Sveta's Blog

I worked 2 days only this week after my vacation so not many outfits to share. the weather took the turn for real cold now so it is definitely fall - bridging-into-winter clothing now :-)
pic 1.
First outing of my cobalt trousers. I decided to wear them as they are until the snow comes and then taper the legs so they would not become orphans in winter. Alas - they are too short even for low heel Petty booties for at least 0.5 inch. I think I will taper them now and this way I would be able to enjoy them all winter long.
Cobalt trousers - BR
Only Mine Polka-dot sweater - NAS
Silver tote  - Danier
SE Python booties
London Fog purple trench
Studded white belt - Winners

pic 2
Cold and rainy so I am bundling up.  I LOVE these plaid trousers, they alone kick my happiness factor off the charts. I am SOOO glad I got them!
Plaid trousers - BR
Navy hi-low t-neck - Club Monaco
Silver belt - discount store
Silver tote  - Danier
Black booties - Clarks
Red cape - Charles Gray London (NAS)

pic 3
This is what I wore to meet S(o)L(ovely)S(uz) in Toronto today.
Yellow t-neck - BR
Leather jacket - Danier
Gold belt - CK (Winners)
Nicro-check trousers - Long Tall Sally
Vince Camuto leopard slippers - NAS

Hmm, I definitely need to wear some skirts and dresses next week...:-)

Thanks for looking and as usual comments and feedback are very much appreciated!

If you remember my new cobalt trousers forced me to look into getting a new coat in a neutral color. I decided to check Zara again but this time do not bother with anything below size XL.

1. Double breasted wool coat I got this in navy. I like the style but I feel that even in XL it is cut too close under arms and in the shoulders and layering a blazer under it is not comfortable. Another bust!

2. Wraparound coat. While on vacation I saw this Angie's post and decided - what the heck, I will give it a try! I decided to get a dark grey in a hope that it will be more flattering for me than a lighter grey.
I am not sure Elegant Eclectic description fits me but I LOVE this coat! I have ordered XL and XXL and I like the bigger size much better. I like the oversized fit and especially the collar. Now I tend to lean towards streamline items in my style and this collar is not streamlined but oh boy, does it have drama! Maybe I am completely crazy but I love it. The length is also good - not the knee length but it wold be too much for this oversized style I think. 
The only thing which gives me pause is the sleeve length. Now this is my usual problem with coats that sleeves are on the short side. They are not ridiculously short but my ideal sleeve length in a coat would be 2" longer. There is maybe 1" to let down if my mom can do her magic but no more than that. I need to decide if I can live with this...
So what do you think? Did I lose my mind completely by liking this coat?

I am back from my vacation in Maryland and missed you all! My online time was very limited during our trip so not much YLF time last week.
We enjoyed our trip very much. Maryland is a small but pretty diverse state so in one week we were able to see mountains, small southern coast villages, historic Annapolis and urban Baltimore.
The trip was pretty relaxed even if it involved a fair bit of driving. My packing for the trip was pretty hectic though because I left everything for the last day :-( My most useful clothing item was a orchid pink trench - it kept me warm, dry and cheerful! (and also sporting pink for Angie)

pic 1-2 Hiking in the mountains. 
My hiking boots were not very fashionable but they were necessary on the trails. I wanted to take a white studded belt with me but in the last minute switched it to gold. Too bad because white belt would have worked much better here..:-(

pic 3-4 Exploring historic Annapolis
We spend 2 half-days in Annapolis. The first day was cooler so I wore my slouchy trousers and denim shirt with flat oxfords. The next day was much warmer and I went casual with faded BF jeans, a silk blend button down shirt and slipper flats. In pic 4 I am sampling an apple pie ice cream from Kilwin's on Janet's recommendation - yum!

