Ex-blonde, out of isolation

Amazing to think, I bought these booties in 2018, after my hair turned silver. Taupe doesn't bookend my hair any more but grey footwear can be difficult to find and surprisingly difficult to work with, when you do find it! The various greys don't always befriend each other easily.  But I will. happily mix taupe with the few other browns in my closet (even warm ones, like this cognac belt) and it serves as "my" version of an earth tone. 

The pointed toe western-ish boot does not feel current to me but I still like it. So there you go. 

These BF jeans have not yet been hemmed. I see my cuffing job is not very good. Trying to decide how short to make them.

Nothing fancy about the outfit, just running to pick up our veggies for the weekend at the farm.

As usual, the lighting and colours are awful here. Another atmospheric river, so good rainwear is a must! The boots are waterproof too! 

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30 Comments

  • Helena replied 1 year ago

    This looks fabulous Suz ... The boots look great and the whole thing has your signature polish and style. Glad to hear you're up and about!! Hope you're still finding time to rest as much as you need to! YLF!

  • Firecracker (Sharan) replied 1 year ago

    Looking super fab! I like the booties with the scarf. And aren't western-style boots trending again anyway? So your taste is back in style?
    Glad to hear you're out and about again.

  • BlueJay replied 1 year ago

    Lovely outfit. Glad you're out of isolation. I know what you mean about shades of grey not matching! I have lots of grey things and they don't always go well together!

  • Katerina replied 1 year ago

    I am glad you are feeling better, Suz!
    You look smashing, love the jeans in particular. It is a very well put together outfit. The boots look classic to me.

  • Angie replied 1 year ago

    GLAD you feel better.

    I see a good cuffing job on my screen!

    I'm with Katerina and Sharan. The boots are a classic, and they work well with your scarf, which in turn works well with your silver hair! LOVE you in white :)

  • Dee replied 1 year ago

    Oh that’s my kind of outfit, you look great. Love that white coat, it really pops. Glad to hear that you’re out and about again.

  • Sally replied 1 year ago

    You look very swish but cool and practical.  I like everything about the outfit. 

  • Indigoprint replied 1 year ago

    So good to know you are on the mend...looking FAB!!
    So let's talk about book-ending..I tend to be a generalist so I may over generalize in thinking light hair light shoes, dark hair dark shoes...what additional options are there consider?

  • Karie replied 1 year ago

    Another lovely outfit. Beautiful rain coat too!

  • rachylou replied 1 year ago

    I was thinking that the turned up cuffs kinda gives a bookend effect… a bit of light colour…

  • Cee replied 1 year ago

    Super mic' drop !

  • CarolS replied 1 year ago

    Looking just fab, Suz -- and gosh I love those jeans on you. Per. Fec. Tion.

  • Suz replied 1 year ago

    Cee, LOL! 

    Rachy, I was thinking the same thing! They are faded on that side so a bit of a bookender/ connector to the coat and hair and lighter parts of the scarf. I don't usually cuff because, short legs, but here it felt right. (Plus, the pants are too long, LOL!) 

    Karie, this coat was my Christmas present to myself last year. A good purchase. 

    Indigoprint, if you search the archives of the blog and/or the forum, you will find LOTS of conversations about bookending, for and against, and bookending with hair or other wardrobe items. I think in general, you're right -- a dark haired person can bookend with dark footwear, a light haired person with light, but if you want to get really specific:

    Blondes with taupe or tan or buff or cream or (for platinum blondes) white, or yellow or gold or maybe rose gold. Depends on the type of blonde, of course. Leopard print can also work. 

    Brunettes with chocolate brown or tan or cognac or taupe or mid-brown or maybe burgundy -- again, depends on the tones and highlights. Leopard print can also work. 

    Redheads with burgundy, red, cognac (magic!), rose gold. Leopard print again...at least some leopards...

    Black haired people with, well, black! 

    Grey and silver haired people: silver, pewter, grey, black & white pattern, white (depending on how light the silver), black (depending on how dark). I have a pair of snakeskin booties that make a good bookend to my hair. 

    White haired people: white, cream, ivory. 

    Bald people: who the heck knows? With their hats? 

    Does that make sense? 

    Katerina, nice to see you again! 

