What I Wore & How I Styled It: Steve Urkel Chic

Last week, without realizing it, I dressed like a great style icon of the 90s – Steve Urkel:

I subbed a belt for suspenders, but otherwise I had his look down: coordinating cardigan, high-waisted pants, high hems on those pants, and ankle socks:

Swiss dot cotton button down by Merona – thrifted
Wine corduroy pants by Style & Co. – thrifted
Merino wool cardigan by Talbots – thrifted
Leopard print hair belt by J. Crew – thrifted
Socks by Target – retail
Shoes by Clarks – retail

How’d I get to this fabulous combination?

First up: base pieces. I started off wanting some warm hues after a week in my travel wardrobe‘s polar palette, so I paired this button down with these pants:

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The current iteration of this shirt, you may have noticed, is a true button down instead of the former popover tunic. I swapped the tunic version (too narrow in the chest/hips) for this same brand/print in a slightly larger size. Yes, I cried a little to lose the popover cut and length, but I wanted to wear this great textured pattern more often than the constant tug-and-reposition act was inspiring me to do. Comfort over style, people – or rather, style informed by comfort.

Next: a topper. My workplace is chilly in some spots but the temp outside was supposed to hit 66 F – hey Hotlanta, I love you so much this time of year! – so I decided to add a thin cardigan I could layer/unlayer with ease. I went back and forth between the one on the left (from my spring wardrobe), which would have made for an interesting contrast in hem lengths, and the one on the right, which brought some extra punch in the pattern department:

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Hmm, the outfit on the left is basically this same outfit, translated for warmer weather.

Surprise surprise – I just couldn’t resist the contrast of two great patterns (one subtle) in related colors and chose the cable pattern one.

I buttoned the top several buttons because, left to its own devices, the top button flops around and doesn’t stay put, but I left the bottom several unbuttoned because I wanted the contrast in patterns to show through:

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Since the hem on this shirt isn’t as long as it used to be, I next had to decide whether to tuck or untuck. The relatively similar length of the button down and the cardigan answered that for me – I’d much rather have a visual contrast between hem lengths than have them line up in a way that cuts me off:

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Well, then, of course the high waist drew attention to itself and looked funny with no belt. Out came my trusty leopard belt – a print that functions like a neutral:

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A little less of a closeup:

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Last but not least, metallic bronze flats that would pick up the warm browns in the belt and the shiny gold of the cardigan buttons; and striped socks with all the constituent colors represented (a feat that makes me ridiculously happy):

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That’s a lot of sock showing.

So what do y’all think of my high-tide, pattern-mixing homage to Urkel – is it “No sweat, my pet”? Or more along the lines of “Got any cheeeeeeese”?

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Scroll down to comment!

Thrift Finds: September & October

So, these past two months were fruitful at the thrift store. In fact they were so fruitful that you’d be forgiven for thinking I no longer have an “edited”/”minimalist” closet. But – surprise! – I also gave away a fair number of things and am still at my self-defined acceptable number of hangers….except for two areas: blazers and pants.

For blazers, I’ve been looking to cross a “statement” blazer off my list, and in exchange for the two I’m trying out…

Snakeskin by Isaac Mizrahi Live!; Plaid by Merona

…I may give up my camel blazer. It goes with everything but in a way that involves a large swath of what is basically untextured tan – blah. (And we know how I feel about the necessity of texture or at the very least visual interest.) I do love the contrast lining on the camel blazer but that’s about the only interesting detail on this sucker. And and, I think the plaid being a size smaller is a better fit than the camel. ~~So I’m sitting on it but it’ll probably get donated and free up some space by the end of the month~~. <– already in the donation bag

Speaking of texture, my pants drawer is noticeably more full than last time I showed it off (left), and I blame corduroy:

The photo on the right doesn’t even include the wine cords below which are at the tailor’s. Sheesh.

These two in particular are culprits, having joined the ranks this past month:

Wine-colored cords by Style & Co.; “Scotch pine” cords by Jessica Simpson

Also joining in the pants department:

Banana Republic jeans – more on them next week. Flares, I know!

Here’s a luscious two-texture Joan Vass Studio sweater I wrote more about here and here:

Still loving this and wearing it regularly.

And new (to me) Pumas!

Also more on them later this week.

