Sveta's Blog

When I saw Kimbely's outfit Inge posted this week I was immediately smitten with it. Such a pretty and soft look - the epitome of a 'soft edge"!
Happily I realized that I can create a similar soft look with items already in my closet. I wanted to do it there and then but circumstances were against it so I had to wait until today when I wore it to work.
I was able to keep the colors pretty much the same as in the inspiration outfit but the top and scarf color reversed. This faux-Burberry plaid scarf was a lucky find in The Bay from this weekend. I was under the influence of Angie's travel outfit posts admiring this new coral scarf of hers when I was crossing The Bay with some returns and happened to pass the scarf section - and there was a coral scarf which reminded me of Angie's so of course I had to stop and try it on. I liked the color but it was 100% poly - not something I would like in a summer scarf...
...and then my eye caught this blue plaid number. I was looking for the pastel blue scarf for some time now and this one seemed perfect and exactly the right shade of blue. It was 100% gauzy and lightweight cotton too and the blue color was only one on sale! Of course it  came home with me.
So this newly bought scarf was the trigger point for creating this outfit. Paired with JCrew pink mixed media tee  it was a complete reverse of Kimberly's pink scarf / blue top combo but I think it still works.
The rest was easy in my head: Gap resolution jeans (look how REALLY cropped they are on me LOL), white Zara jacket and old Franco Sarto nude cage sandals were pretty close to the inspiration outfit so this is what I went to work in today (pic 1-2)

It so happened that I was not able to take the pictures until I got home in the evening. - and then came the moment of truth - or rather two of them:
1. I don't really care for skinny jeans with shorter tops- especially from behind. Does not matter the lost weight I still have curves in places which do not look good in this combination. I also find that together with the cropped length they make my legs look short. All in all not something I want to repeat. (pic 3) From now on skinnies are only with longer tops for me!
2. The second moment of truth was related to my beloved dove grey satchel. I suddenly realized from pic 4 how saggy it looks and began to investigate. Apparently the bag I got was defective  - there is a piece missing on one side of the top part between the handles. I have checked my black bag of the same style which does not sag  - and of course it has these hard pieces on both sides!  The sag was not as obvious before but most likely became more pronounced with the wear <sob>
I am going to take this bag to Danier. Even though I bought it 1.5 years ago it is clearly defective with a missing piece. Hopefully Danier will stand behind their product and can replace it or repair it - wish me luck! 

My life is so busy now that I did not have time to post my WIW so this is a catch up post which heavy on pictures and light on words :-) Unless mentioned the outfit was worn to work.
pic #1 I wanted to wear one of Angie's ensembles here with a fitted denim jacket and a skirt but my only fitted denim jacket in white h=just did not work well with this skirt so  I went with a boxy denim jacket here.

pic #2 Another skirt + denim jacket look and again the buttoned up jacket as per Angie's post did not feel right here. Maybe the problem is that I need a better quality jacket for this look than this Old Navy one?

pic #3 Dress over jeans look. I really like this red color and would like to add more items in it to my wardrobe but it is a hard to find color fir some reason. 

pic #4 The simple look of  a white shirt and jeans. This bright yellow Gap jacket is cheering me up every time I wear it.

pic #5 I just cannot resist a graphic black and white look and here is another one. Red bag was added for fun!

pic #6 For going out with friends to an evening theater performance I kept the same jeans but changes the top and shoes. The picture is a bit dark as I took it after we returned and the light was fading -  hopefully you can see enough :-)

All outfits were a mix of new and old items - except  #2  which was from all old items.

Thank you for looking and as usual all comments and suggestions are very welcome.
Have a great week!

Angie is right  - leave no retail stone unturned! As you may remember I am building the Dance Capsule for our new hobby - ballroom dancing. I have been searching for suitable dresses and skirts in the available Canadian sources without success...
..and then last weekend I ventured into Winners and just for fun decided to look at the dress rack. Ans see what I found! This dress has the perfect skirt for dancing and stripe pattern makes it even better in motion.
The fabric is knit so it is on the casual side but it should work for summer. The knit is lightweight but substantial enough so no VPL  - another bonus! because it is lightweight it is the perfect weight for dancing because it is not hot. And did I mention that the price was the whooping $25?!
I wore it to the social dance tonight and got a compliment on it already :-) The only issue is that armholes are too low cut for me but I am going to take in the shoulder straps a bit to fix this.

