Thrift Finds: August 2017

Most of August was spent getting ready to move and then moving. But – I know you’re shocked – I managed to fit some thrifting in there anyway!

Check out the decor and lamp shades I thrifted in August to help stage our house here.

And now for the clothes.

Floral cotton popover blouse by Old Navy
Y’all know me and my love for popover blouses:

I’ve been looking for something with palm fronds, which has proven surprisingly tricky to find with a navy background instead of black. This one is like…a chic version of a Hawai’ian shirt. It’s also beautifully lightweight for those truly hot days. I’m in.

PS For those keeping score at home, yes I did have another tropical popover in blue, which I loved, but which was a tad too tight on the chest/shoulders. Aaaaand I also had another navy floral blouse – one which was less vacation-y printwise, but with a flowy cut that just looked sloppy on me. So when the Old Navy number came along with its perfect fit, I heard the universe telling me to let go of the other two less-than-greats.

You are the weakest link(s). Goodbye:

I am pretty sad about losing that awesome tropical print/color scheme. Sigh.

Plaid cotton popover blouse by Kenar:
Another cotton popover blouse – are we detecting a pattern here (pun intended)?

I had been pulled toward a similar white-on-blue windowpane plaid popover before, one that didn’t fit so well:

Another reason for rejecting that earlier edition was that it was too casual for work and I already had a plaid weekend shirt. But since moving to the Northeast, I’ve found that work attire (at least in my office) is quite a bit more laid back. The good fit on the new find makes it sleek enough for work while the plaid keeps it kickin’ for the weekend:

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Plaid shirt: Kenar – thrifted
Jeans: Paige – thrifted
Shoes: City Sneaks – thrifted

Next up, the Paige jeans that were miraculously left waiting for me in the fitting room at the Goodwill. I’m wearing them in the picture above as well as here:

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Vest: Savile Row Co. – thrifted
Shirt from my alma mater, retail
Jeans: Paige – thrifted
Shoes: City Sneaks – thrifted
Bag: Marco Avané – thrifted

Paige jeans, for those unfamiliar, are made in the USA and retail for around $200. BIG SCORE. These Skyline Skinnies were like new and fit me perfectly – no belt needed, which is a big plus in my book. I’ll just have to adjust to having a second pair of jeans in my wardrobe… but with a cold climate and a casual office I imagine they’ll come in handy!

PS Yes I know skinny jeans are not really the hot new thing these days… since I tend to lag behind in trends (see: how long it took me to adopt skinnies in the first place), I’ll probably be wearing cropped mom jeans in about 2-3 years. You’ve been warned.

Mercer & Mason white blazer, new with tags
I’m digging the long, lean lapels on this blazer and the warmth it provides on brisk early mornings/late evenings here in New England:

At no loss for blazers, I had pretty much decided I didn’t need a white one until I wore my white denim jacket to a wedding and felt under-dressed. This TJ Maxx brand features decent quality fabric and the lining keeps it toasty – linings were often problematic in Atlanta for this reason but are ideal here! The slightly off-white color will go with everything without washing me out (I hope – pasty white winter skin may yet prevail).

Olive faux suede ankle boots by Leila Stone
I know these don’t look terribly olive in these pictures, but they’re definitely on the green side of taupe.

I’m calling these an impulse buy despite the fact that two or three days passed between when I first spotted them and when I bought them. I loved the subtle touch of color (it’s hard to find ankle boots that aren’t black/grey/brown), the asymmetrical “cuff” for lack of a better term, and the sassy little tassels on the zipper pull (although I wish the hardware was gold, but that’s my inner magpie speaking). They have my favorite toe shape – halfway between pointed and round – and the wood-like heel also appealed. It plays well with my wardrobe, unlike the other common option for heels, which is black. And they’re my size, hurrah!

But….

…there’s a reason they had been donated to Goodwill. These shoes are faux suede, and judging by the tear in the fabric near the zipper, not high quality faux suede. Other evidence they are not well made, or else that they are very well worn, include wear spots near the toe and the heel on that same side (which luckily is the inside of the shoe, but it will still show). And the heel is really too high for my personal comfort.