pic 5-8 Frolicking on the southern coast
After Annapolis we went to explore a southern coast. I think I have never seen so many boats in one place  - I think 5 boats to 1 car at least! I wore BF jeans, striped tee, trench and hiking boots to hike on the rocky beach (pic 5), changed hiking boots to slipper flats for exploring the historic St. Mary's town (fascinating place!) and for dinner switched trench for a tuxedo blazer and shoes for red booties (pic 6 - sampling local key lime pie after dinner in a cozy cafe:-) ) We also visited a local oyster festival - I did not risk eating them raw though and went for scolded instead (pic 8)

pic 9-11 Strolling through Baltimore
Baltimore was the last stop on our trip and we really liked the city. It has 7.5 mile long waterfront promenade and it was our favorite place to stroll. You already know from Janet's post that we visited her studio and had a lunch with her next day. Actually Janet is "responsible" for us selecting Maryland for this vacation because she was very enthusiastic describing her state and its attractions to me and I just had to see it for myself!

That concludes my vacation report. It was not much in a sense of outfits really but it was fun nonetheless! :-)

I am so happy tonight! It is a weekend! It is a long weekend!! It is a beginning of my vacation!!! My last vacation was The Deck and it left me very tired. This vacation we are going AWAY!!!

Anyway back to my WIW post. I tried some new things this week and some tried and true.

pic #1 Stripes
After Angie's order to add more navy / ink color to my wardrobe I went on a rampage with very meager results. The only navy item which made it into my closet sanctuary was Gap navy striped sweater dress. I have ordered some other striped dresses including one from BR but this was a clear winner. I have never owned a sweater dress before: they were either too body con or too boxy -and usually too short. This one in Tall size and the length is perfect for me as well as the fit. I also like the fresh combination of navy with light blue rather than traditional cream or black. I was inspired by my Boston ivy fall colors to pair this navy dress with burgundy booties and tights. What do you think of my new pet?
Gap sweater dress
Naya boties
Danier silver tote

pic #2 Plaid
The debut of my new plaid trousers. Remember I was lamenting how to wear the hem of these straight trousers? I decided to to taper them 1"  to be the same width as my hubby's dress pants and I am very happy with the result: now I can wear them virtually with any heel height without committing a style faux pas! :-) Love them! 

Plaid trousers  - Banana Republic
Black t-neck - Banana Republic
Leather jacket - Danier
Silver tote - Danier
Putty suede booties - Sam Eldeman

pic #3 Leopard
This outfit was inspired by Amy with the disastrous results. I almost decided to skip posting this outfit because I was not happy with it but the rules are the rules, I post my weekly WIW and it includes all good, bad and ugly...this one was ugly.
This is my new Halogen red skirt from NAS. I sized up to get a good hip fit and as a result the waist is huge: it is a hip-sitting skirt for me. It works fine with more fitted tops and shirts but this loose fitting leopard shirt was a disaster. At first I tucked it in with a bit  of "spill over" - and it kept untuck itself which drove me crazy. Then I untucked it and tried to semi-tuck, then tried to tie the ends in front...the whole day of fiddling! I decided to ask my mom if she can take in the waist for me so it fits better and does not  twist around.

pic #4 Flares
I decided to give my denim shirt the last chance to redeem itself and asked my mom to take it in and make it fitted. It was boxy in cut but fabric was not very soft and drapey so I never felt fab wearing it. I think I like it much better fitted so it has a chance to survive the next cull. I was pretty happy with this outfit even though it was very simple. I tucked the shirt first but it kept to untuck itself because it is not very long for me and because it goes shorter on the sides. In the end i decided to semi-tuck and liked it much better. Until semi-tuck is in style it is going to be my go-to method of wearing shirts which are not very long! :-)
Denim shirt - Banana Republic.< waving to Suz>
Editors trousers - Express
Animal booties - David Tate
Nude clutch from Portugal

pic #5 Floral
I decided to wear my summer floral dress. Remember how I had problems feeling fab in this grey knit blazer? Surprisingly I liked it with this dress very much even though there is no grey in the dress pattern. Somehow the softer grey was more fitting my mood than stronger white or black jackets. I decided to wear grey wedge pumps to bokend the blazer  - do you think it works? Sorry for the "halo" behind my head: the sun was flooding the room and I tried to find a shady spot to take the pictures :-)

Floral dress - Long Tall Sally
Riding knit blazer - Gibson (Nordstrom)
Grey textured wedges - Trotters
Nude clutch from Portugal

That was my week. Now I am off to put together the travel capsule: we are leaving on Monday morning! I may be very scarce on the forum over the weekend and especially for the next week so I apologize in advance - but I will try to get my travel WIW posted when we are back!