Just felt like sharing this tonight - thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

This is as close as I come to what feels like a uniform dressing. Ankle length pants, fluid top and a topper for structure...I need to wear a skirt tomorrow just to break a monotony! :-)

pic 1 
I have not worn these drapey pants from BR very often yet so I wanted to wear them again before weather turns too hot. I got this swirly fluid top at Winners last year and like it a lot. I only wish both pants and top were not poly but more breathable fabric WITHOUT A CLING! I especially wished for that in the evening during the dance practice: even without a jacket it was too hot! 

pic 2
Hot and humid day so no topper. This BR shirt is so nice on the skin - a real pleasure to wear in the heat. Unfortunately these plaid KUT jeans are a bit too big in the top part so they tend to slide down without a belt: I wish I bought size 10 last year and not 12! :-(

pic 3-4
This outfit is almost all from this season buys except the bag and shoes. This is not very usual to me but sometimes it happens! I have posted about this BR lace top before and this is its first outing! Love it although I was a bit cold in it at work with the blasting AC: next time I need to layer a sleeved topper for work.
These black Express Editor cropped pants are new too: I got them a couple of weeks ago before the business trip when I realized  that my warm weather business casual capsule is seriously lacking in bottoms department. I think they are a bit too loose in the upper leg part for slim pants but at least they fit in the calves. This is my usual struggle with slim pants - calf fit! I also turned up the hems a bit to shorten them to what I think is more flattering length. What do you think? Are they JFE or not even that? I am still trying to get my head around the whole cropped pant thing...

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

I had quite a full weekend - nice but full of activities - so did not have much time for the forum. I want to post my weekly outfits but words fail me now so this is going to be a post which heavier on the pictures than on words :-)
pic 1 The weather turned to cold so I was happy to wear a trench over a sweatshirt. I kept in neutral with faded blue, grey and white. Other than Gap jeans everything else is at least 1 year old. Worn to work.

pic 2 Back to colors! I am feeling my scarves again after almost 2 years of hiatus (as you can see this week). The first wear of my new nude flats from Hush Puppies which work surprisingly well for my high volume feet and wider toe box. Other than the shoes everything else is several seasons old here. 

Worn to work.

pic 3 Still cold so another trench day (although it warmed up in the afternoon enough to ditch it). This was inspired by an older Angie's ensemble of peach, brown and navy.Other than brown loafers everything else is at least a year old. 

Worn to work.

pic 4 Saturday Social Dance Gala at our Dance club. I decided to wear my black jumpsuit once more as it is the most Gala-appropriate piece I have. Even though I wore it to a Gala in December and this is the same crowd I think it was too far back and with too many dances with other outfits between them to be safe :-) However I changed the topper from faux fur capelet to a white jacket to feel more summery and the bag from  a black beaded number to a graphic white and black clutch to match the graphic white and black outfit. Bonus pic 5 of my hubby and me dancing (you can see how totally beginners we are) :-)

Thank you for looking and as always all comments and suggestions are appreciated!

This is a variation on Angie's ensemble: the colors are reversed from black to white and flared trousers replace the culottes - but I hope it is close enough in spirit to qualify :-)
I spotted this vest in London UK a month ago when Inge and I were browsing the Banana Republic store on Regent street but it was black. I tried it on and almost fell in love with the quality of leather and the design. 

• Two zippers to make it more fitted or boxier when closed!
• Side zippers to make it easier to layer over  when closed!

Yes, it was love but there were 2 details which prompted me to leave it in the store:
- price: in pounds or in CAD it was quite expensive little piece;
- color: as I considered this to be useful in warmer months I was not inclined towards black. "If it was more reasonably priced AND white..." I said leaving the store empty handed.

When I came back home I checked the online site - and it was also available in white...however the price was still too steep for me.
Fast forward one week and this vest was gone in US in all sizes...but still present on Canadian site...I waited...and then it happened: one day sale for "best customers" with no exclusions! I closed my eyes and pressed the "order" button feeling very guilty. :-)
That was the story and this is how it ended - after several weeks of thinking the tags came off this past weekend and I wore it to work today. 
It is a lovely little piece with quality leather which is butter soft and lightweight enough for not-too-sweltering summer days. I hope our love affair  will last a long time!!!
As a bonus: I was playing with new YLF toys cataloging ALL my wardrobe after a purge this weekend and creating several capsules in my finds with custom items. Then I used the "ensemble" feature to record today's outfit. I created outfit ensembles for the whole work week - what a fun feature to play with. I want to continue doing this and only hope that Greg has enough room on the server for all these pictures :-)

An now a question. These white flared trousers were too big for me last year. My Mom took them in but they are still on the roomy side. Do you think they are good enough for one more season or is rear and side views are too ill fitting?

Wow, it is a novel! If you are still reading it you are a trooper!!!
Thanks a lot!!!!!

