Aida ~

This morning Angie posted a lovely outfit from Anthroplogie that pairs blush, teal, and cognac. Couldn't wait to give it a go, even though this is a little bit warm for today with the jacket on -- but I finally picked up a pair of cognac booties this past Saturday during the Seattle meetup and am pumped! I know the exaggerated flower-pot effect won't be for everyone.

My version turned out much simpler since it's composed of solid colored pieces which causes it to lose a bit of the graphic integrity of inspiration. That bums me out a little, but it still turned out nice and I'm happy wearing it today because of the pretty colors. Plus since I'm still super into wearing patterned stuff being in all solid shades feels weird. So of course I just had to add the patterned clutch in. Thanks for the inspiration Angie, and a toothy grin for you ^^

   Newer: boots, sunnies
   Older: sweater, shorts, jacket, clutch

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

I really enjoyed participating in Diane's Seasons Challenge, and especially enjoyed all the outfits everyone came up with. It's always amazing to see how many different interpretations come out of the same images. I'm mainly posting this for easy future reference for myself, but I do have a few thoughts that came up written at the end.

09.14 : red frosted leaves
  Newer: sunnies
  Older: blazer, tee, jeans, sneakers, belt, clutch, earrings

09.15 : red poppies
  Newer: jeans, sunnies
  Older: sweater, booties, clutch, earrings

09.16 : tall snowy trees
  Newer: blazer, jeans, sunnies
  Older: blouse, pumps, clutch, earrings

09.17 : drinking pheasant
  Newer: cardigan
  Older: blouse, shorts, tights, boots, clutch, earrings, sunnies

09.18 : creamy mushrooms
  Newer: dress, tights
  Older: cardigan, boots, clutch, earrings, sunnies

Thoughts:

• I spent a little extra time with each outfit making sure that they jive with my style goals for the upcoming season, which are a little shifted from where I've been in the past, as opposed to simply putting together pieces that reflect each image. Very happy that I was able to be disciplined enough to do so, and very happy with how they all turned out.
• The bulk of the items used were older pieces and I felt perfectly happy with these outfits. A little surprising as I've been really hankering to add some new trends to my wardrobe. I still plan to do this. However...
• I normally go for "new" in bottoms but here it was a 50-50 split tophalf-bottomhalf, so I might need to spread any newness across more categories in my wardrobe. Not sure, will have to mull further on this.
• It was fun experimenting with incorporating "More", which is one of my current style goals, and I now have some ideas about how I want to approach it going forward.
• I like the idea of bringing a little more of my spring/summer boho side to my fall/winter style.

Thanks again to Diane for starting and organizing, and to everyone who participated and made it such fun ^^

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

For the fifth day of the challenge, I chose the creamy mushrooms (#3).

[Challenge info and guidelines posted here.]

The stark yet soft simplicity of this photo is what draws me in most, the column of creamy white mushrooms enveloped by rusty brown leaves/needles. My first thought was to simply emulate that with a column of white and a brown topper but, really, I like these challenges best when used as catalyst to put together something I might not have otherwise. And that first outfit that came to mind sounded like something I'd do anyway (and will probably wear soon!). So after a little pondering I tweaked the components of the outfit to have the same sort of feel, white enveloped by brown, but with pieces I hadn't ever considered wearing together.

This car coat cardigan is a vintage piece from the late 60s/early 70s, and might be the wardrobe piece I've had the longest (15+ years). The nubby texture has an earthy feel, though certainly softer than pine needles. My column of white is less stark and less continuous than the inspiration photo -- the dress has an all-over print, and I'm using a little artistic license to count my pale skin and nude tall boots as "white". Combined, though, they feel just as soft and creamy. Added some textured nude hose in a pattern that feels vaguely mycological, and pinned my hair under to give it a mushroom cap shape. Finished with a matte mauvy-orange lipstick, little gold spike studs, and the leo clutch because that seemed to be the order of the week ;) Extra heavy mascara and retro sunnies to play into the mod vibe, just for fun. (And of course the soft gold nails, shown yesterday.)

Really happy with how it turned out (and although it photographed OK, this outfit feels prettier in person). Probably a little softer than proper mod but that feels more me anyway. Also tickled that this little hair-do which I enjoyed wearing over summer works with my new cut; hadn't done it asymmetrical like this before but love how it looks.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

For the fourth day of the challenge, I chose the drinking pheasant (#4).