So why did I buy them? Mostly as a stop gap. As soon as I saw these, I started dreaming up all the delicious fall outfits they would complete, and I went looking online for something higher quality (and, most likely, retail). After spending an hour or two perusing different options, I realized that this was madness; I already had ankle boots I love, I was about to move and didn’t need to spend $100+ on new boots, and life would go on without my having a pair of olive shoes to make all my wardrobe dreams come true. So to stop myself from pulling the trigger on something expensive and unnecessary, I spent $6 on these and told myself I could sew up the rip, my micro commute could survive the higher heel, and they’ll be fun while they last.

So now let’s see if I get any use out of them or just enjoy how they look on my shelf!

Last but not least, I thrifted a file organizer for my new office and a slew of hideous yet functional Laura Ashley thank-you notes which I have liberally sprinkled amongst my wonderfully generous and thoughtful congregation. And a couple of decorative pillows I have yet to convince the spouse are aesthetically pleasing. (To be fair, he was the one who started the throw pillow conversation…)

Right??? I like them too. $17 on Etsy; jacked up to $40 retail; $4 at the thrift store. BAM.

I also thrifted a goodly fall wardrobe for the child, which I will post separately.

So, your turn. What did you thrift this past month? Have you ever bought something ridiculous and/or crappy to stop yourself from spending a lot more money on a higher quality version? Or do you have way more self-discipline than I?

Winter Wardrobe Recap

I haven’t had much time for reading blogs this week so instead of a Friday ReBlog I’ve got a brief winter wardrobe recap before taking a look next week at what I have planned for spring.

Tops
Remember how I thought I’d be all into turtlenecks? The best laid plans of mice and thrifters… I wore turtlenecks sparingly, opting instead for sweaters or thinner shirts under blazers/cardigans. (Well, one of those sweaters was a turtleneck, so I guess that counts:)

I didn’t wear this puppy at ALL but I still really like it, so I’m tucking it away in my box of classics until I’m ready for it to come back into the lineup:

(You may recall that’s also where my sailor pants are living. Yes I know they’re back in style now but I seem to have a hard-headed allergy to wearing trends when they’re, you know, trendy:)

Pants
I converted to all corduroy pants (plus one pair of jeans) and was very happy with the results, particularly after I added some color to the mix.

The hands-down faves for both color and fit – that off-white color (bleached out here a bit) is just so classy for winter:

The best colorful addition – surprisingly versatile!
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The one I felt “meh” about by the end of the season:

I got sick of the color and need a break from these to see if I get excited about them again next winter. If not, I’ll look for a replacement that’s a different take on the red/berry/burgundy family and a bit longer. Those hems are SHORT and I got a bit tired of styling around them.

Blazers
For the first time I made blazers (instead of cardigans) a major part of my winter style. I let go a couple of neutrals that weren’t serving me well (camel and a fuzz-attracting navy) and let myself go wild with color and pattern, paring it back down by the end of the season to what I reached for over and over:

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I added a vest for leisure wear and loved how snuggly it was:

Dresses
I was too enamored of my new corduroy pants collection to reach for my dresses all that often. I did, however, embrace layering warm-weather dresses, though, as part of falling head-over-heels for caramel and red:

I have a few dresses about which I need to make decisions.
Pockets always pooch out; give away or cut ’em off and sew ’em up?

SUCH a good shape, cut, color, thickness; but lining is all wonky (tailor fix?) and it’s too short to wear without leggings:

Shoes
Still loving my snakeprint ankle boots, bronze flats, and Pumas:
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On the fence about my Coach cognac riding boots. I need inserts to make them not so flat-footed and therefore hard to walk in, and I’m still not sold on the width:

And that’s the general gist of how things went this winter. Excited to put it all to the side in my closet to make way for spring things! Next week I’ll share what I’ve tossed from my winter wardrobe (as well as a few things that didn’t make the cut for my upcoming spring wardrobe).

What I Wore: Cerulean Plaid Blazer

You may recall my first foray into plaid blazer territory:

Last week I found another plaid blazer by the same brand (Merona), same size, featuring some gorgeous blues:

It came home with me, of course, although I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to wear it. Those are some pretty striking hues:

It’s hard to tell but some of the skinny lines are pretty much purple.

