Aida ~

I'm not doing the full blogger challenge week, but here are my two outfits for the challenge from two of our own lovely YLF ladies! I highly enjoyed coming up with both outfits ^^ Both worn to work.

#1 - Inspired by CocoLion's style. I couldn't find an actual recent outfit that this was based on, but I have always liked how Denise wears longer almost-tunic length drapey tops over skinnies with awesome heels (perhaps this was more last season?). I think this cardigan has been breathed new life as a long drapey sweater; I quite like this silhouette even though it's incredibly waist surrendering, and don't really wear it often. Bonus: hubby liked it!

#2 - Copycat of this outfit of Annagybe's. I knew when I first saw it that I wanted to copy, but it proved harder than I expected! I don't wear blue skinnies nor have a black cardigan, so I swapped to black skinnies to cover both bases. And no chokers, so I opted for a bright red lip instead. I really like how soft Anna's outfit is which is lost in my version, so I am definitely going to try again in the future with a cardigan. (Also, my hair is extra crazy today which I felt was especially good timing with the messy tuck ^^)

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

A rare dressy outfit! This monday, hubby and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary with a lovely dinner at the Pink Door down in Seattle. We had a great time! <3

After my recent realization that I like to veer more bombshell for evening/event attire, I pulled out this vintage dress which hasn't gotten much wear (except for the YLF birthday video!). Plus my husband prefers dresses/skirts to anything else whether dressy or not, so I figured the least I could do was look appealing on our anniversary ;) It was COLD and wet, so I added sheer black hose; I'm not super thrilled with the hose though, and I think if it had a little sparkle, or bits of lace detail, or SOMEthing festive I'd like that much more. And lastly I chose a pair of new flats that my sis and I both bought (rarity!) this past weekend, as hubby prefers flats to heels and I did enjoy how the flats change up the vibe of the dress a bit. Oh, lastly lastly some looong dangly pearl chandelier earrings that were a gift from him a few years back + a bold red lip.

Bonus photo of my dashing husband! He wore a white bespoke button-up, thin navy tie, slim dark jeans, and gray bowling shoes; also had a navy v-neck cashmere sweater for the cold. Pretty typical outfit for him, though the white shirt and tie are event only.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

Hi ladies! My husband bought himself these fabulous All Saints trousers which ended up laughably small for him, so this morning he suggested I try them before sending them back... And I kind of really love them, am I crazy on this? They are slouchy without a belt/worn low on my hips (#1), and just a little baggy when pulled up higher and belted (#2).

The back view looks great to me but there is excess fabric in front since these are, after all, men's trousers, especially when worn low on my hips. I tried to emulate how it looks while in stride which is when it's most obvious (#3), though I was surprised to see that the excess looked much more severe in person than on camera (I'm half squatting in the far right photo of #3 to really exaggerate it, as that's how it felt in person heh). I can't decide if or how much this bothers me. Is it something that is alterable? Or do I even need to worry about it? If I do keep them, at the least they will need a dart in the waistband at the back (story of my pants life), and I would also likely taper the hems a bit more so that I'm not limited to only wearing pumps; and then there is the possible alteration to remove some of the excess fabric in front if that's an issue, and not sure how expensive that type of alteration is.

I do need to decide by tomorrow morning what to do with these, and will be showing hubby tonight for his opinion. What say you ladies, keep or return? Thanks!

EDIT: mostly-styled photos here : http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....ost-774720

Since I'm a bit behind in my outfit posts I thought I'd lump a bunch of casual weekend looks from the past few weeks together! Weekend reflection: I've been working on simplifying my weekend outfits even further recently. With 99% of my life being casual and since I essentially work from home, over the last few months I have been enjoying dividing my work outfits into "smart casual with the occasional business casual" and weekend outfits into "casual with the occasional smart casual". I don't stick to it super rigidly but it definitely helps me feel more cohesive in what I'm wearing, especially since I've also split my style preferences along too (more urban/70s glam during the week, and more boho/rugged for the weekend).

Chatty as usual, feel free to skip down to the photos :)