And although I just pooh-poohed camel earlier in this post, I did pick up a camel skirt I’d been looking for. I don’t think it made it to a thrift list but it’s been in the back of my mind ever since I got rid of this one – quick recap, I knew I wouldn’t be excited to wear the winter-weight skirt I donated, but I can definitely rock this cotton-based one in fall/spring/summer:

Pockets! By Merona.

Looking forward to pairing it with button downs and popovers and maybe even a turtleneck or two! Wild.

And throwing it back to a thrift list hole from spring (which was unsatisfactorily filled by this silk first attempt), a blue sheath dress by Ann Taylor:

Isn’t it lovely? I dig the color and I LOVE the neck; the neckline and the little chain detail at the waist bring some interest without making it overly showy. It also fits like a glove and is the perfect length. Can’t wait to wear it (this fall mayyyyybe? If not, definitely spring) and give you better pictures.

In the same outing I found this Virgina Hill shirt dress – after a long drought, apparently it was raining blue dresses:

Excited about the shirt dress nature of it – it’s basically a dress version of the blouse silhouette I dig. I also love the gorgeous color and the 3/4 length sleeves (my fave). The length is a little short for my work/church wardrobe. Since I don’t often wear dresses casually and work/church is 85% of my wardrobe, though, I’m going to have to find a way to wear it regularly – maybe with leggings or maybe out on dates. Thoughts?

And last but not least, by Chico’s – another spring/summer find, inspired by this top I pinned from A Pair and a Spare:

It’s a popover tunic (my fave!) and has a gorgeous Delft color palette going on. Now I just have to be patient for several months (or some surprise tropical vacation?) until it’s time to wear it.

And now, the rejects!

Mulberry stretch skirt by femme with a cute back zipper detail – love the stretch but it was too tight.

Textured blazer by… Liz Claiborne I think? Love the texture in there but you can see how big the arms were on me by the funky little pooch on the upper left arm – excess fabric is the culprit:

Faded Glory 3/4 sleeve striped Henley – loved the colors, the length, and the sleeve, but the buttons made it too casual for my work wardrobe and the pilling made it too lo-fi for my wardrobe, period. What it taught me, though, was that some tan/gold-ish stripes on cream would work well with the cords-and-blazers look I’m reveling in this fall:

Oh ps it’s kinda sheer. Or you just shouldn’t try on your shirts with a darker bra than you plan to wear it with in real life.

This was an attempt to carry the cream/tan stripe thing into another shirt, but this shirt – I can’t remember the brand – is definitely too small:

I love the short hem and gold buttons on this acrylic number from the 80s – it’s very Golden Girls, and would go great over dresses (as modeled below). Aren’t those pockets sassy? But it had a stain and was too big for me in the shoulders, so back on the rack it goes to be picked up by some deserving bridge-playing lady who needs it for a luncheon out and has better stain-lifting powers than I:

I loved this top by Pleione (a new-to-me, mid-range Nordstrom brand). It’s a neutral take on leopard, has an unusual pleat in the middle that gives it good drape and a little swing, and an open collar. It was too big for me and the drape is not my style, but I think it’d be perfect for Anna from The Anna Edit (basically this plus this):

Showing off the pleat; a straight-hanging view is on my Instagram.

Loved the print on this shirt dress, but body-hugging much?? I think I could make it work if my style was a loooot sexier:

Loved the diagonal seam on the front of this sweater by Quinn, and the color – but it was sheer and didn’t seem to be high quality, so nope:

I loved the color on this and the interesting pattern, plus the split t-shirt hem is a great detail. But it was getting a little close to a tribal motif, it hit me funny in the mid-section (pic on left) and was too tight in the chest (pic on right):

This great popover tunic by Tiny was, in fact, tiny. Love the colors, the length, and the pattern (possibly also tribal? I feel like this is a minefield since you don’t know what’s problematic until you know it is) but I am literally holding the top closed over by bosom:

My favorite kind of business shirt – popover tunic, with great buttons, color detail, and 3/4 length sleeves! – by Express, I think? (Y’all, I’m bad at getting brands on items I’m trying on!) But it was too tight in the midriff as you can tell from the telltale navel dimple shadow just below the placket – like a donut:

That’s it for this roundup. What have you thrifted/skipped lately? 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!

Mmmm, the texture on this top is simply medieval:

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:

Texture galore!

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

Yes most everything is still green here.

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

A little sass for the camera:

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.

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: Style & Co.

What I Wore & How I Styled It: Steve Urkel Chic

Thrift Finds: September & October

What I Wore: Head Scarf with Fall Florals

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

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