But I figured I could use it in place of the lint-collecting navy blazer that had lost its shape in the laundry. (Yes, I know, not a good idea to wash a blazer. Sometimes I am lazy and foolhardy.)

My first attempt at creating an outfit with it turned out rather Dionne and Cher from Clueless:

Source

The high contrast plus the turtleneck made for a very 90s vibe. I wasn’t really feeling the throwback look and figured I could fix it with a crew neck top, but I was already dressed and was feeling the late-to-work look even less.

I tried again on Sunday, a grey and cool day that practically shouted corduroy and plaid – style notes as you scroll through:

Why is it that Merona blazers fit me better than most fancy-pants brands I find at the thrift store? Not that I’m complaining…just curious about their spot-on fit, which I associate with higher quality stuff than Target brands.

Sweater: Gap Designed & Crafted, thrifted
Corduroy pants: Style & Co., thrifted and tailored (waist taken in)
Blazer: Merona, thrifted
Socks: Target, retail
Ankle boots: Lucky Brand, gift from The Sister
Necklace: DIY from Goodwill finds

This time I think the softer oatmeal shade and the crew neck on this Gap sweater made things a little less eye-popping. The marled texture and split hem on the sweater also gave it a more current feel:

As did the snakeskin print ankle boots:

Next time it’s truly chilly I’ll be excited to pair this blazer with my navy turtleneck sweater to see if tamping down the contrast but leaving the high neck will work as well as I imagine.

How would you wear this bold blazer – if you would wear it at all? Was Clueless a cinematic touchstone of your youth? If not, what’s your favorite stylistic movie reference? Scroll down to comment.

What I Wore: Thrifting an Outfit for a Party with a Dress Code / New Years Eve

This post is about an outfit I thrifted for a birthday party with a dress code, but could easily work for a New Year’s Eve bash or other one-off fancy holiday party.

My fabulous friend Sheena had her birthday party a few Saturdays ago (Sagittarians in the house!) and the dress code was “all black.”

If you have been reading for any length of time you will know that I decided awhile back that black washes me out and that therefore I have almost no black in my wardrobe. The few items I can think of that involve black use it as a pattern on top of some other non-black base color:

Plus a pair of black leggings that I use for running.

Everything else you see in my closet that might look like black is, in fact, dark grey or navy.

Sheena knows this and knows that I am thrifty and didn’t want me to have to buy a completely new outfit, so she graciously offered to let me go with navy. But what is thrifting for if not being able to rise to the occasion/dress code on short notice and small budget? Challenge accepted.

Our staff holiday party was Friday and everyone went home early afterwards, so after doing some necessary chores I was off to the Goodwill to see if I could put together an ensemble tout noir. My strategy was to start with the black leggings I already own, add a black dress (quite abundant in the thrift store) and finish off with a topper to keep me warm. I had previously donated my black flats that I wore very infrequently, so I got permission from the birthday woman to wear my cream and dark grey snakeskin print ankle boots. They’d add some nice contrast but easily crop out of a photo.

Tip: When thrifting a dress for something one-off, first figure out your parameters – color? hem length? sleeve length? fabric? – and sift through the options on that basis.

For the dress, I was pretty sure I wanted to go with long sleeved (for warmth) and just-above-the-knee, so I skimmed over the black dress section starting at the bottom and looking for shorter hems. When I found a hem I liked, I pulled it out by the fabric (not the hanger) to 1) get a feel for the fabric quality and 2) see the sleeve length. It turned out there were not a lot of long-sleeved dresses and I didn’t like any of them, so I switched to short sleeved/sleeveless and figured I’d just keep my topper on.

Look at all these options! The black section is definitely the largest part of the dress rack. L to R: Loft, Zara Basic, Calvin Klein, H&M, Liz Sport, BCBG Max Azria, H&M, detail of back, H&M.

If I had been thrifting something I’d also keep to wear to work, I would’ve gone with the last one – it’s my favorite silhouette (sheath) with pockets and an interesting neck detail:

But since this was a party, and I don’t wear black on the regular, I went for something more fun!

It’s a sleeveless v-neck high quality polyester dress with a flare skirt that felt very festive to me. As I was walking past the blazer rack a new-with-tags Chico’s blazer with sleek lines and contrast collar/side panels jumped out at me, and I realized pairing it with the dress would bring a modern touch to the more 90s ice skater feel of the dress.