1. Saturday, 10.20. A day out with friends: Endurocross competition (dirt biking), dinner, drinks & darts. Needed something very casual for the enduro event, and shoes I could walk/stand around all day in. In retrospect I'd swap the trousers out for my black jeans. I hadn't road tested these new boots out and risked them for the day, luckily they turned out to be awesome. I didn't wear this very much without the jacket, but when I did I got a lot of attention from drunk Canadians enduro guys at the bar ;)
2. Sunday, 10.21. Another day with friends: breakfast, pumpkin patch, and pumpkin carving party with the traditional carving movie "Repo! The Genetic Opera" (oh yes). I knew the patch would be MUDDY, so I formed this outfit around items I care least about on the bottom half: my riding boots, and straight leg blue jeans. Puffer for warmth, because it was Just That Cold.
3. Bonus photo of my finished pumpkin, who is QUITE large. Rawr!
4. Saturday, 10.27. My sister's birthday, and she asked me to help her study for her midterms. Wanted to try olive+olive with these boots, and my favorite thing to pair with olive is black; added the sweater because I knew it'd be cold where we were studying. Perhaps a bit grungier than you guys have seen me wear, but I did do the grunge thing years ago and feel quite at home with the style (I do realize this isn't all that gritty, but what can I say I'm still just 50-50 RATE-POP ^^).
5. Monday, 10.29. Was supposed to help my sis study more, but she skipped out so I ran some errands. Jayne had commented on pairing forest green+emerald sometime back and it's been stuck in my head ever since, so I thought I'd give it a go. These cute gold slipper flats are a very belated birthday gift from my sis that I just couldn't wait to wear! I fully expect to wear them ALL the time this spring and summer. I'm quite happy with this color palette, Autumnally moody yet bright.
6. Saturday, 11.03 (daytime). Worn out to breakfast, then run some errands with hubby. I don't wear this cabled cardigan much, but I especially enjoy wearing it as a sweater and popping something bright underneath; this orange striped tee is a favorite combo. In the evening we went to a swanky steak place for my brother-in-law's birthday so I changed, will post that outfit later.
7. Sunday, 11.04. Had a friend over to watch football, so I opted for extra casual and cozy with an oversized sweater and colorful skinnies. Barely even did my hair ;) Easy peasy!

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

Finally got a dry enough day for me to wear my new sheer floral blouse purchased at the OC meetup last month. I'm not usually big on floral prints for myself, but this one has a painterly Renaissance feel to it which I just love; plus it's got ALL of "my" colors in it, and from far away it looks somewhat nebulous.

Pairing with black bottoms is the easy option, and it does look fab that way and I'll be wearing that plenty, but for today I felt like trying it with my white slouchy skinnies which I'm still enjoying for fall. Since I'm on Team High Contrast I chose my tall black boots, which also help to balance the dark top half. The bottom half's equestrian vibe made me want to button the blouse all the way up, so I did! Added my clutch because I can't seem to stop wearing it (Note To Self: get another clutch). I feel very Modern 70s in this, as is befitting of my royal title :}

What do we think of the white jeans here? Too jarring? Appropriately unexpected? Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

EDIT: I promise this blouse is a proper length! These skinnies are all baggy and drop-crotched and whatnot. Also added a detail photo that better shows the floral, the cute little gold button at the top, and my copper stud stud earrings.

I enjoyed participating in MaryK's Pinterest challenge earlier in the month (outfit #2 here), so last week I decided it would be fun to do a week's worth! Proved tougher than expected (I hate planning outfits in advance), plus the weather wasn't very cooperative. Still, I am quite happy with how these all turned out.

1. Monday; worn to run errands (I spent aaalllll day trying to find a plain white table runner + pretty decorations). Inspired by this outfit. I don't have a super oversized chunky scarf (yet!), but if I did I would want taupe or gray. Swapped the emerald to my legs, and regretted wearing the peep-toe booties instead of flat black boots like the inspiration outfit almost immediately; it was SO VERY wet! I knew the trench wouldn't be coming off, but coordinated my top anyway.
2. Tuesday; worn to work and grocery. Inspired by this outfit. This teal infinity scarf/snood was the closest thing I had that'd work for this inspiration, though certainly less cheerful than the happy mustard. I had brown accents like the inspiration initially but then swapped them to black (they looked fine, just wasn't in the mood). These tights are also more opaque in person, though they do seem to be losing their strength of opacity. Going to need to replace them!
3. Wednesday; worn to work, gym, grocery. Inspired by this outfit. I am really loving how blush softens up a very graphic black and white outfit this season! Also debated about whether these new hoops were too big, but I just love 'em and, well hey, I love big earrings (it's the 80s + Mediterranean gal in me, I guess). Added the printed scarf to keep the b&w graphic thing going for outerwear, and also swapped my normal orange/red lip for a soft pink.
4. Thursday; worn to work, gym. Inspired by this outfit; outdoor look inspired by this outfit. My only truly chunky sweater is a turtleneck, so I decided to instead use a (new) semi-cropped printed sweater as the next best thing (those big chunky cables are kind of like a print, right?). Worn over my new cobalt blouse, whose fabric I learned is much too stiff to layer over, and slouchy white skinnies (getting too slouchy?).
5. Friday; worn to work. Inspired by this outfit. An interesting mix of cool-warm colors, hopefully this works to your eyes like it does to mine :) The orange/rusty-orange color is present in the top, echoed in the boots, and of course there's gray all over the place. As an aside, I double especially liked my hair this day!
6. Bonus photo of how my Autumn table runner from Monday's crazy shopping day turned out! I ended up just going to the fabric store and making the runner myself. It's a tonal white print on a lovely silky white, with white candles and cream pumpkins. I'm very pleased with how it turned out! And, as is fitting for the week, this was also inspired by Pinterest.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!