Kamalikulture dresses and Tiganello Taupe

Thanks to Momo I nabbed two Kamalikulture dresses for the price of one from Zullily (thanks, Momo). They arrived today and here they are. 

I apologize again for the quality of these photos. I see I have cut off my feet and the angle is odd. Also, it is dark and dank again today so the light is poor. 

1. Sleeveless bottle bottom dress. This one feels really nice on and DH loved it. It is quite body con, however, and a little bit dressier than I expected because of the ruching detail. (Sorry, I didn't get side and back photos of this one.) 

2. Trying to casualize with denim jacket and flats. Does that work? 

3. Trying to "falllify" with vintage black jacket and boots. Is that okay? 

4. The turtleneck. This one is, if possible, even more body con, and I wish I had a bigger size. However, this was the only size available and it's not returnable as far as I know. So I will make do. 

5. Trying to show how body con. Eeeps! 

6. back view. 

7/8. Trying to casualize it with denim. Does this take the va-va voom out? Va va voom is not my thing. 

9/10: The new "mushroom" Tiganello shopper that I found at Winner's when I went in search of athletic socks. I figured this would be a useful colour for me to have, and it's a useful size and shape for me. Laptop fits inside it. I don't consider this "the" bag I have been searching for, but I do think it will earn its reasonable CPW. 

Would love your thoughts. Are these two dresses too body con to wear? Fortunately they are super stretchy, so body con or not, they are super comfortable, and would be great travelling dresses, something I frequently need. 

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Help me pick my fall topper (s)

This season, I am passing along 3 fall/ winter blazers. These were all purchased on consignment early in my YLF days and I am ready to "trade up" to something a bit more current. 

I've noticed that in the past few seasons I have tended to buy one fun, trendy, or "statement" like jacket that I wear to bits for one season and then pass along. Last fall it was my $20 H&M knit fuchsia shrunken jacket with zip pockets.

I still have that one, but it's looking a bit worse for wear. It did alert me to the brilliance of a knit jacket for my lifestyle, however! Also to the value of a bright jacket. 

In the spring it was my Zara floral jacket. I loved the cut of that one and found it easy to wear. 

Now I'm canvassing for ideas for a fun fall jacket. I would love to be able to wear this with jeans, trousers, and skirts/ dresses -- but I know that's a tall order so it isn't an absolute requirement. 

It should have something fun and interesting about it. Colour, pattern, shape -- or some combination. 

A couple I've been looking at: 

Club Monaco Autumn Jacquard. Technically a sweater (and I note they do not show this item open -- which gives me pause -- but looks like fun and fits my colour palette. 

J. Crew Maple Tweed.   The jackets that I'm passing along are all tweeds and I would not have anything of this type in my wardrobe. If I purchased this one I would not pass it on in one year (I hope!) 

I would ALSO, ideally, like to purchase a higher quality jacket (preferably as part of a suit) and will take suggestions for that as well, but I fear it may be some time before I'll be able to get somewhere to try it on. What I really want is a Theory Lanai but Angie advises me it won't work so well on my body type...grrrr.

Do either of these items look like good bets for my style and closet, would they move me forward vs. backward, has anyone seen IRL? Or have you seen something you think might work in the alternative? 

Thanks for your thougths! 

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Refined Darks -- from Late Summer to Winter

Angie's refined casual MOTG ensemble hit the mark for many of us yesterday. Certainly for me! I was excited because I have many options for a dark blue, black, grey, and white capsule. I thought it might be fun to show how this formula could take me right from late summer into winter. Shopped my closet for the pieces and here are some of my results. 

I was spoiled for choice here. I could have subbed in my navy silk shirt, a denim shirt, denim jacket, plain jeans, the VC tube skirt in navy...you get the idea. But I decided to make it a bit more stringent on myself. Each outfit therefore includes a knit (sweater or dress) and/ or denim (skirt or pants..mine are not actually denim but are cut like jeans). Plus various toppers. This was to keep it more casual and to stay as true as I could to Angie's vision. 

I apologize for the poor light. It had to be artificial today because it is very dark here. 

Moving from late summer into November, here are my outfits! I'll do some explaining below. 

By the way, suggestions welcome! 

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September Casual Capsule: Take 2

My first experiment with Angie's casual capsule was a bit of bust in my own estimation, at least. Sure, some of the outfits were okay, but I realized afterwards that even those I liked might not get a lot of wear, because while I'd tried to take the possible weather conditions into account, I'd forgotten that all important word "casual" and instead tried to create a sort of all-purpose capsule that didn't really serve any of my purposes particularly well. 

Take 2. This time, I focused more strictly on a set of clothes that I would wear on my work-at-home days. Tasks on these days include sitting at the computer, light household stuff (but not gardening or anything super dirty), and the occasional run out to the grocery store, bank, etc. If it's anything more exciting than that, I generally step things up to "smart casual." 

Without further ado, here it is. My goal is to wear this...actually wear it...through the month of September on my work-at-home days. I may not begin immediately. That depends a bit on heat; I'm still in shorts and lighter tops for now. But as soon as we start getting slightly cooler days I will begin, and continue until temps are too cool for this type of outfit. Afterwards, I'll report on the experience. 

The clothing: 

Bottoms: Old skinnies rolled into clams; white jeans; Ann Taylor leopard print pants. 

Tops: Denim shirt, orchid button down, striped short sleeve fitted top, sleeveless black turtleneck, taupe linen sweater, ivory GAP mesh sleeved sweater. 

Toppers: Striped Breton sweater, fuschia knit jacket. Also, denim shirt, linen sweater.

Accessories: I gave myself extra shoes and belts here -- white Cons, sandals, black pointy toed flats, Report booties; leopard belt, white belt, reversible snake print/ black belt. Plus scarf. And a navy tank top for layering. 

I'm not showing every combination, but you get the drift. 

A few observations:

  • There is nothing new here. Every item is one to many seasons old. 
  • It doesn't feel particularly autumnal (esp. the white outfits), but this is what's in the closet. 
  • This is almost identical to my China trip capsule. I wore that capsule for most of October last year in (warmer) China. 
  • The Ann Taylor pants were actually in my to-donate pile because they are annoying to wear with some footwear -- a bit short for me, they catch on shoes. But they are okay with the flats and Reports, a fun pattern, and perfect weight for the interim September weather. So I will further decrease their CPW by wearing them! 

I predict that I will be comfortable enough in this capsule but I won't feel excited by it. 

Note that I also have lots of engagements and events in September. I'll have a separate capsule for those because this casual set of clothes won't work then. 

And if anybody knows where I can get a pair of taupe jeans, please let me know.   :-) 

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