See the incredible contrast details on this blazer?

The final outfit:

Dress: Jones New York, thrifted new with tags, retailed for $100
Blazer: Chico’s, thrifted, new with tags
Leggings: American Apparel, retail (made in USA)
Ankle boots: Lucky Brand, gift from my sister
Necklace: DIY from thrifted parts

I LOVE the jacket. It is so damn modern and clean-lined, and it fits like a glove. Chico’s, I have wanted to be old enough to buy your stuff since I was 12, and you have proven my preteen longing right (again). I wish, a little bit, that this blazer were navy and…whatever the charcoal equivalent of navy is. Textured navy? Heathered navy? But since this baby is in perfect condition and so sleek, I’ll quit complaining and start thinking of ways to style this wardrobe outlier. Thoughts?

And the dress – I love the neckline and how gorgeous it feels (high-end polyester for the win!). The cut of the skirt is not super-current BUT feels very party-ish, and I think it would be perfect for an evening wedding or a super fancy cocktail party. Except I never get invited or go to such things. That being the case, I feel like this BRAND NEW WITH TAGS, $100 dress should go to someone who will glory in it, especially since thrift stores are the best place to find swanky duds that fit your unique style and not just whatever silhouette the retail world has dictated must be sold. So I will likely donate it – after the holidays, in case I get invited, unexpectedly, to some fancy New Year’s Eve bash (and assuming we can find a babysitter).

For $13 I had a great outfit that fit the party parameters and which will not kill my bank balance even if I never wear it again. Win!

And now for the fun, with the lovely Sheena in all her birthday glory! We celebrated at an upscale bowling spot, hence the ugly-chic velcro shoes:

Please to note Sheena’s fabulous sparkle top and hoop earrings. Not thrifted, but still.

In some photos (like the above) my sleeves have un-scrunched themselves, but for most of the evening I styled it with sleeves scrunched up, which made it feel more current:

In the background, Sheena’s delicious cream-black handbag in the back (also not thrifted, but still) and a bottle of birthday champagne.

A little later, a little sweatier, and with my offending charcoal grey jacket (because it was ALL BLACK, Leah, DUH) gone:

PS I am a bowling fox:

Have I convinced you that thrift stores are the perfect spot to pick up a one-off outfit? (Or am I preaching to the choir?) What do you think of my finds? What have you, dear readers, thrifted in one-off fashion? Scroll down to share!

What I Wore: Liturgically Appropriate Advent Wear

Warning: this post contains liturgical nerdiness in the extreme.

This past Sunday was the third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete (Latin for “rejoice”) Sunday. In many Catholic and Protestant traditions, the candles on the Advent wreath – one lit for each Sunday leading up to Christmas – are all purple except for the one representing joy this Sunday, which is rose.

(Many other Protestant and a minority of Catholic churches [since it’s illegal under Catholic law] use a color called Sarum blue, derived from the liturgical palette of Salisbury cathedral, for all of Advent. The idea is that since purple is the color used for Lent, a penitentiary season, something different and more joyful should be used for Advent. But old schoolers reply that this is 1) liturgical wishful thinking and/or 2) that Advent IS penitential in some ways as we prepare our hearts for the coming of the Christ child into a beautiful but messed up world. As I promised – definitely more than you cared to know.)

Anyway, Episcopalian and Catholic clergy get to rock some pretty rad vestments on this day:

My dear friend Sarah (2nd from right) at her former parish rocking the rose vestments. (Butterfly headpiece optional.) Source.

Sadly the only thing I own in this hue is strictly for warm weather. But I did try to communicate some joy with the blush pink in this sweater:

Sweater: Forever 21, thrifted
Corduroy pants: Banana Republic, thrifted
Snakeskin print ankle boots: Lucky Brand, gifted to me by my sister
Necklace: DIYed from Goodwill finds
Cuff: heirloom from my grandma

Close up on the very, very faint blush pink in the sweater:

Pretty lousy attempt at a joy-filled color, no? So I stuck these fun socks down below, which are both closer in hue to “rose” and make me smile every time I wear them, particularly so in cold weather:

Socks: Target

Now that you are equipped with obscure trivia for sherry hour at the rectory, scroll down and tell me about the last time you dressed in a particular color for an event.