Wish me a good weather for my trip :-) and have a great weekend. For Canadians - happy Thanksgiving!!!

One of the main reasons I was hesitant to keep those cobalt trousers was my outerwear. As it happens most of my coats and jackets are non-neutral so I was not sure I can make them work with those trousers.
So here is a little fashion show. I decided that if I have at least 2 outerwear options to wear with those trousers it is good enough.
What do you think?
1. Purple wool coat
2. Blush-tan leather trench
3. Teak leather jacket (less cognac and more yellow-brown IRL)
4.  Red-purple trench

Any of those work?

I also have red cape and cobalt wool coat but I won't wear them with those trousers.
My cream cream puffer should work I think for that dead of winter time.

Hmm, maybe I should add a black coat after all? I also have difficulty to pair my winter white trousers with most of my outerwear. I think I will do another fashion show with them to see what really works. Of course ink blue or navy would work too!

P.S. It is so strange to think that pre-YLF I have one coat and did not give a thought how does it look with everything I wear - now I am ready to agonize over this! :-)

The summer is over but still lingers so I tried to wear my summer pieces just a bit more this week before I put them away until the spring.

pic 1 Very simple almost white outfit. After I left the house I wished to change the belt from silver to gold to play better with the gold buckles on the shoes and the warm color of the tote...too late but a mental note for the next time! 
Kut BF jeans - Nordstrom
BR striped sweater
Me too red patent pumps - Nordstrom
Silver belt from the discounts store
"Monty cousin" tote from Winners

pic 2 This outfit was inspired by Angie's post from last week on bootcuts and fluid knitwear I am not sure if this mesh sweater is fluid enough for this look but I tried anyway. I only wish it was a bit shorter or the shirt was a bit longer for shirt ends to be exposed...
Foxcroft shirt - Nordstrom
Taupe mesh sweater - Madewell
Editor white trousers - Express
David Tate animal print booties
Nude clutch from Portugal

pic 3 - 4 Another take on Angie's post but with fluid fit blouse rather than knitwear. I was not sure if this black tux makes the outfit "top heavy" but looking at the pictures I think it works. Actually I think it was my favorite from this week! It may have been a faux pas to wear the same pants twice in a row  but they promised rain for the whole week starting the next day so wore them while I could!
Note that I used color repetition but not color bookending here! :-)
Pleione blouse - NAS
BR tuxedo jacket
Editor white trousers - Express
Pos Hommerson bone slingbacks
Nude clutch from Portugal

pic 5-6 Long shorts again before I store them away! I needed a topper but none of my jackets seems to work for some reason so I decided to go with BF cardi because I was running late for work. This is so unusual for me to prefer a cardigan to a jacket! I got a subtle pattern mix here with micro stripes of the cardigan and micro-check of the shorts. Some bright red and animal print to liven the black / white outfit - or was it too much?
Silk shirt - Club Monaco
Halogen striped BF cardigan - Nordstrom
Micro-check long shorts - Winners
Vince Camuto slipper flats - NAS
Chromia satchel

pic 7 This was really trying to  wear summer BF jeans with the fall in mind. I am using a color repetition between footwear and top (per Angie's recipe) but no bookending for white jeans here - another faux pas? Even if so I liked it!:-)
Purple lurex top - Reitmans
Brown leather jacket - Danier
Kut BF jeans - Nordstrom
Naya purple booties - Nordstrom
Nude clutch from Portugal

As usual any comments and suggestions are very much appreciated!
Have a nice weekend!!!

P.S. You also can get a glimpse of my new deck in some of these pictures  - still under construction but we can see the light now! :-) I spend my whole last week of vacation slaving over it (instead of a trip to Michigan) and I am tired to the bone...but we have to finish it before snow comes!