Thrift Finds: October 2017

First up, I want to share with you all Nadia at Happy Malista’s recap from her 10×10 challenge; she shared her outfits as well as outfits from a few other bloggers whose challenges she enjoyed, including yours truly! It’s sometimes hard finding a style blogger whose style is close enough to your own to resonate but different enough to inspire you; Nadia’s 10×10 hits that sweet spot for me. She’s convinced me I need to replace the blazer I used to own that was kind of a spring take on moss green…

And now, on to my thrift finds from last month!  Starting with the NOs:

A great soft dark grey turtleneck with split hem, made of supima cotton, that was too baggy – sigh:

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A Talbots sweater that made me feel like I live in a ski chalet – look at that great fringe!

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A wonky fit in the torso, though:

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I’m on the hunt for a caramel-colored turtleneck but this one was giant in the armpits:

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It hid its ginormous pits well, though:

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This dark cognac trench was a dream – 100% wool, and just had so much character:

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It was a little TOO oversized on me, and the color a bit intense – see how it’s the first thing your eye is drawn to in the picture, instead of my face? Sign of a tone mismatch.  Anyway, this would have fit my fantasy life (city dweller with a 20 minute walk across the Loop to get to my office) but not my real life (quick jog down the block to my office, then where do I stash this monster?), so I left it there.  Tear.

It’s hard to tell, but this riding jacket by Ralph Lauren was too big on me. The cut is very equestrian; can’t you see it paired with jodhpurs?

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But here’s where it shines – velvet collar and some purple woven in with that moss green. It’s like heather in a blazer!

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Various pants I tried out because I thought I needed grey jeans (probably not true):

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Several sweaters that didn’t make the cut, such as:

Loft – loved the diamond pattern but it was scratchy-atchy-atchy, as one of my kid’s storybooks says:

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Same with this Gap sweater – scratchy, and that neck plus those sleeves totally remind of the year 2000:

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Too much blue in this green sweater by Land’s End – but it fit perfectly! (Their tops are usually too wide in the torso for me):

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Italian wool from Banana Republic, too tight (that smudge is the mirror, not a sweater defect):

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And a J. Crew dress that underwhelmed, I think mostly because it was short enough to need leggings, but lightweight enough to show any lumps and folds from underlayers:

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That bottom half is navy, despite its greenish tinge in this photo.

 

And now, for the winners!

You’re familiar by now with my new cable knit sweater by Workshop by Andrea Jovine:

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Here’s my new goose down coat by Larry Levine; it retails for up to $200 but thrifted for $20. I may not be psychologically ready for the cold, but I will be sartorially ready for it!

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It’s just this side of dark charcoal, so hopefully it will not wash me out quite as much as pure black. Honestly, though, if I’m warm and I paid 10% of MSRP, I don’t care. Functional wins out over everything else in this case.

Here’s my first Eileen Fisher find! A bright, orangey red that is sort of intensely bright – what a great fall color:

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Check out that split hem!

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To wit, here it is styled:

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And this tan/cream patterned sweater by L.L. Bean:

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There’s a cat balancing on my phone!

…with a fun hi-lo split hem:

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Here it is styled:

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And last but not least, this merino wool plaid scarf in colors that complement my wardrobe in stellar fashion:

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Overall, a pretty good month.  Onward to November!

Did anything in my finds catch your eye?  What did you thrift this past month?

Style Sightings: Fall in New England (with a quick visit to New Hampshire & Maine)

If you’re like me and have been stuck in bizarre 80 degree weather for the last few weeks but still need your fall fix, this post is here to help. First up, some fall fashion from around town.

White cords with a matching turtleneck and contrasting cable knit sweater:

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I dig the texture on the loafers (faux alligator?) and the apple as accessory.  The sock game is off, though – don’t dilute the high contrast beauty of this outfit with pastels!

Sort of counter intuitively, that bright dahlia red in her sweater is very fall:

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Flowers from down the block.

Out picking pears, I spotted this gentleman sporting some great mustard chinos paired with clogs, that back-in-style-again fall staple:

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Honorable mention to the teal chinos on the right!

More clogs, in IKEA, sported by a French woman:

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We helped each other load boxes then chatted briefly while my child ran off with her own furniture cart like some kind of demented sled dog driver.