This post brought to you by the Vicar of Dibley, whom I sure has rose vestments somewhere…

…and who would invite you over for scotch, not sherry.

The Beauty of a Blank Slate

Over Thanksgiving I talked my spouse into a short stop at the Last Chance Thrift Store in Chamblee on our way home from cat sitting for a friend. I promised a very short stop, which meant I had to be on my game. I started with the “designer” racks and found some decent things, but nothing I wanted to try on.

Then I ran over to the kids’ section to grab my kid a coat (pics coming soon). My final stop was the dress section – usually I skip this when I have a time limit because taking home anything involves a trip to the dressing room. But something pulled me over, and lo and behold, there was a haul of vintage dresses! Don’t ignore your spidey thrift sense when it strikes.

Someone must have cleaned out Grandma’s closet:

A few of them were made in Hawai’i and there were some fabulous patterns. (I would have gone for the first one – the spring green one with white trim – but it had pretty serious stains. Wanh wannnnh.)

The one I tried on and bought, though, was solidly devoid of pattern:

Well, there were pockets:

Look, y’all know I love me some pattern and print. But in addition to the summery-ness of all the above dresses, their prints and colors limit the number of ways they can be styled. This dress, on the other hand – although it’s pretty boringly beige (thanks Spouse for pointing this out) – can be paired with a fantastic range of accessories.

My first choice? This leopard-print ruana (basically a blanket with a big split down the middle so you can wrap it) passed on to me by my mom, which kept my arms nice and warm despite the dress’ short sleeves:

I added a DIY necklace to give it a focal point and some funk:

And capped it off with my snakeprint ankle boots. (To be honest I think this would look best with riding boots, but since I have yet to thrift those, ankle boots it was.)

Other possibilities? My snakeskin print blazer instead of the ruana; leggings on the bottom with my bronze snakeskin flats or champagne flats – like this:

A photo posted by LeahLW (@thriftshopchic) on Nov 1, 2016 at 2:32pm PDT

My navy blazer and navy leggings would also work great.

I can also put a shirt underneath the dress for chillier days – one of my many turtlenecks, or my leopard print blouse for some fun contrast.

Another great topper – this graphic cardigan:

A photo posted by LeahLW (@thriftshopchic) on Oct 30, 2016 at 9:59am PDT

And if I can thrift some nice cognac or dark brown riding boots, I’ll have even more options.

Separates are, by definition, easier to mix and match than one broad swath of fabric (a dress) that is highly patterned. This is why, as much as I love interesting details – and as much as I would love to be the person styling wild patterns and funky cuts – my most frequently worn dresses are ones that are a single, solid, neutral-ish color. See, for example, the off-white and blue dresses in the IG pics above.

The color of this dress is about as neutral as is possible to be – and although the neck, the longer sleeves, the pockets, and the below-the-knee length actually give it an interesting almost mod 60s vibe (who knows; maybe it was made then), on its own you could argue it’s kind of basic. But that’s exactly why I’m excited to use it as a blank slate for styling it multiple ways throughout winter, and even into spring. (I think it’s a wool blend so it probably won’t make it into summer.)

What’s your take on blank, boring-ish slates that make it easier to accessorize vs. stuff with more personality that can be harder to style? Scroll down to comment!

What I Wore and How I Styled It: Snow Leopard + Wine and Navy

This weekend the morning temperature dipped down below 50 for the first time, so I went looking for a cozy ensemble for church/work. I often wear something to church on Sunday AM and then redo it for work on Monday since I don’t wear my church clothes hard and the only person who will see me sporting the exact same outfit is my spouse. I figure if an ensemble worked once, I should milk it for all it’s worth, no? (Fun fact: the first picture is from this morning and the rest are from yesterday.)

Pants: My wine-colored cords were freshly back from the tailors, where they had gone for a little nipping in around the waist, and I was itching to wear them.

Top: It was cold enough for a proper sweater on top so I opened my sweater drawer to see what looked inviting. Light blue sweater – too lightweight. Pink/grey/white sweater – wrong color palette; the wine would drown out the blush pink and soft grey. But the off-white with snow leopard sleeves? Yes ma’am.

