Sveta's Blog

I have left it for the last minute: we need to leave in 3.5 hours - but I cannot decide what to wear for New Year Eve party!
I did not want to buy anything new for these holidays even though y wardrobe is sorely lacking the sparkle. I also decided to wear a skirt or a dress - just for a change!:-)
The party is very informal in the friends' house. I can wear what I want and I want something festive and special for a special day.
I plan to use my b/w striped clutch, earrings or pearls. For shoes I have silver pumps with studded heels, red patent pumps with gold buckles and chunky heels or pointy toe bone opalescent  pumps with silver snake skin accents. 
I shopped my closet and here is what I came up with:
#1 Colorblock white/black dress and tux jacket. 
#2 a la French: leather jacket as top with flared midi skirt
#3 The same skirt with silver striped top and leather jacket
#4  The same midi skirt again with white BB shirt. I replaced teh earrings with chunky pearls here. 

Any preference? I would also appreciate your opinions which shoes you prefer with that outfit.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

I gave up on taking outfit pictures until my sons go back to school next weekend: too many remarks and my picture taking spot is usually occupied. Hopefully I will be back to regular posting in the new year.
Here are 2 outfits I did managed to take pictures of and have not posted them yet.
#1 I wore it for my small informal birthday party with friends in our house. Maybe too somber for the occasion but I thought it was fun.

#2 Trying to get some variety for my tall boots and wear them with skirts. I found that I don't like midi skirts with flat boots at all but at the knee pencils are fine.

Thanks for looking and Happy New year!!!!

I am on the team wear so this week saw my latest wardrobe editions.

pic 1
I have already posted this outfit earlier this week for a satchel frenzy but here it is again for a full week measure.
Only Mine cashmere sweater - NAS
Martin slouchy trousers - Banana Republic
Red Munro booties - NAs
Dove satchel - Danier
pic 2
Of course I wanted to use my new Danier satchel that day but we had a yoga practice in the evening so I needed a tote to carry everything to work. BUT it was a debut of my Gap cobalt moto! Love it and the only alteration I am considering now is to make sleeves zipper openings so I can cuff them if I want to. This grey sweater tunic is in its 4th season. I wore it a lot for the first 2 years with skinnies but last year it almost did not see any action as I switched from skinnies to slouchies. I think this season I am loving both so it will have a chance to come out more often.
Grey sweater tunic - Max Studio
Cobalt wool moto jacket - Gap
NYDJ ponte pants - NAS
Blondo tall boots
Danier silver tote

pic 3-4
More cobalt! I got these cobalt trousers from hem tapering and now I can wear them all winter long! It was a blistery cold day (Shannon will laugh of course that I call -20C with windchill blistery cold ) so it was bundling up. I wanted to wear my black booties here but their style just does not work for me anymore so I went with cognac ones. I made a decision to dye them after all: dark blue will work much better for me than cognac now. debut of my new black satchel too and a bonus shot of my black coat. Also mixing metals - gold of the bag and silver of the belt :-)
Cobalt wool trousers - Banana Republic
Ink boxy t-neck - Club Monaco
Vaneli cognac booties
Danier black satchel
Danier black wool coat

pic 5
Today was a sick leave from work for performing a gastroscopy :-( I wanted to be comfortable and toasty in the cold: as they use a full anesthesia it was important to be warm on the way home.
Chunky cream t-neck - Gap
Martin grey skinny trousers - Banana Republic
Born combat boots

Thank you so much for looking and have a great weekend! As usual all suggestions and comments are very much appreciated :-)

ETA: just for comparison I am attaching the pictures of those cobalt trousers before the final alteration. Pic 6 - original trouser cut from the store, pic 7 - tapered a bit to straight leg, pic 4 - tapered even more. See the difference? I am that picky about the perfect style and fit :-) 

ETAA:  I just thought how funny picture 3 is because it shows what those cobalt trousers started: the coat, the bag and the booties were all added to my wardrobe to go with those trousers! :-)

OK, this is a little cheating: I did not use any of those new birthday bags today because in the morning I still was not sure which one I want to keep so did not dare to cut the tags. However when I came home to take pictures I realized that both of them should work with my outfit better than the nude clutch I used today.
Sooo - which one you like better? :-)
(my hubby preferred the dove here and still wants me to keep both, my very own enabler!)