At our local independent coffee shop, this woman was rocking hiking boots + jeans with holes + purple plaid. Not in my wheelhouse, yet her look felt effortlessly cool. The cool factor was increased by the fact that she appeared to be 50+, an age when many women steer away from rocker/grunge style:

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A better look at that plaid and hole-y jeans:

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Still warm enough for slides on her companion!

This textured sweater + scarf over jeans combo on a woman of about the same age, on the other hand, is perhaps more expected, but it’s also right in my wheelhouse. I think my heart skipped a beat when I saw her look. Check out that luscious cream color of the sweater, its loooong length and split hem, and the delicious texture on the sandals, again a concession to warm days:

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Here’s a fun pairing of berry and fuchsia (more pink than the red in this photo) that, like the bright red sweater above, speaks to these hot fall days when flowers are still blooming left and right:

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See what I mean?

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Last week we went up to New Hampshire and Maine for a quick overnight to celebrate our anniversary. First up was a visit en famille to Applecrest farm to ogle the apples and pumpkins and to visit the farm animals. Let me tell you, though, the first thing that caught my eye, right out of the car, was the fall style on these two late-20s-ish women:

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Patterned scarves, split hems, plaid elbow patches, a quilted vest, great color palettes…the mix is good enough that I can overlook the matching TOMS.  Did they call each other that morning and agree to wear variations on the same outfit?

Same idea, different execution – love the green pants and the plaid shirt with red hair on this mom of a toddler:

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And one more toddler mom, this time with shearling and Chucks:

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There was another woman whose picture I couldn’t get but who wore a marled oatmeal hip-length sweater topped with an olive green utility vest over jeans and grey suede ankle boots and it was the first time I liked a utility vest.

(Please, after all this time, don’t let me start liking olive green military parkas! Yes I know that field jacket from last month’s finds is awfully parka-adjacent… it’s a slippery slope, people, don’t get on it. Unless you are Une Femme who completely makes it work.)

Next we left the kid with the grandparents and headed north to York, Maine, where we got engaged lo these many years ago (awwww). After a walk on Long Sands beach…

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…including the two most gorgeous mussel shells I’ve ever seen…IMG_20170929_160612860_HDR

…and a quick trip to the Nubble…

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…and a stop at Dunne’s for Maine Survivor ice cream (no picture, sadly; we ate it too fast!)…

…we drove through York, where we perused this local artists’ gallery…

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Best print storage/display idea ever.

…and spotted this equestrian chic outfit (love that long plaid scarf)…

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…just outside the Wiggly Bridge Distillery tasting room, where we enjoyed a flight – yum!

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Then it was off to dinner at The Central, a recommendation from the woman staffing the tasting room. I had the only best! lobster corn chowder of my life and some really delicious beets/goat cheese/Brussels sprouts washed down with local hard cider. I was ridiculously happy to be enjoying wonderful food with just my beloved and no child. :)

Bonus: there was Maine dining-out style to be appreciated! While the apple-picking/whiskey-drinking crowd was on the younger side (late 20s to mid 30s), the women out to eat tended towards 50+ and, to a woman, looked fabulous. Perhaps it was the venue/evening time slot, but they looked a bit more polished, via jewelry and shoes, than the younger crowd, including this chic take on buffalo check paired with a cream down puffer and silver pendant:

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…and this just-right goldenrod sweater with split hem and scarf (are we noticing a pattern?) and gorgeous silvery long hair which I’m going to covet now for my future hair color. She was laughing in the most lovely way but since I try to keep people’s faces obscured you will just have to imagine her having a wonderful time:
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…and this cool black/marled color block sweater with a shirt collar peeping through at the neckline in a preppy-chic look (which sadly you can’t see; there’s only so much surreptitious outfit snapping I can do without actually stalking people):

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Although Bostonians are fun to observe as they dress for fall, my conclusion is that it’s the women of coastal NH & Maine who have fall style down to a science. I am but a mere babe trying to follow in their footsteps; here’s to the fun of trying to emulate their laidback autumnal chic!

What I Wore: Town Festival & Preaching with a Pattern

Hi all! A few what-I-wores from the past few weeks, wherein I bust out a new thrift find and accessorize an old one (and where I achieve somewhat better focus for my outfit shots). These outfits spanned the hot, then cool, then hot again end-of-summer weather we’ve been having in New England; if you’re having the same kind of weather, hopefully you’ll find them useful!

