WIW: A Very "Me" Week, Day 4

Day 4 of Angie's challenge to present a week of "very you" outfits. . .

Okay, today, no constraints: it's a day off, and I can dress as I wish. This is an outfit that is very much my day-off style. Or perhaps I should say was. . . . Lately, I've been wearing this formula of tee+cardigan+jeans less often, reaching instead for a simpler one of pullover+jeans. Part of that change has to do with the jeans I prefer wearing lately, which are high-waisted straights. I like those with shorter tops. I used to wear my trusted long cardis with skinny jeans, and I'm rarely wearing skinnies days. Today I put on a long cardigan with my mid-rise boyfriend jeans, which have also taken a back seat to the high-waisted straights lately. I always wear these with a belt, and usually the one I'm wearing today, my very favorite. I don't like the belt with my high-waisted straight jeans (I don't like the look on me, plus the belt is too long for them), and I miss wearing it!

What makes it me: Diffuse, low-to-medium contrast patterns; old stand-by formula of fun tee+cardi+jeans; a little bit of sparkle; a little bit of toughness; muted metals (rather than shiny); and olive!

Many of these are favorites, and pieces that I searched hard for: the jeans--I don't know how many boyfriends I tried on or bought before I landed on these, which are the perfect rise, fit, feel, length; the Chelsea boots are another Goldilocks find, just the right combo of refined and casual; the olive puffer and bag--this dark olive is my favorite neutral--it's a real treasure to find the color in styles that work for me.

The outfit: Mid-rise boyfriend jeans in a medium wash (Citizens of Humanity, Emerson); black, gray, sage, and cream blurry-starry-floral-like print tee (made by me); gray and cream animal print fuzzy cardigan (Free People, Out of Africa); studded brown and black belt with square burnished silver buckle (Suzi Roher); black Chelsea boots (Dune London, Peppie); olive puffer coat (Lauren Ralph Lauren); olive bag (AllSaints, Mast); muted silver half-moon earrings (J.Crew); studded narrow brown leather bracelet; cateye glasses (Entourage of 7); black aviator sunglasses (Prada).

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WIW: A Very "Me" Week, Day 3

Day 3 of Angie's challenge to present a week of "very you" outfits. . .

Again, a work day, so my constraint is to wear OSKA from head to toe, except shoes. And, because we are in the spring/summer season with our merchandise, I need to dress in spring/summer pieces, even though it is still very much winter outside.

Today's outfit feels more like "pretty much me," rather than "very me." I love the color, and I love the drapiness of these pants and top. The base outfit here has a dressier feel than I usually wear, but it does work for me because the style of the pieces have such a casual vibe. I tried the outfit with different toppers, but the denim jacket felt the most comfortable to me; it is part of the outfit that really makes this my style. I guess the only reason that I can come up with for why this outfit might not be totally me, is that it's not literally a jeans outfit.

The pieces: Purple viscose pants and top (OSKA, Eilea trousers and Aitira blouse, in iris); boxy lightweight denim jacket (OSKA, jacket Manami); silk chiffon print scarf in many shades of blue, with a hidden picture of a paraglider on it (Unbreakable Evolution, from OSKA), black half-d'Orsay flats (Free People, Royale); gray tweed-print puffer coat (OSKA); purple lightweight knit gloves (Jeanne Simmons); gray leather cross-body satchel (Olbrish, Mona); silver bicycle-chain bracelet, silver rounded-triangle hoop earrings.
P.S. I added a hat before I left the house, shown in pic 4 at the bus stop.

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WIW: A very "me" week, day 2

Today was a work day, so I dressed head-to-toe in clothing from the store where I work, OSKA Seattle (except footwear--we don't sell footwear).
So this outfit might not be entirely "me," as I might wear these items differently outside of work. I bought the jeans a while back, and I really bought them just to add to my jeans capsule. So I have worn them a lot with tops that I've made, or tops from other brands I like. My boss encouraged me to wear them to work, and I'm glad to be able to do so, since jeans are perhaps my favorite thing to wear.