[Challenge info and guidelines posted here.]

Initially I was drawn to the idea of reflection; I'd planned on doing a mirrored plaid outfit (plaid on top, plaid on bottom), but when I put the outfit on it felt too wintery so I'll shelf that idea and return to it later in the season. Instead I looked at the mix of color and pattern, and played with the idea of layered textures to represent the bird's dense feathers.

While I don't wear a lot of brown I do enjoy wearing soft muted shades particularly with cream and/or rust. I didn't focus too heavily on representing the tones faithfully, rather went for a similar overall "color feel". Also painted my nails a delicate gold (#3). It's actually sheer with little gold flecks, so at some angles/in some lights it just looks like plain shiny nails while at other angles/in other lights it's a very glittery soft gold.

For pattern I chose a peacock feather print blouse, textured tights that evoke feathers or an extremely simplified bird silhouette, and added my leo clutch as a nod to the somewhat dotty pattern on the pheasant's back.

As for texture, that ended up being my favorite part -- Every piece in this outfit has a different texture: the blouse is a sheer silk, cardigan a fine-yet-meshy knit, shorts are a soft woven tencel, boots a ruched faux leather; the clutch is pony hair, earrings hammered metal, sunnies are resin, and of course the tights are an open-weave crochet knit. (Whew!) Not sure if I've managed to put together quite so many different textures in a single outfit before, even one as heavily layered as this, but I really like the depth it creates. (And back to crazy 80s hair, yay!)

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

For the third day of the challenge, I chose the tall snowy trees (#3).

[Challenge info and guidelines posted here.]

The black and white was an obvious choice here, but I actually found the shapes of this image most inspiring -- tall dark trees blanketed with snow, branches overlapping as they reach out.

To mimic the somewhat chaotic "pattern" the branches create I chose a mixed-plaid silky blouse which I buttoned to-the-top and left untucked for maximum vertical integrity. New-to-me waxed black skinnies (thanks Una!) to mimic the dark trunks, and white pumps for the heaps of white snow on the ground. I also added my long white blazer as a nod to the snow on the trees themselves, though I'm spending most of the day with it off. However I'm particularly glad to have it as I had an unexpected meeting today! Styled my hair more wavy as a nod to the stillness/life-on-hold the photo evokes (the fully bouncy curls didn't feel quite right for it, though I prefer that look to this). And accessorized with long gold earrings for a little extra vertical element and peachy-nude lipstick for its muted simplicity.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

For the second day of the challenge, I chose the red poppies (#3).

[Challenge info and guidelines posted here.]

This was an extra casual day -- mostly at home doing chores, watching tv, and also a quick bite out. My initial thought was to do a column of gray (since I don't really wear olive) with a red chunky knit hat to mimic the vibrant color of the flowers atop the tall muted stems. But after scouring the house I couldn't find my hat! We recently re-did our closet and I still don't have everything sorted and put away, so hopefully it'll turn up as I finish with that. So I shortened the gray column to just boots/jeans and instead of the hat chose a vibrant red sweater. Long silver earrings for a little added vertical integrity, and leo clutch because I just liked how it looked :) Simple and easy peasy!

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome.

Hi ladies! I know it's been a while since I posted any outfits -- still getting dressed, don't worry -- so I thought I'd take the opportunity to play along with Diane's Seasons Challenge (and introduce you all to my new 80s metalhead hair ^^). For the first day I chose the frosted red leaves (#3, left). Lots of inspirational bits from the image for me, but particularly the colors, texture, and crisp feel.

[Challenge info and guidelines posted here.]

I was most drawn to the frosted edges of the leaves, the way the rich red leaves were encapsulated by the crisp white frost. I was able to come up with a few combinations that emulated it more faithfully, but the outfits didn't quite feel right for my current style. So I reversed the colors to white surrounded by red (#3, right) which feels much better. Chose my blush palm-leaf printed tee (a more literal nod to the leaves) and white baggy skinnies for the "central" white element, with red waiter-point blazer and sneakers for the "surrounding" red element.

Tucked and belted for crispness (well, as crisp as one can be in an oversized linen tee and baggy skinnies ;) ), along with tucking the sneaker laces although I did leave just the ends of the laces out as nod to the leaves' pointy edges. White perforated belt and hoops for added sportiness to go with the sneaks. Taupe clutch and rose accents (watch, sunnies) to pick up on the teeny bits of brown in the original image.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!