First up, my outfit for the town fair, which involved 5+ hours of walking around booths and staffing our own, getting to know people, nabbing books at the library sale, and eating Thai food and cupcakes the girls soccer team made. I needed something casual but easy to spot as I wandered the crowds being introduced and introducing myself hither and yon. Luckily a thrift find the day before at the Davis Square Goodwill hit the spot:

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Dress: Talbots, thrifted
Necklace: DIY from thrifted parts
Bracelet: Monet, thrifted
Shoes: Saltwaters, retail

I pulled an ERII and decided to dress myself in one color for visibility; after that it was a matter of adding simple accessories for a touch of detail (necklace) and for functionality (bag):

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Bag: Marco Avané, thrifted

I love the warmth and cheeriness of the coral/salmon color and its polo shirt-adjacent feeling, which fits my town’s casual vibe so well.  It’s like the Massachusetts version of this dress, which was too stiff and scratchy and formal but whose color I loved:

A photo posted by LeahLW (@thriftshopchic) on

 

Here’s a look at the collar, which was wide and casual but whose neat finishing polished things up a bit:

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A closeup on the bag for those who haven’t seen it yet:

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…and on the necklace, although this shot showcases that I need to spend a little time with the sweater stone on my new purchase to tame the micro-pills.  This shot is also rather pink in color whereas the above shots come out more on the orange side; the true hue lies somewhere in the middle:

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One sizing note for Talbots, for what it’s worth: this dress was marked a full size smaller than what I normally wear. I’m not sure if that’s due to vanity sizing at Talbots or just that their items tend to be a little roomier in fit, but it’s a great reminder that you should trust your own eye on whether something might fit rather than the size label.

PS I wore this same outfit this past Sunday for preaching in a late-September heat wave and it worked perfectly to keep me cool yet looking collected.

 

Up next: Sunday preaching. It was dumb to wear both long sleeves and leggings underneath my robes on a hot September day, but this ensemble was just right after worship was over and the robes came off:

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Dress: Land’s End, thrifted
Leggings: F21, thrifted
Wedges: Bandolino, thrifted
Scarf: no label, thrifted
Cuff: Monet, thrifted
Squinty eyes: sun reflecting off house window

Let’s get a closeup on that scarf, which I found on the same trip as the Talbots dress:

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With scarves, I don’t really know what I’m looking for until I see it; this was a clear “YES” right on the rack. It has a few pulled threads and even what looks like a burn hole smack in the middle, but the pattern disguises all of that (as does rolling it the right way). My love of blue, polka dots, and print-mixing also outweighed its imperfections; who could resist two different dot patterns AND the awesome scallop effect at the bottom?

Have you ever bought something with imperfections you knew would be hidden by placement or pattern? What do you think of my finds? Do you agree with my (no longer so) revolutionary stance that it’s okay to wear white after Labor Day, particularly if it’s HOT?

What I Wore: Pink & Wine

I don’t know if the color of this scarf is properly called “wine” but I’m going with it:

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Dress: H&M
Blazer: Cartonnier
Scarf: no label – I think it’s wool
Sandals: Clarks (retail)

Here’s a closeup.  The “wine” color is a bit intense/saturated compared to my normal wardrobe palette, but the pink/gold/orange tones in it lighten things up a bit, as does the pink jacket and the white dress:
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Mmmm, print-mixing…

I don’t do square scarves very often and this is why:WP_20170509_13_05_12_Pro

I can’t get them to stay where I want/showing the part of the pattern I want. Suggestions? Maybe I’ll just pin the sucker to my dress next time…

Here is the outfit sans blazer:
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Side view:
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Styling: I started with a dress; Tuesday = yoga day which calls for a simple one-piece to change into after 90 minutes of down dog. I wanted to warm things up with some red-based tones after having worn navy blue-heavy outfits the previous three days, and I knew the v-neck of the dress would work well as a spot to showcase a scarf; hence this particular number, with colors that make me beam!
I knew we’d have meetings in chilly parts of the building so I added a blazer, with this woman’s wide range of reds as inspiration for my color choice:

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From this post

That way I could also justify keeping my red nail polish on!

I rolled my cuffs and went to work (literally).

Thoughts: the print-mixing on this is my happy place. I really like how the pink/wine (mulberry?)/red all read together and have Costco lady above to thank for that. In hindsight I would have worn a gold necklace peeping through the scarf and my gold cuff to bring a little more polish (and pick up the gold tones in the scarf).

