This was from the Friday before St. Patrick’s Day. I knew I wanted to wear some green, but not in the typical way. And I also wanted to keep the weird color combo theme going.
I pulled this old scarf out of retirement for the green, and paired it with this oatmeal/oxblood sweater. Green and burgundy isn’t anything Earth shattering, but the colorful bangles add some unexpected brights.
Week two of Theme Weeks! The theme originated as “Anything BUT Black or White” playing against the big Black and White trend for Spring. But I think my version evolved into Kooky Color Combos.
Here, we have that highlighter pink sweater with which I started by pairing with these wine pants. I played with a few necklace options and dug up this oldie-but-goodie. I liked how it didn’t exactly match, but very much played off the dark pants. The necklace lead to the orange pumps (one of very few pointed toes that were saved from 6 years ago!), which lead to the pink and orange tank. It’s kind of insane, but works at the same time.
Valentine’s Day means pink, red, hearts and roses. So I threw them all into one outfit.
This was my low key Valentine’s look for school. I almost walked out of the house with ALL of my heart jewelry piled on, but decided at the last minute to remove most of it (Thank you, Coco Chanel!).
I wasn’t sure if the red shoes would look ridiculously out of place. There’s red in the scarf, but it’s kind of hard to tell, so I added the red bangle to help it look cohesive. I chose the grey slacks as a menswear piece to balance the sugary sweet girliness of the rest.
“Teacher, you look so sophisticated today,” was one (slightly backhanded) compliment this outfit inspired.
I scored this gorgeous cashmere sweater during a J. Crew sale bonanza. I love how the oxblood on the back cheats into the front: SUPER slimming. And these are the sister pants to these black ones. The outfit seemed a little basic, so I threw on some ridiculous chandelier earrings to jazz it up (you can’t see them through my hair, so I included a closeup). These earrings work because they have a bit of a tarnish to them, making them gel with the vintage professor vibe the clothes give off. And the dark silver kind of “matches” the grey of the pants, so although they’re still a quirky pairing, they aren’t completely random.
The elbow patches are a little high because this is an XXS. You heard me! That was the only size they had left, and it SHOCKINGLY fit everywhere else.
REWIND: Here’s one last outfit from my trip home. And yes, these boots again.
This was a particularly dreadful weather day. I wore this to run a few errands (YES, trying things on at H&M counts as an errand) and then right back into pajamas for a nice lazy day in with Ellery on the sofa.
I’m wearing several birthday gifts here: necklace and watch from Elle and blazer from Mom. And this purse has recently been brought back from a long medical leave: the hook holding the lock was broken and I finally got around to getting it fixed.
Sorry again for the iPhone photos! This outfit was toasty and cozy for a winter day. The blouse is my long anticipated (almost)Perfect Chambray shirt – more detailed pictures on that to come.
When choosing necklaces the night before, I tend to hang a few options on the hanger holding my planned shirt. After hanging these two on top of each other as separate option, I decided they looked perfect together. They create a nice chunky look to stand up to the chunkiness of the cable knit. I like how this outfit is very preppy from afar, but gets more and more Punk Rock the closer you look.
This is as close to matchy-matchy as I get!
I had low expectations for how long I would be able to stand this square ring, especially since I had it on my right hand. But I ended up wearing it all day – wearing it even while I wrote. I wore it some more over the long weekend and got a zillion compliments. In fact, the ring got way more attention from my family than my hair color. It’s funny when such a drastic change is so common, it doesn’t even warrant discussion anymore.
I’d like to call the color of these pants “oxblood”, but they have a little more purpley undertone, so they are probably more accurately described as a deep “wine”. I wasn’t sure what to pair them with, but I thought this light blue color looked gorgeous with them. The colors would’ve been beautiful on their own, but the outfit needed a finisher, and thus the white cardigan was introduced. I like how the buttons on the cardigan help the shoes make sense (these are quickly becoming my favorite work shoes. Hello, comfortable!).
The taupe pearls gave me a little more to work with near my face, besides pastels. The overall look is quite preppy, but you know I had to add my little dose of bad-assery with the cool stack of rings.
Printed jeans are EVERYWHERE right now. Most styles are not for the faint of heart. I bought a pair of floral skinnies from Target, which the boyf says look exactly like a pair of thermal pajama pants I already own… But one pattern for the adventurous-but-not-insane is leopard! Leopard is a classic print and is made up of neutrals (tan, black, and/or brown).
Because oxblood and cobalt are still off and popping, I created two looks using these to wear with leopard print jeans. The first one is the “dressy” look. (I originally tagged these and “night” and “day” but the night look could also easily work for day)
The oxblood blouse classes it up a bit – and if you know me, you know I love a good juxtaposition. The leather jacket is an obvious choice, but this one is grey and has a yummy collar to keep it interesting. The boots HINT at tough biker shoes, but with the leopard AND the leather jacket, we need to tone the Harley vibe down. Finally, an arm party adds a little color and that messy-oops-I’m-fabulous vibe I love.
This is the casual look. THEY ARE STILL JUST JEANS, so casual totally works. I am obsessed with grey t-shirts for making anything look more casual. The burgundy cardigan gives us color, but the muted tone keeps it understated. Ballet flats are essential for casual looks, these have some special details, but are still completely neutral. The flats also inject that lady-like juxtaposition. Statement necklace because the tops are just cotton basics (but still in neutral tones). I’m not in love with this particular bag, but I adore the look of dark florals with leopard. Just make sure the neutrals in the floral match the neutrals in the leopard (black floral with brown leopard is weird).
And just for fun, here are a bunch of tops and shoes that will work with these pants.
The colors/patterns can be used for a number of different pieces (floral or lace tops, orange or black/white shoes). I would just say that because the pants are sort of one statement, there should only be one other statement-y piece. So if you wear a red top, tone down the shoes. If you wear the floral shoes, tone down the top.
If you only want to dip your toes into mixing patterns, try either a small clutch, or wear a patterned shirt with a solid jacket over it. Classic black blazers are perfection for toning down the “crazy” of a look and making it read more sophisticated.
(info on pieces here)
OMG YOU GUYS. While I was searching for options, I came across this jacket on ebay:
I don’t see myself wearing this for serious, but I HAD to share. Maybe for a bad-ass angel costume?? (buy it here and tell us how you’ll wear it!!!!)
All Mouth and Trousers 