Why this outfit is me: jeans!; booties with a tomboy vibe--I like shoes with some borrowed-from-the-guys elements; comfort

Why it might be a little not-me: I gravitate toward more subdued colors, and the bright plaid scarf is a departure from the more diffuse patterns I favor as well.

The outfit:
Tapered, side-zip, high-waist jeans (ISCHIKO, Wista); cotton pullover long-sleeved sweater with lower front pocket, in soft orange (ISCHIKO, Munica pullover, in kimchi); purple, orange, blue, green, turquoise, and off-white plaid slubby scarf (ISCHIKO); brown lace-up booties (Jo Ghost); gray tweed-print uffer coat (OSKA), brown and gray croc print satchel (Brahmin); purple lightweight knit gloves (Jeanne Simmons).

I'm hoping this challenge will help me recapture sense of my style. I feel I have a well-developed personal style, but it's all intuitive. I'm not good at describing it or identifying what it encompasses.

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WIW: A Very "Me" Week, Day 1

Taking up Angie's challenge to document a "Very YOU Week" of dressing, here's Day 1 for me.

On my days off, I generally wear jeans, for comfort, and a sweater, for warmth. I have a lot of t-shirts that I've made, in fun print fabrics, which I used to wear a lot with cardigans. Recently, I've gravitated toward pullover sweaters, though, and my signature self-made tees have languished. Today I really wanted to wear one of my t-shirts, and I discovered that the cardigans I like best and the t-shirts I like best do NOT go together. I couldn't come up with a combo I wanted to wear! (Dysfunctional wardrobe discovery #1!)

So I decided to wear a signature self-made tee with a pullover. I tried to expose the neck of the t-shirt a little bit, and I turned up the sleeves of the pullover to expose a few inches of the tee sleeves. Problem solved!

The outfit:
Black jeans (Levis Wedgie High Waist Straight), taupe, burgundy and black abstract rose-print long-sleeved tee (made by me); rose wool high-low hem boxy pullover (Eileen Fisher); charcoal snake-embossed sparkly oxfords (Mephisto); black trouser socks. For outdoors, added gray print puffer coat (OSKA); gray and brown croc-print bag (Brahmin); black knit gloves; and my black aviator sunglasses.

It's always a good day when the sun comes out and I can wear my sunglasses; they make me feel so cool!


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thinking of spring: my work wardrobe

I read Angie's post about Spring and Summer Trends with an eye toward the outfits I just selected for this spring/summer season at work. I work part-time at OSKA Seattle, where I am a sales associate and what OSKA calls a style coach. Each season, we are provided with some help in building a wardrobe out of the current collection; we get to choose a couple of outfits, and we can use our employee discount to round out the capsule.
The pieces I selected are the first several shown below in Finds. They are unusual colors for me, and the pants are a style I haven't embraced before--the track-pant look.
I tried them on today, combining them in some outfits with other OSKA pieces in my wardrobe.

The outfits:
1. Iris viscose top and pants together, top semi-tucked. Worn with metallic oxfords.
2. Same outfit, with lightweight denim jacket added, and worn with floral loafers.
3. The top and pants, with pearl hemp-knit asymmetric double-breasted jacket and metallic slip-on sneakers.
4. The top and pants, with long light gray open-front asymmetric cardigan, and black, white, and gray snake-print sneakers.
5-6. Same outfit as 4, but with the cardigan worn short (turned upside-down).
7. Top and pants, with blush and gray mini-stripe cardigan, worn with blush sneakers.
8. Iris viscose pants with moss asymmetrical variegated-rib knit top, worn with blush sneakers.
9. Same pants and top as 8, with lightweight denim jacket, worn with metallic slip-on sneakers.
10. Iris viscose pants, kimchi (soft orange) pullover sweater, plaid scarf, worn with metallic slip-on sneakers.
11. Pants with hems pinned up. (My left leg is pinned shorter than the right.)

I think my new work capsule is pretty firmly in the Sporty Luxe trend,
and the outfits I'm creating are perhaps just-flattering-enough, rather
than conventionally flattering. I'm thinking of shortening the pants, probably to the shorter length pinned in photo 11. What do you think?

I welcome your thoughts on the outfits I've created here, including any suggestions for other styling or footwear ideas. Thanks for looking!

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