 

OK, they are not technically cropped, just cuffed jeans  - and on pair of culottes - but still the same rules apply, right? I was thinking of getting real cropped pants as a wildcard this season but I think I need to learn about proportions first and what makes them work.
I came to the conclusion that cropped pants are hard to pull off is you have thick ankles and heavy calves (like I do). Sure  they wold work with heels but I don't wear heels very often so they need to work with flats and low heels for me.
So what do you think of pic 1? I think the first outfit with grey skinnies is the most flattering even though the pant length is not ideal according to Angie's tips (above ankle but less than 4in). Maybe because white oxfords are lower contrast to grey jeans than brown loafers with the white jeans in the second outfit? As for the 3rd outfit I think I should have not worn a long vest with long culottes AND flat loafers together. I think the whole look is as close to frump as they come!
I also tried a whole bunch of cropped pants in the mall today and was not thrilled how they look on me at all (see the point above on the thick ankles). I did buy one pair of Express black ankle pants today for work but maybe it was a mistake...

pics 2 and 3 show other outfits I wore last week - before the weather turned to 30C basically overnight! Not a disaster but nothing special either...same old, same old...
I feel pretty discouraged with dressing lately - maybe I am in the rut but everything seems boring to me. Maybe I have lost "my touch" or maybe I am ready for a change but just don't know what should it be? Being very busy with other things from my life does not help either :-( I just packed for 4 day business trip and oh boy! I could not put things together! It was painful... loosing my touch for sure! :-(

OK, rant over, thank you for listening! :-)
Maybe I feel better tomorrow?

As a lot of us on this forum I was in love with this ensemble. Interestingly the same BR vest which was featured in his post was already on its way to me but in white. It came and I am very tempted to keep it. However as it is a pretty expensive piece (even on sale it is $250) I am thinking hard if I really can justify keeping it.
I need to do a photo session soon but for now my question is - how versatile a white moto vest would be (because this is the color I got). 
Most likely I would wear it with sleeved tops as I get too cold when my forearms are bare. White out is a no brainer and also wearing it over a column of black but what else? Most of my summer wardrobe is white/cream, light pink, light blue, light grey (bottoms only), navy, a bit of black with some brighter colors like yellow, cobalt and orange.
Angie, would the white moto vest fit into you wardrobe and how would you style it? We have pretty similar style preferences so I hope if it works for you it should work for me :-)
Thanks in advance!:-)

As soon as I saw Angie's beautiful outfit I knew what I want to wear that day! Alas, I did not have white flares so I decided to reverse the colors.
All items are several years old in this outfit so no finds for them:
- JCrew yellow Tippi sweater;
- Danier white leather moto jacket;
- Ink Paige Canyon flares;
I don't have anything in bright turquoise as this is not my best color so this deep  blue-teal silk scarf is the closest I can do.

Pic 2 is what I wore the day before to the office. I got these camel pleated wide leg trousers in the consignment store in the fall. I have been collected the inspiration pictures of such pants for several years and these looked like they fit the bill so I thought they will be my wild card for the season. I could not wear them in winter so I am starting now - and I am not sure. I still like the inspiration pictures but I am not sure about them on me.

I wore them on Thursday and then the flared jeans on Friday and could not help but notice that I felt more fab in the flares than in these trousers the day before...

 Is this because my body type (curvy in the hips) is not the best for this cut at all? Or is it just this particular pair of pants is not right?

 I do wear them with flat loafers here but so are some of m inspirations so that should not be the reason....

Should I just ditch the whole idea and get rid of these pants as a mistake? Your thoughts are very welcome!

I completely agree with Angie and others that Banana Republic offerings are great this spring. I have already bought (and keeping) some items from them and I want more!
I went to the store today to return some online orders which did not work for me and could not resist to try some things on. These were my favorites and strong candidates for the future (I did not buy any today).
##1-2. Sloan fit cropped pants
I think I am going over my poison eye for cropped pants as I am thinking to add one pair for my spring / summer work  capsule just to change things up.
I have tried on #1 in my size and liked how they fit a lot (for comparison Avalon fit was awful on me). This is a lot of pant as the pattern is graphic and bold so I am not sure if this is the right pair for me now...on the other hand may be fun? 
#2 is much easier to wear as the pattern is very subtle. Unfortunately there was no my size in the store so I cannot say that it would fit as well as another one...it is now in my online shopping bag waiting for a discount :-)
#3 High waisted pencil skirt
I wanted a high waisted skirt for a long time but could not find one fitting my waist and my hips in the same time (even with the weight loss I am quite curvy with 12 inch difference between my waist and hips). So I did not have high hopes but magically this one fitted in both places.  
Now I have a dilemma: I have white culottes on their way to me and I think I need either a white skirt or white culottes but not both. Should I order a skirt as well and play with both culottes and skirt to see what I like more (it is also on sale today which is another tempting factor).
#4 Medallion lace top
Online picture does not convey how fab this top is! At first I passed it because of the length but then SA mentioned how she likes hers  I added it to the pile for the fitting room just for the fun of it. Well, I put it on and did not want to take it off! The lace pattern is exquisitely elegant and the way it drapes on the body is superb. I liked it with the pencil skirt and with skinnies and with those patterned cropped pants...I am watching the sales now! 
Wish me strength ladies - my wallet would thank you for that!:-)