ties: a navy with white horizontal stripes knit tie; a black, grey, brown and white striped silk tie; a navy with white polka dots cotton tie -- among others.  None of these other ties have achieved favoured status, like the black tie and the brown knit tie have.  Ties for women are difficult to find.  Most of my ties I get from men's shops.  Even men's shops aren't always a good source of ties for me.  I like skinny ties.  Most ties that I find in men's shops are wide ties.  Too heavy for my frame.  Another hurdle is the cost of some skinny ties that I like.  They aren't always affordable.  For some reason I haven't been able to bring myself to spend a lot of money on a tie.  Ties.  Definitely one of my wardrobe loves ... and wardrobe challenges.

I am wearing an old Gap shirt with an old Gap tie, an old jumper dress (originally from a local arts and crafts import shop), a wool cardigan from Lands End Canvas, an old Kensie coat and a cotton knit beret from American Apparel.  My shoes are Fluevogs.  I am carrying a frame bag from H&M.