WIW - almost neutral inspirations

This was a week of outfits inspired by my Pinterest boards. It all started last weekend when I discovered my new style crush on Sarah Pacini site:
http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....ban-prince
Here is the rest of my week: black Blondo waterproof boots came to pay almost every day because of the cold and snow.

Pic 1
VERY cold day so chunky Gap sweater was just the right thing. You can see my another Sarah Pacini inspiration in the corner - boots, leggings and chunky sweater.
I got these ponte leggings last weekend as I am looking for a more relaxed replacement for my tight Gap jeggings. They are comfortable and I wore them that day. However I am afraid they bag too much after a day of wear. Too bad, I planned to take them with me to my Europe vacation next month :-(

Pic 2
My version of almost white outfit. Winter white trousers really surprised me. I though it is hard to wear them in winter. Well I have to tell you that they get dirty much less than my white trousers in summer when I have to wash them after 1-2 wears. The winter ones I wore 3 times already and they are still clean. Of course I don't trapeze in them outside too much but still: I guess there is less dust in winter! I wore this almost white outfit on the day of Angie white trouser outfit post - we must be connected somewhere in cyberspace!

Pic 3
Another inspiration from Sarah Pacini - almost literal copycat. I find that thin turtlenecks are not easy to layer over a shirt, a thicker sweater would work much better.

Pic 4
I bought this cashmere striped sweater last weekend because I liked the cheerful orange color and high - low hem. I had this pin on my Pinterest for quite some time but nothing orange so I was happy to do the copycat now. It is a very loose interpretation though :-) I am not sure these burgundy booties are the best footwear choice here but they were the only ones I could wear in cold and snow today. I want to replicate this again with my 'putty' suede booties as indoor shoes.

As usual any comments and suggestions are welcome - and have a great weekend!

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High treason in the realm of Urban Prince!

Not a day passed since our Ruling Urban Prince Angie graciously accepted me into her domain and I think I committed a high treason to this noble kingdom.
I fell in love with almost all of those looks from Sarah Pacini site:
http://www.sarahpacini.com/en/.....all-looks/

For my excuse I must say that I was browsing for inspiration for outfits with tall boots and skinnies as I don't feel inspired towards them this season. Let me say that I found this inspiration in spades there!

I don't know how to call this style. It is too layered to fit my usual preference of "simple and strong" outfits but I am strangely drawn to these looks. Although dark and muted palette keeps it simpler that if it was a riot of colors but still... I think I would not like these layered looks if they were more colorful...)
So I tried to use them as inspiration for today's outfit. Of course I don't have anything so gorgeous in my closet and don't look as stunning and slender as this model so this is my 'poor prince' substitute.

Forgive me, noble and gentle Urban Princes for I have sinned...

...but now I have my travel practical capsule with skinnies and tall boots inspired and visualizing in my head!

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WIW - the warmest January ever!

We are enjoying the warmest and snow-less January I can remember! I did not have a chance to wear my snow boots yet at all - and this is living in SW Ontario snowbelt!
pic 1
Why is it shirts look longer in the mirror than in the picture? I liked this outfit but when I took a picture in the evening I cringed: too short! Also I think I need to hem my straight leg jeans a bit, they are too long.
Also I have really shifted away from skinnies I wore so much for the last two years: looking at this picture all I can see is how big my thighs are!
What is it with me today: nothing is right! :-(
Paige Skyline Jeans - Nordstrom
White Tahari shirt - Winners
Striped b / w sweater - Winners
Burgundy Naya booties - Nordstrom

pic 2
After debuting my new white trousers for the office party last week I dared to wear them to the office as well. The weather really cooperates for this!
White BR Monogram trousers (tapered)
Black BR t-neck
Whiet studded belt - Winners
SE python booties - Nordstrom

pic 3
I find that I don't wear my denim shirts very often but I don't know why. I even pinned a lot of outfits with them because I really like them but for some reason I don't feel very fab in them myself. Maybe I don't have the right shirts? So I am trying to make an effort and wear them more often now and see how I feel. I tried to de-bombshell the pencil skirt but was not sure if I should tuck in, semi tuck or untuck the shirt. Does this work?
Yellow Halogen skirt - Nordstrom
BR denim shirt
Grey Franco Sarto boots
Yellow and black silk scarf from Paris