Only mine polka dot sweater - NAS
Martin straight leg trousers - Banana Republic
Red Munro Robyn booties - NAS
Danier "Michelle" satchels - dove and black :-)
Very old studded belt - Winners

Looking at these pictures it seems that I did not wear much color this week, mostly neutrals with white to brighten it all up.

pic 1 Navy, cream and cranberry
I already posted about the horror of getting red dye from the booties on my white trousers. I am happy to report that the dye came off completely in the wash and the trousers are saved! :-)
Navy / cream striped sweater - Banana Republic
Monogram cream trousers - Banana republic
Munro cranberry booties - NAS
Danier silver tote

pic 2 Simple Missoni
I have this Missoni for Target tunic for 2 years (thank you Jonesy) and still love to wear it with slim pants. The patterned insert is not minimal so I like to keep the rest very simple.
Missoni for Target tunic
NYDJ ponte pants - NAS
Blondo boots
Danier silver tote

pic 3 Everyday holiday cheer
Wearing red dress that day was inspired by Beth Ann's capsule post. Adding a white leather moto helped to keep me warm and happy: I like how this dress looks with white. My white / dark brown zebra belt further continues the winter white theme here. 
I have these grey boots for 4th season now. I love the color but I am afraid we need to part the ways soon. The leather inside the foot portion is worn and torn and it gave me a big blister on one of the toes. Those boots were expensive so I am very disappointed that it happened to them in 3 seasons. I am not sure if cobbler can do anything about them but I will ask: if there is nothing doing I would have to part with them :-(

Donna Morgan red dress - Nordstrom
White leather moto - Danier
Grey Franco Sarto boots
Silver tote - Danier

pic 4 Orphan blazer 
I already posted that this Gibson knit grey blazer has not become a workhorse I envisioned it to be. I am still trying to build outfits with it though but it is definitely not a piece I would reach for by default.
Gibson knit riding blazer - Nordstrom
Paige straight jeans
Brooks Brothers purple mini stripe shirt
Black Clarks booties
Red Chromia satchel - Winners

pic 5 New ink sweater in action!
I got a Tippi merino sweater from JCrew this week and now I could make a copycat of the outfit I admired for long time. Of course I don't look as good as Elena does in it but I tried :-) I did not wear a belt with those baggy trousers because the shirt did not lie well over it so the trousers tended to slide down during the day - oh well! Next time I will tuck in the shirt and wear a white belt with this outfit!

JCrew Tippi merino sweater in nk
Foxcroft white shirt - Nordstrom
Martin baggy black trousers - Banana Republic
Sam Eldeman python booties
Nude clutch from Portugal

Thanks for looking. As usual any suggestions and comments are very much appreciated!

It took a week and a half for this jacket to get here but it came today!
The color is lovely cobalt on the purple side of it (which is good for me). I still need to see it in the daylight because purple colors may look very different in the artificial light. The fabric is amazing: Italian wool blend 79% wool / 29% nylon. It feels very nice to the touch and less heavy than Ceit's ombre moto. It also does not look to have the same lint problem as fabric is very smooth to the touch. I don't have any biker style jackets in my closet (aside from a denim one which is strictly a summer piece) so it will add variety to my toppers.

So what is left to assess is the fit on me and I would like to get your help with it in case I am blinded by the points above. I have ordered Tall L.
It may have a but too much fabric on the back (my usual fit problem because I have wide shoulders and narrow back) but there is a middle seam
there so I hope it can be easily altered by my wonder mom. However I don't think it
is supposed to be a fitted silhouette, no?
The sleeves are on the longer side for me (surprise!). It would be a perfect length for the outerwear - is it too long for the indoor jacket? I never have this problem of too long sleeves so I am not sure... The zipper on the sleeves does not have an opening so I cannot really turn the cuffs up (I wish I could - maybe it can be altered too?) I can try to get L in Regular to get shorter sleeves but it will be also shorter in length and I think this length is good for me.

What about the epaulettes? Are they too much for my already broad shoulders?

pics 1,3 and 6 show it closed, the rest open.

So what do you think? Worth keeping or not? Please vote!

Our first serious snow came over the last weekend and stayed through the week. I worked from home on Monday (unlike Suz I don't really want to share my work from home outfits :-( )
This was my mostly "dressy" week - because I wore mostly dresses. As you see I was on the team "not changing the bags" this week - used my silver Danier tote every single day...
pic 1
I wore these tall boots for the first time in the snow and discovered that I did not change the worn heels in the spring - boo! Had to get them to the cobbler ASAP...
MK cobalt / black dress: it is so short I can wear it with skinnies only
NYDJ ponte pants from Angie's NAS picks: they are really great. I wore them 3-4 times already and there is no bagging!
Blondo tall boots.

pic 2
Another cold and snowy day so sweater dress feels the right fit.

GAP sweater dress
Born combat boots - NAS

pic 3 - 4
 I have this black ponte sheath dress since 2010 and still love it. The only issue is that the neckline is pretty low for me so I have either layer something under the dress if I intend to take the topper off. However I love this origami neckline so much it makes up for this issue!

Tahari black ponte sheath - Winners
Danier white moto jacket
Orhid turtleneck - Banana Republic
Purple Naya booties and purple tights

pic 5
-10C in the morning so I ditched the idea of wearing a dress I planned the night before and went with a chunky sweater and combat boots for the traction on the ice. Well, I was not really thrilled with the result. I think this outfit requires more refined booties. I will not wear it like this again! It was comfortable and warm but I cringed when I saw this picture...:-(

This was my short-er week - thanks for looking! Any comments and suggestions are very much appreciated as usual.