Shoes: I grabbed my dark grey/white snakeskin ankle boots to echo the off-white/grey palette of my sweater and add some interest, and we were in business:

Sweater: French Connetion, thrifted
Pants: Style & Co., thrifted and tailored
Boots: Lucky Brand, gift from my sister
Necklace: DIY from Goodwill parts
Blazer (blazer): Haberdashery Collection by Personal, thrifted

Jewelry: I wore cream-colored earrings to complement the sweater and boots. Did it need a necklace? Not necessarily, but it would dress up the soft textures a bit. The pendant with a stylized flower fit better with stylized flower earrings than my large “stone” pendant, so that’s what I chose:

Note: This is about 20 minutes after pulling it out of the drawer where it had sat, more or less Kondo-folded, since last year. Not bad wrinkle-wise, eh?

Socks: Since these cords went in for a trim up, they sit where they should on my waist…

Ahh, fit so much improved!

…which means the short legs are now really short and expose some ankle above the top of my boots. So I put on my thickest wool socks to give a cozy, chunky little layer there and keep my ankles warm:

Blazer: Last but not least, I had no idea if I’d be chasing my kid outside for half the service, so I went looking for a topper. With so much pattern going all already (including the texture of the sweater), my all-navy blazer was a nice neutral option. Plus the saturation/temperature of the color played really well with the color of the corduroys:

Initially I cuffed the sleeves because it gives blazers a fresh, modern look – but my sweater arms were long enough to peek out from underneath the blazer sleeves uncuffed and I liked that contrast, so I unrolled ’em.

Ta-da!

What’d y’all wear this weekend? Do you ever redo an outfit from one day to the next when you know you’ll be in a different context with a different audience?

What I Wore: Skinned Knee Chic

When your spouse is sick and you are singlehandedly making the church run with a toddler and you are preaching and you are LATE, you only get three outfit photos and you are HAPPY with them:

Do you like how I turned a last-minute snack for my kid into an autumnal-colored accessory?

And when you have recently face planted while running and skinned your knee (and your elbow and your wrist) pretty significantly and your household has run out of band aids so you can’t wear pants or leggings (plus you ruined your favorite pair of leggings in said face plant) but it’s too crisp to go completely bare legged, you put on knee socks and pretend you meant to wear this all along (skinned knee not pictured out of consideration for the faint of heart):

The print mixing, it is out of control:

Color block/striped dress: Gap, thrifted
Blazer: Haberdashery by Personal, thrifted
Belt: J. Crew, thrifted
Scarf: my mama’s Kohl’s shopping spree
Socks: Target
Ankle boots: Lucky Brand, gift from my sister

Seriously though I did buy these socks for just such a look, hoping to encourage myself to wear skirts through fall and thinking that, with the ankle boots, it would read sort of like a tall boot (of which I have yet to be convinced I need to buy a pair although I would be happly to thrift some). Don’t worry, these socks came in a two-pack with plain navy so I don’t have to be in a 5-billion-patterns mood to wear them.

What do y’all think of the knee sock/ankle boot look? Or the tuck-your-scarf-into-your-belt look? (Very handy for showing off your belt and keeping the fringe out of reach of handsy toddlers/your coffee mug.) Or the print party? Scroll down to comment!

What I Wore: Adding Color to a Neutral-Heavy Wardrobe

My summer wardrobe has lots of corals, tomato reds, teals, and a dash of cerulean that liven up some neutral pants and dresses. My winter wardrobe, though? It’s a pretty stark assemblage of creams, greys, and navies with a tiny touch of blush pink and gold. I have an open closet and staring at all those neutral cold weather clothes lined up every time I passed was starting to make me feel a little too Ice Queen.

My first thought was to get some red shoes to warm things up. Because red shoes are SASSY. They are bold and fun and insouciant and they completely change the tenor of a wardrobe. And red – either a solid bright red or a darker oxblood variant – would be the perfect winter version of the corals and tomatoes so prominent in my summer closet.