pic 4
I like oversized sweaters with slouchy trousers but this one does not feel right. Maybe because it is not chunky but just long? I decided to semi-tuck it and had hard time doing it. Usually I like to semi-tuck tops which drape well or pretty fitted: I find excess of volume not really flattering otherwise. This sweater is pretty long so it was a lot to tuck so I struggled. In the end I found the way I liked the semi-tuck but I wish I used the belt here. I think this is my most minimalist outfit as I don't even wear earrings or belt here. Too boring?
Striped sweater - Gap
Slouchy trousers - Long Tall Sally
SE python booties

pic 5
I did not feel well last night so decided to dress warmer for Friday. I tried these trousers with higher booties and I like them better this way but I had to adjust hems all day because they continued to be caught on the boots tops.
Leather blazer - Danier
Fuchsia BR t-neck
Jessica slouchy trousers - Sears
MK animal print belt - Rack
Naya burgundy booties - Nordstrom

Thanks for looking and I hope you all have a great weekend!

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WIW - seeing stripes!

I felt a bit better this week about I wore compared to my previous post:
http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....style-wise
Of course it was mostly due to YLF moral support - thank you all!
It is funny but stripes seem to be the topic of this week - and quite unintentional, honest!

Pic 1
I got a new snakeskin belt from my mom. It is a of white / taupe / purplish grey color palette and it is quite different from my other belts. Here it picks trousers color and looks like low contrast with them. At first I tried my cognac boots with those trousers but then low contrast python booties won over. I hope it is not a crime to have 2 snakeskin pattern items when they are in different color palettes...
Striped navy / cream sweater - BR
Taupe striped trousers - Express
Python "Petty" booties - SE
Snakeprint belt - discount store

Pic 2
My mom had a birthday and we went to a Hungarian restaurant. At first I wanted to wear my cordi cream cropped jacket with this dress but I though it does not work play with the riding boots so I went for striped cardigan instead.
Jones New York b/w polka dot dress - Macy's
Halogen BF cardigan - Nordstrom
Blondo 'Valente' black riding boots - Nordstrom

Pic 3
Stripes again - this time "tuxedo: style! I tried these trousers with python booties as well but again low contrast won over. However I was not too happy during the day. The problem is that these trousers are on the short side and I wear them VERY dropped to add some length. I also wore black socks with those black shooties but still wanted the trousers be at least an inch longer. The small gap between the hem and shootie is not that visible in the picture but it was enough to drive me crazy, especially when walking. I think I will not wear these shooties with those trousers again - too bad because I liked the overall look.
Jessica trousers - Sears
Teal turtleneck - BR
MK leopard belt - Nordstrom Rack
Clarks black shooties

Pic 4
That night I had a company party to attend and decided to debut my new winter white trousers. I tried this outfit with all jackets I own and decided on the brown leather as I liked proportions the best: all others were too short. It is amazing hoe pictures help you to see the difference - it was much more obvious in pictures than in the mirror!
Winter white Monogram trousers (tapered by my mom) - BR
Black draped shell - AT
Brown leather blazer - Danier
Patent cherry red Me Too pumps - Nordstrom
Studded white belt and big faux pearls - Winners
Patent black and white striped clutch - local boutique

Pic 5
After all this evening partying I felt pretty tired on Friday and decided to go quite casual. I wore almost exactly the same outfit in summer but with different footwear and was prompted to wear it again by Angie's post. I decided that I like the jeans rolled up better than rolled all way down so I wore sheer knee high socks and braved that winter day (OK, just kidding, it was +8C that day :-)
Kut BF jeans - Nordstrom
Grey BF cardigan - Gap
B/w striped shirt - Suzy Shier
Studded belt - Winners
Naya burgundy booties - Nordstrom

Thank you for looking and have a great Sunday!

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My 2013 did not start that well style-wise...

