Outfit for a Monday: Chanel-inspired Bangle

After a relaxing, fun, exciting, powerful, and tumultuous weekend, personally and globally, socially and geopolitically, economically and environmentally, rising from the warm confines of my bed and blankets this morning was quite the feat. With an early morning status meeting for a new project, which I subsequently learned upon entering the office was canceled, rise I did, and scoured my closets and drawers for some clothing suitable for potential thundershowers, gray cloud skies, and chilled-breath winds.

With an open, shapeless, draping cardigan, such as this cream one, I generally try to provide some structure with a belt to accomodate and accent my hourglass body shape. Today, I let the fabric hang freely, not wanting to bear the weight of some extra leather around my waist, and instead opted to tuck in my black and cream striped top beneath, in order to create a cleaner line from waist to hip.

Dressing in black and white, either in combination or monochromatically, always leaves me feeling inspired and effortlessly pulled together. As the summer approaches, I cannot wait to wear white dresses, white tops paired with white skirts, and crisp white slacks, with brightly colored accessories, with gold, or with bold cherry red lips and nails. Choosing appropriate hues, and more importantly flattering hues, according to skin tone can be difficult, especially for individuals whose skin color shifts dramatically between the warm and cold seasons in a temperate geographic climate; black and cream, especially coupled, seem to never fail.

I have featured these simple black suit pants before; though I enjoy the jacket I purchased them with as well, I frequently wear them independently, due to their perfectly proportioned length for high heels. The pants also fit loosely, with flowing wider legs, ideal for a clean and professional appearance. My only concern, with such a great cut and style for versatile, everyday wear, is that I will wear out the pants before the jacket; luckily, the jacket is a black and white plaid pattern with embellished collar, and not a plain black, and will pair with any solid black pant, without fear of slightly mismatched tone of color.

This picture is a bit blurred, all photographs having been taken in a frenzy due to my aforementioned important morning meeting that was cancelled, but the tapered shape of these heels works well for long days that include some walking and scurrying about the office, dashing between cubicles.

I recently purchased this bangle during the antique fair excursion in Baltimore with my mother, from the same elderly man and woman vendors where I found the clear lucite bangle worn last Friday. Still reeling from the bounty of aesthetic inspiration in the film Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky, I could not resist this black and white, Grecian patterned cuff bangle. Chanel featured bakelite bangles in some of their collections from the 1930s and this pattern in particular evokes the stark geometric look of the country house the character Coco utilizes as a refuge.

These oval rhinestone earrings have quickyl become favorites; discovered in a tall glass display case at a small antique shop in the town over, the demure sparkle of these immediately caught my eye. Hopefully, a less frantic weekend schedule will allow me to return to this shop sometime in the coming weeks.