What are your tricks for making a scarf stay in place? What do you think of my smorgasboard of red-based hues?  Scroll down to comment.

Real French Woman Style: A Case Study

Much has been made of the inimitable French woman’s style and how chic, understated, classic, minimalist, etc. her wardrobe is.  Black features prominently in this depiction, as do basics.  You can Google myriad examples where this is the case, but from the time I’ve spent living in and visiting France (particularly not-Paris), this depiction is a pretty narrow take on “French” style.

Case in point:

The other evening my family attended a community holiday party where a French woman I’d met at the same party the year before was attending with her family.  The husband and their 4 sons wore homemade bowties while their tiny daughter was dressed exactly like Princess Charlotte but with bolder color.  Their children’s given names are gilded with old-fashioned patina – think Bénédicte, Marisol, and Thibault (not their real names, but a good idea of them). In short, they are charming and full of personality.

And the mother of this family?  She was dressed nothing at all like the “typical” French woman:

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(Items recreated below so you can get a better gander)

Let’s start with her top.  Okay, yes, a black base layer, but one that served as a neutral canvas to showcase her other two layers: a dark teal paisley blouse, peasant-ish, topped by a (faux?) fur vest and a multicolored scarf featuring blue, aquamarine, and copper threads.

On the bottom: bootcut jeans which aren’t particularly trendy at the moment (although wider flares are), and Timberland boots with wedges.  Timberland wedges, I tell you!  To top it all off, she had accessorized with a pair of big metallic drop earrings.

Her look was mostly boho, but those Timberland wedges said “street.”  Her look communicated both her unique taste and her complete confidence in wearing things others would never have put together.

(Her hair and makeup, I admit, did look typically “French” – nothing much besides black eyeliner and mascara, plus sideswept gamine bangs in front, with the rest of her hair clipped back in a way that looked like it had taken 2 seconds but was nonetheless full of unstudied elegance.  Am I waxing overly poetic?)

Since the photo is partial, I did some googling to bring you similar (and in the case of the boots and earrings exact) pieces so you can marinate on this combination yourself:

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Honestly, her funky mashup looked more “French,” according to French women I’ve known, than most things I’ve seen in the pages of Vogue.

To wit – here are style snapshots of several French women I know well:

One has a daughter living in America and has a soft spot for her Ralph Lauren navy sweater with the American flag on it. But when a wedding is on the calendar, it’s fascinators and textured silk suits all the way.

Another is an ashram-frequenting, reincarnation-believing goat farmer, and she dresses the part: work pants and boots below, Indian-inspired prints and colors on top.

Another is basically Catherine Deneuve – same age, same coqeuttish preference for dramatic makeup and feminine dresses with flair.

Another lives in Paris but has a villa outside Toulouse and, when there, stuns in a simple caramel-colored sleeveless dress and subtle gold jewelry. (She was the inspiration for the dress in this post.)

Another few dye their hair with henna and don’t appear to pay any special attention to style.

Admittedly I have often felt uncool next to my French counterparts, but I think it has had less to do with their wearing black and moto jackets than it did with a certain confiance en soi that made them seem self-assured.  Thrifting and writing this blog have helped me hone my style to the point where I feel this confidence in my own dressing – although I’m sure I would still see a difference between an American aesthetic vs. a European one.  Something I need to spend more time on to fully articulate, but generally having to do with cleaner lines, a little more quirk, good tailoring, etc.

 

What do you think of our case study’s look?  And what’s your take on the much-touted “French woman style”?  Geographically speaking, where have you been particularly impressed by people’s style, whether it matched the stereotype or not?  Scroll down to comment!

 

Some Illustrated Styling Tips

Thinking about how I put together an outfit got me ruminating on how I add that final touch to a sartorial ensemble to make it stand out or really pull it all together.  Here’s an illustrated list of a few tricks I use to garnish the drink, as it were.  Comment to add yours!