I think it happened again: I feel uninspired dressing in the mornings! I even tried to use inspiration pictures from my Pinterest last week and look at the dismal results!
I almost decided to skip posting WIW from the last week because I felt they were so 'meh' but then decided to do it anyway just to be honest.

pic 1- I liked that Polyvore on black and cognac and decided to give it a try. It may not have been a total disaster but I liked my outfit much less than the inspiration. Maybe it is because the blazer is not cognac but rather camel and it is not a strong enough color for black?

pic 2 - My inspiration was a silhouette rather than color palette in this case and I don't think it works as well as on Karla. Maybe because her trousers are higher waisted and wider-legged? Or maybe because I can never achieve that " no shoe: effect in my trousers because I have big feet and don't wear sky high heels so quite a bit of my shoes is visible even though my trousers are perfectly PPL?

pic 3 - if the first 2 outfits just did not feel as fab as I thought they would this one was a total disaster. I cannot believe I left house like this! Funny thing is that I tried this one on a night before and liked it but it looks awful in pictures! I really have hard time to wear this cropped blazer now, even with dresses. I thought it looks similar to the one in my inspiration picture but now I can see that length is very different. Mine is really cropped above my waist and I think it just looks silly on me. I think I will give it a couple of more tries with dresses and skirts and if it still does not feel fab we would need to part the ways. It was was my first NAS purchase...maybe a mistake? I am also not sure about black shooties here, they may be another reason I feel "off'...

pic 4 is from today. No inspiration, just wanted to wear my black riding boots because of the weather and the rest followed. I am wearing black leggings with this dress - it is way too short for tights. Again - maybe not a complete disaster but I did not feel that fab.

Now what is going on with me? Maybe I got out of practice over the holidays, which I spent mostly at home in casual clothes? Or is it deeper than this and I really have a style crisis?
Sorry, I did not mean to whine :-( Any thoughts, observations and insights are very much appreciated!

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Reminicense on style lessons of 2012

Angie's amazing post on favorite 2012 outfits
http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....replies=85
was fun to browse through and look at all these outfit gems.
However this thread has also made me to go through my 2012 photo archives and analyze which outfits really stand out for me among the rest of them.
It proved to be an incredibly useful exercise as I have made a couple of discoveries along the way:

1. Surprisingly almost half of them are from a warm season- summer and early fall. Historically it would be my less favorite season to dress, time when I feel less inspired but this year was different. I think this is because I have added several wardrobe items which were fun to dress with: yellow / cream oxfords, nude cage sandals, white wide leg trousers, BF jeans, white long blazer - they made my summer dressing so much fun! Note to myself: careful addition of a few trendy and fun items really perks my wardrobe and makes it fun to play in it. I don't need a lot of them for a new season but they really have to be well thought through.

2. I still wear skinny jeans and trousers but they appeal to me in lesser degree than other styles. Slouchy and looser fitting styles are my favorite now and feel the most fashion forward even if not conventionally flattering. I still enjoy wearing wide leg trousers and jeans but they are more difficult to manage in winter with rain and snow than tapered legged styles.

3. While I still wear the heck out of my 2 leather blazers I have noticed that I reach for my other shorter jackets less and less, especially with trousers. I have only 2 longer jackets - grey knit Gibson and white cotton blazer from Melanie Lyne (summer only) and I noticed they get much more wear than my others. Getting a few longer good quality blazers is one of my style goals for 2013 (NAS, I have high hopes for you!) and I resolved myself to spend more money on them than I am accustomed to.

4. 2012 was "bootie" year for me: I went from 1 pair of shooties to 5 in total including 2 pairs in animal print and one in burgundy color. They are my favorite footwear style now and I mourn the fact that I have to give them a break until the spring with all our snow :-(

5. I really embraced semi-tuck trend because I find it fun and flattering for my curves - much more so than full tuck, especially with looser fitting trousers and jeans.

6. I am really moving towards more "minimal style with big presence" if I can call it so. I like clean lines, contrast in shapes, colors and textures and strong and simple statements. I still use my jewelery but less so than before. I also found with surprise than I have a lot of neutral outfits among my favorites - I who almost did not own more thyan 5 garments in total in neutral colors prior to YLF, mostly colors. I still love my colors and wear them a lot but neutrals have a big place in my style now.

6. Last but not least: I still don't have a name for my style and have no idea what it is (no rubric, key words or other helpful exercises we had on YLF) but I definitely have a lot of fun with fashion!

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