Quick WIW post and run!

Very quick post and run as I am off to work now and then to the airport: my vacation starts TONIGHT!!!!

This is inspired by Angie's blog post on fresh jeans. My Madewell skinnies rolled up with high-er shaft booties. Also debuting my latest Danier score - Winona jacket in dove grey.I have hard time with greys but I like this shade - hopefully it does not look too horribly on me.

Have to run - my ride for work is here.
See you in a couple of weeks!!!!

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Just have to share: dance dresses!!!

I got an email from The Bay last week that this is the final day of the sale on special occasion dresses and decided to have a look. After all with our dancing I am on the lookout to expand my dancing capsule. I especially wanted to get a long gown for our annual Christmas Gala dance. I ALWAYS wanted a long gown but before had absolutely no occasions to wear it to. Now I have plenty and at last can justify it! :-) 

I ended up buying 3 dresses - 2 long and one midi. The midi is the same style and brand as I already have in the floral pattern so I knew the fit will be good. For the long gown I will keep only one.

Two of them came today and I just have to share! Please excuse the bra exposure :-(
The colors in the picture little lighter and brighter than IRL because of the flash. The blue is nice dark navy - and it has a brooch. So on trend! :-)
The red is exactly the true red color I love and which is so hard to find. I love this dress! I was afraid that it will not have enough freedom to move for dancing but it is fine. The only thing I would need to change (if I decide to keep it) is to shorten it: it puddles on the floor on the back which looks great but deadly for dancing.
 
I am still waiting for another long dress to arrive and will share it too! :-)

Thanks for looking and sharing in my joy!!!

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At last: Friday ensemble I can wear!

I am always looking forward to Angie;s Friday ensemble posts but lately I have hard time implementing them from my closet. Either colors I don't have or styles I don't wear...
...but today is different! Graphic black and white - here I come - and because this is not a frequent case for me I wanted to link it to the blog post right away!
Everything in this outfit is old: Club Monaco silk blouse, BR cream skinnies, JCrew oxfords, Danier black satchel. Hopefully it still looks current even without any this season refreshers in the mix.
I think I can use some advice with this silk blouse. I liked the graphic feel of it when I bought it but it is almost an orphan. The reason: I have hard time layering over it. For some reason this type of collar in the contrast color just does not go with any toppers I have in my closet. Any suggestions for possible layering?

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K/R question and a couple of WIWs

Here I am again surfacing out because I need some wise YLF advice. For a quick update: the life is as crazy as ever and with only one week before my vacation AND last weekend spent in bed with a nasty virus it is even more busier now :-(

Anyway, this is what I want to ask your advice for. I have ordered these
J Renee flats and now considering if they are worth keeping. I am still assessing the comfort factor (so far so good which is a tall order for me with ballet flats). Here is the deal:

Pros:
- they are not completely flat but have 1" wedge so they are more comfortable than usual ballet flats. They also look better on my feet than real ballet flats usually do;
- mesh cutouts make them a cooler choice for summer while closed toe still keeping my feet from freezing in A/C;
- the most of my other flats are high vamp and there are times and outfits when lower vamp  is more proportional if one does not want to wear heels.

Cons:
- I am not that excited about the color - it is kind of nude for me. Do they look boring? The snake print and cutouts provide some interest though;
- I have a pair of Trotters low wedge round toe shoes (see find #2). I thought they would be very useful being neutral but I tend not to wear them as much. Mind you, they are too hot for summer and in cooler weather I prefer booties but still... they just feel meh to me I guess even though they have tweed pattern and patent wedge. On the other hand they are not staying on my feet well so this may be the deciding factor too...

I am leaving in 6 days and need to make a decision before that to keep or return. Basically my question is: do you see them playing with my style or they are "not me" in your eyes? Please help me out to make up my mind!
Bonus pictures of some outfits which feature NAS buys and a mix of old and new and both are experimental:
pic #6 - Topshop vest (NAS), midi flared skirt. That was an experiment and I thought the combination looked inetersting enough to try it out. What do you think? Actually this skirt is going into donation bag: it is too big for me and kept twisting around all day but I am curious what you think of the concept. 
pic #7-8 - BR eyelet tunic and flares. Featuring FS booties from NAS. This one was inspired by one of Angie's posts. Again - what do you think?

Thanks in advance for your help!

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For Shevia: another Topshop vest outfit with the rest of the week thrown in

Now I am really catching up with the WIW backlog - this one is for the last week. I wanted to post another Topshop vest outfit for Shevia and decided to get others as well :-)

pic #1 - for Shevia :-)
Another attempt of Topshop moto vest - this time with the white. I may be wrong but I think this color works very well with white. So far I think I found 2 ways to wear this vest - with white and with dark (black or ink / navy). I also tried it closed with my burgundy dress and I think it works too - but it is too hot for this now.
Even if dark and white are the only colors which can work with it I think it is still a winner for me (as I have a lo of dark and white  in my wardrobe). However I am going to experiment with other colors too so stay tuned! 

pic #2 
Sorry for such dark picture - by the time I got home from work and the gym it was already getting dark so I had to use a flash. This outfit is on the OTT side I think - with bright orange, leather moto and stripes. i would be interested to know what do you think.

pic #3
Hot and humid! I took the denim jacket to wear in the office but ended up not wearing it at all.

pic #4
Another hot and humid - I did not even take the topper to the office that day! This BR shirt feels very nice in the heat. Unfortunately I am not looking my best here and my hair is a disaster (cannot wait for my hair appointment next weekend!)

pic #5
This was inspired by Angie's Friday post - rust and navy -  very loosely interpreted by me :-). I don't have any rust so I decided to use the leopard loafers for the bit of cognac they have. So here we go- this is my version which I call " A bit of rust (cognac), navy and a lot of pastel blue" :-)

Thank you for looking and as usual all comments and suggestions are very much appreciated!