Well, shoes are a bit harder to thrift than other things, partly because our feet come in so many different sizes and partly because I personally have AAA narrow feet and need an arch. So it’s a rare affair to find thrifted shoes that fit and are comfy, and ankle boots (the style I had in mind) are even harder to come by – as a still-current trend they haven’t really made it to the thrift sales floor en masse yet. (These Sam Edelman suede beauties aside. I’m still sad they were too big for me.)

I thought for awhile about buying a new pair retail, which is how I have gotten a few pairs of my shoes – either as gifts or bought with my own hard cash – because I care that much about having comfortable, well-shod feet.

But then I started thinking there had to be a cheaper, more environmentally friendly way to bring some color into my wardrobe. I realized I already owned nail polish in oxblood that I LOVE and could easily sport on days when I’m feeling too neutral. I also already had a scarf in the neighborhood of cranberry and with some gold and coral accents that would make it interesting and translatable to other parts of my wardrobe. So far I hadn’t spent a cent and my closet already had more life!

I was still hoping for an actual piece of clothing, though, so I thought about thrifting for a turtleneck or thin sweater in burgundy/cranberry/oxblood. But I was a little wary of wearing the color near my face since it’s pretty robust for my skin tone.

Then I nabbed the Talbots catalogue that comes to my boss at work and spent my lunch flipping through it for inspiration. (I feel like Talbots is about half twee and half dead ringer for my style…so this little habit is a half-guilty pleasure.) The color and texture of this “rum raisin” skirt fell in the dead ringer category and I made a mental note that that hue would work as a great “red” for fall/winter.

Lo and behold, the very next Saturday I had a chance to go to my local Goodwill and flip through the pants racks for something similar. I found American Eagle Outfitters jeggings (great fit, too casual for work), Talbots cords in a spectacular flame red-orange (my size but didn’t fit and too intense), and some Style & Co. cords in a slightly redder, less purple cast of “rum raisin.” They were a size larger than my normal and marked “P,” but something told me to try them on anyway.

They fit! Well, they fit in the waist and had a nice high rise, although a belt may be necessary; but they are too short in the leg for my normal taste. HOWEVER they are the perfect length for wearing with ankle boots without having to cuff/tuck/overlap:

I also picked up this Joan Vass top which is a perfect fit for my wardrobe for reasons I’ll write about next week. This outfit would have read a lot more neutral/monochrome with grey pants or cream pants, but instead the red changes things up completely. It’s able to bring a little fall to those green green trees you see in the background…10 days into October. Not complaining though!

Giving the photographer that “quit making me do weird facial expressions” look.

The split hem draws attention to the two colors playing off each other:

Which I gotta do whenever I can since even my necklaces are neutral:

Top: Joan Vass Studio, thrifted
Pants: Style & Co., thrifted
Ankle boots: Lucky Brand, Christmas gift
Necklace: DIY from thrifted parts

That’s the saga of adding some color to my neutral-heavy winter wardrobe – and for now, I think it’s enough. I can’t wait to pair these pants with almost infinite top/cardigan combinations since they will all work together. I’m looking forward to painting the nails when it gets well and truly cold – that color’s a little dramatic for fall. And I’m excited to try that scarf out with my white sheath dress – or what else? Scroll down with suggestions!

If you’d like some more ideas about adding color to your neutral closet, check out this series (link goes to the oldest in the series) and this series (link goes to the newest post in series) over at The Vivienne Files. I hope my post convinces you that you don’t need to go out and buy a bunch of stuff (thrifted or not) to enliven your wardrobe; Janice’s visual magic might help you envision how one or two pieces could make what you already have really pop.

If you have a neutral-heavy wardrobe, do you ever feel the desire for some COLOR? If so, how do you mix it in?

Building a stylishly edited wardrobe from thrift store finds

Tag: ankle boots

Thrift Finds: August 2017

Winter Wardrobe Recap

What I Wore: Cerulean Plaid Blazer

What I Wore: Thrifting an Outfit for a Party with a Dress Code / New Years Eve

What I Wore: Liturgically Appropriate Advent Wear

The Beauty of a Blank Slate

What I Wore and How I Styled It: Snow Leopard + Wine and Navy

What I Wore: Skinned Knee Chic

What I Wore: Adding Color to a Neutral-Heavy Wardrobe

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