    Thanks for the kind words, all. I love these Emerson jeans. So comfy. 

    A few of my current and past bookending choices while silver-haired....

  • Runcarla replied 1 year ago

    Lots of articles about western boots trending.  This one quite recent:  https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashio.....oots-trend


    I’m thinking of bypassing the whole shoes/hair bookending thing and picking colourful shoes!  

  • Suz replied 1 year ago

    Carla, thanks for the link! I think maybe the short bootie makes it less current....the trend is for "real looking" cowboy boots. That was true in the 90s as well. 

    Colourful shoes are wonderful -- I especially love them in summer, although to my mind there has been a dearth of them in recent seasons around here, at least. But I would love always to have one pair of red shoes per season (right now, I have red plaid boots for fall/ winter) and maybe another bright. 

    Speaking of brights and cowboy boots... in the 90s, I  had a pair of teal cowboy boots in the 90s. :) 

  • Indigoprint replied 1 year ago

    Thank you Suz... since I am relatively new for posting/access I appreciate your thoughtful response. I guess I am transitioning from dark blonde to grey...so am on a learning curve.

  • Suz replied 1 year ago

    Indigoprint, I really loved taupe as a dark blond...and also leopard because it picked up different tones of the blonde. 

    It's been fun transitioning to silver, pewter, and grey....when I can find those! It's not a great period for grey footwear just now but the cooler tones will swing back in again eventually, and it's a little easier to find metallics than plain greys at the moment, although there are some grey sneakers around and sometimes oxfords. Grey can be surprisingly tricky, though, as I mentioned above. The undertones vary so much. 

  • Jessikams replied 1 year ago

    Glad to see you up and out! My ooor hubby is down with it now so we are isolating at home. I am already tired of sleeping on the couch but we have more days to go…

    Nice outfit too. We’re raining a lot here so my outfits really get lazyyyyy!

  • kkards replied 1 year ago

    Nodding along with Runcarla 
    YLF, but more importantly glad that you are feeling better 

  • Star replied 1 year ago

    Gosh, you look fab!  Glad you feeling better.

  • JP replied 1 year ago

    You look fab, I love your comfy and chic outfits. When I was in the Netherlands this past summer I saw a lot of western booties (short) in the stores, more than I see here in southern CA.

  • Minaminu replied 1 year ago

    fab as always and glad that you had a quick recovery! Thanks for the reminder on the bookends, my hair is now showing some silver accents and it may be a good idea to review how I do my book endings!

  • Jaime replied 1 year ago

    Excellent outfit - I like the cuffing and the belt really adds a lot here. I think those shoes are plenty current. I listen to and appreciate what "they" all say, but will do not get on board with hyper specific rules. Western style booties are always in in my book!

  • Jenni NZ replied 1 year ago

    You look great Suz, the scarf really ties everything together.
    I like “bookending” with my clothes just as much as my hair- it does mean buying a lot of shoe colours though!
    So glad you are feeling better.

  • replied 1 year ago

    Yay to being out of isolation! Love the outfit and yes to Western boots trending. I thought Angie posted that in Trends in the last couple years.

  • Irina replied 1 year ago

    Glad to see you out! :)
    Another lovely outfit. Your white jacket is awesome and looks so perfect on you. 

    My only pair of grey shoes is an extremely comfortable suede sneakers and I find it difficult to style, despite my attempts with grey patterned scarves and a grey bag. I finally realized that the issue is that a shade of grey is to light. 

  • nemosmom replied 1 year ago

    Glad you are feeling better, and I love these boots - trending or not.  I envy how fab that white jacket is on you.

  • Kate replied 1 year ago

    Gray is tricky. As a blonde that is going increasingly silver, I'm finding that gray and silver shoes don't really bookend or flatter my skin and hair very well, but old gold and silver gilt do. It's a real learning curve!

  • Suz replied 1 year ago

    Kate, sometimes that pale gold they call "platinum" used to work for me when my hair was changing...

  • RobinF replied 1 year ago

    This looks great! Love the slouchy jeans and the light raincoat would be so nice on a gloomy day!

    I'm with you on getting grays to match but sometimes taupes/tans are hard for me too. I really need to relax my matchy gene!

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