 

Use jewelry to pick up a color or metal elsewhere in the outfit

Cuff pants for a different/more versatile length, or to give it a casual touch:

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Roll or cuff sleeves to adjust for warmth/show off a bracelet

Roll blazer cuffs once or twice to show off contrasting liner or bracelet.  You can also scrunch ’em up to similar effect

Leave hair down to use it as a contrast color to your outfit (I often wear my hair down with grey for that reason – the yellow tones help warm up the grey):
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Put hair up to highlight a neckline or earrings (or to keep it out of your way):

Part hair in a new place to freshen up a tried-and-true outfit

Untuck the back of your shirt for a casual, cool vibe

Belt your natural waist to bring some interest to a solid color dress or tunic top:
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Scrunch socks to add some volume/texture in the gap between pants hem and ankle boot

Extend cuffs past your topper and roll ’em back once to create drama and contrast between your shirt and your cardigan/blazer

Try out different scarf ties to get shawl/poncho/necklace/collar effects.

 

FYI, Caroline at UnFancy is great at demonstrating simple styling tricks like this.  Nicole of The Spirited Thrifter can teach you how to throw an arm party (she’s also great at layering necklaces which I rarely do), and Dina of Dinatokio models some excellent ringage (as well as chokers).  Susan of Une Femme d’Un Certain Age also does both necklaces and bracelets well. Janice of The Vivienne Files will help you think through coordinating jewelry without making it too matchy. Also visit Susan and Janice for scarf tips, or check out this old favorite video of 25 ways to wear a scarf featuring mindboggling visual logistics.  If you wear a headscarf or a hair wrap, get thee over to Dinatokio NOW.  I have never seen anyone style a hijab so creative-mazingly. She wears hers rather less conservatively than many people, which means a lot of her styles also work for hair/head wraps.

 

What are your favorite styling tips?  Anything new here you’d like to try?  Scroll down to comment!

 

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:

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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):

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The print mixing, it is out of control:

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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: Head Scarf with Fall Florals

This accidentally posted early so if you’ve subscribed but are now reading on the blog, you’ll notice there are a few revisions and the links are live, yay!

I’ve been looking for an excuse to wear this scarf and this weekend it finally happened: I washed my hair (with honey, don’t worry) right before church and wanted to disguise the not-properly-dried, not-yet-renourished-with-luscious-sebum look. I spent a fair amount of time scrolling through Dinatokio‘s hijab-chic IG account last week and spotted a Lebanese woman rocking a similar look at the zoo on Saturday, so I thought I’d try my hand at a similar hair-hiding style. Though obviously my motives derived much more out of vanity than modesty.

Bonus: my new cranberry/burgundy/oxblood pants got to play along!

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Mmmm, the texture on this top is simply medieval:img_4521

 

I folded the scarf in half like a triangle, then folded it in a narrow strip but left the tail (the triangle of fabric on top) out so it wouldn’t cover the part of the pattern I wanted to show off.  I tied it around my head like a giant headband, then looped the ends around my bun and tied them in a little knot, the made sure the triangle up top was tucked securely into the main band so I didn’t look like a milk maid:img_4525

Texture galore!img_4526

 

Parting your hair on the side, then pulling a bit of the longer side out gives your ‘do a little oomph:

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Yes most everything is still green here.

The champagne metallic shoes picked up the gold in my top:img_4520

A little sass for the camera:
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Top: Meadow Rue, thrifted
Pants: Style & Co., thrifted
Flats: Trotters passed on from my mother-in-law and repainted
Scarf: no tag, thrifted

I rarely do head scarves or hair wraps so this initially took a little convincing myself that it didn’t look weird in the mirror, but I ended up loving it.

What do y’all think? Do you wear scarf-like things on your head or usually sport them elsewhere? Scroll down to comment!

PS you can see some more of the scarf’s pattern here.

 

Thrifted Style in Legitimate Cold (with a Shout-out to Cold Weather Newbies)

I sometimes imagine that when I’m writing about my winter capsule wardrobe, all of you north of the Mason Dixon line are silently rolling your eyes.  “What does she know about winter down there in Georgia?!”

Well, you’d be right—these days I don’t have to think twice about real cold weather wear.  (Watch me eat my words though if we have a properly chilly winter.)  But my family lives up North and you better believe I dress appropriately when visiting the Midwest or New England.  I’ve spent far too many frozen months in both of those places not to know better.

Thus, I give you Thrifted Style for Legitimately Cold Weather, and an amusingly lip-less photo taken by The Sister:leah201512

Continue reading “Thrifted Style in Legitimate Cold (with a Shout-out to Cold Weather Newbies)”