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WIW: more catching up - and it was cool enough to wear some NAS loot!

I am falling behind in posting my WIWs even though I was trying to take the pictures diligently for the last weeks - so here is another catch up.

This was 2 weeks ago - sitting now in the beginning of September in 30C heat with almost 100% humidity I cannot believe what I was wearing just 2 weeks ago to keep myself warm in the end of August!

pic  #1 
A lot of drape is going on here - for me anyway: drapey cross-over blouse and fluid track pants. Coated utility vest seemed to balance out this drapeness for me.

Buying these Express cropped Editor pants was a mistake - they are too baggy on me  after a half day of wear. I got them for a sudden business trip when I realized that I have not summer pants which are business casual appropriate but now I wish I went with the Columnist style...

pic #2
 I wanted to try wearing leggings again but this is the only tunic I own which is long enough for leggings in my eye. It was cool enough for this tunic so I jumped on the chance to wear leggings with it.

pic #3
Trying to wear my new summer pieces while it is still summer. This Gap peplum top does require not hot weather because the fabric is pretty think and substantial. I wore it with a pencil skirt before but tried bootcust here. These Paige Hidden Hills are barely long enough to wear with the flats so I opted for the brown loafers here as I prefer higher shoe vamp with the bootcuts. Sky blue Zara jacket was for the freeing AC in the office.

pic #4
Debut of my Topshop vest from NAS! I am playing around with it to see what can I wear it with. Here I opted for lower contrast bottoms and shoes with the vest but added a darker top - hopefully it worked. 

pic #5
This one is closer to "fails"  - I think because this Gap moto jacket is too short to wear with medium rise jeans and tucked in top - too many horizontal lines! However this top semitucked just did no feel right here either. I still like the idea of the colors together but will not wear this moto in this combination anymore. At least taking pictures help me to figure these things out :-)

Thank you for looking and as usual all comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.
Hopefully I can catch up with the last week over this long weekend and become up to date :-)

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My disappointment at Express today

I went to the mall to return the pants for my hubby to BR and I don't know how but I ended up at the Express. I wanted to check out their culottes but they were all sold out so I decided to try on the pants.
I am really warming up to cropped pants now and this is what I wanted to try. I grabbed several pairs in interesting colors and patterns. These mini check red/black pattern caught my eye as I wanted to add dark red/burgundy pants to my fall wardrobe so I grabbed them too even though they are not cropped but baby bootcut.
Well, they fitted the best from the bunch (even the front pockets stayed flat on me) and I was really smitten with the fit and pattern. They are full length but not long enough for bootcut style for me in the regular. I decided that I can make them into cropped flares of just the right length to wear with my booties.
I was so excited...but it did not last long. I decided to put them on one last time to assess the fit better and when I turned to look at the back my heart dropped!
I have attached the blown up stock picture for you to see the back - what I experienced in the dressing room is VERY evident in the stock picture as well - at least for my eye. The fit was good but the fabric was bunching into these micro-folds which were moving around the back of my legs with every movement. This was a deal-breaker for me! Too bad because everything else was perfect and these would make  cool cropped flares.

I suspect it is because the fabric was too thin and too stretchy - not a good combination. Other pants with the same elastane content did not do it but their fabric was more substantial.
Sign...I left the store with $80 still in my wallet and with a broken heart. It may seem to picky for some but I know that these folds will bug me and I will not wear the pants as much as I should.
However my visit to the store was not for nothing. I have discovered 2 things:
1.  I really want to get cropped flares in a fun color or pattern for fall and winter but they are hard to find. I am going to look into bootcut or flared full length pants and make them into cropped flares!
2. I really have some shape change as a result of a weight loss: before Editor pants from Express were my best fit and now Columnists fit much better.

Just felt like sharing this story with my YLF sisters  - nobody else in my real life can understand the "broken" heart thing over these pants! :-)

ETA: I have added a comparison of 2 Express pants from the back and I circled the folds I was referring to in the red pair. You can see some folds  / wrinkles under the butt or knees  in the camel pair but this is not what I am talking about - they are normal. See how wrinkles go on diagonal on the legs of the red? This is what I saw in the mirror too and they were moving around the legs with every my movement. None of the other pairs I tried did that at all.

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The battle of puffer coats

Yes, it is still too hot here to wear a puffer but I stumbled upon very nice packable puffers at Costco last weekend and could not pass.
I have a long and very warm LE dark purple puffer   which is great for heavy cold. However there are days when it is too warm for it but not warm  enough for wool coat - usually with wind and dampness which cuts right through the wool. So I was looking for a lighter and shorter  puffer for a while and this was a lucky find.
The brand is Andrew Marc and the price is $60 which I think is great for a light down puffer. The length is good for me and even the sleeves are passably long. The problem I have - which color?
I tried on the navy and liked it. Then I tried on the warm taupe (not sure if this is a correct name for this color) and liked it too. I could not decided and my hubby said - why don't you get both at this price?
So I ended up with 2 at home. I am not sure I want to keep both so I am calling for YLF wisdom to help me decide on the color: navy or taupe?
This is my current coat collection to give you an idea about the colors.

Also I took the pictures with my NAS buy - Top Sperry duck booties from Angie's finds. Love them! I was not sure if cream color is going to be useful for winter but I like them even with dark jeans - and they work great with white and faded blue jeans which I also wear all winter long. I am so happy I went for cream and not for black! ;-)

Thanks in advance!

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