Outfit for a Thursday: Inspired by DVF, or, Cobalt

This morning, reflecting once more on the beautiful colors and feminine skirts of the Diane von Furstenberg Fall 2011 collection, I retrieved this brilliantly cobalt wool suit skirt, looking a tad woeful, from the depths of some trench drawer in my bedroom: a 1970s vintage Dior wool suit skirt. I bought this last winter, with the matching jacket; though I have never worn them together, separately each is truly dynamic and create an entire look on their own. I believe I paid about 20$ or so, for the set. I wish I had had the time to perform a proper steaming to remove more wrinkles, but I was able to do a swift round of damage control with some really great wrinkle spray. Unfortunately, my professional photographer had the day off; I promise, though, this cobalt number is not done any justice laying flat on my bed. This skirt, like most, needs a waist and some hips and some long legs to complete it, and looks much better when curving around the female form. The color, also, should be bolder, and is not so much an electric blue, as a true blue cobalt.


Though you may not be able to tell, this skirt is very high waisted, and very tight around that waist. Dancing it slowly up my hips, all I could think about was needing to do more cardio at the gym. It is a somewhat awkward length, hitting just beneath the knee, so, though I am tall and have long legs, I still like to pair this with heels. Especially as this skirt is both long and fuller in cut, despite the tight waist, I want to make sure I prevent a matronly look by prancing around in some feminine heels.

Four large black buttons provide a great detail along the top of the skirt, tracing down the waist to the hip bone.

Again, difficult to tell, and perhaps I should have waited until my beau hunk photographer had returned from his vacation day, but the skirt sort of alternates between smooth, flat fabric and wide pleats. The pleats lend this skirt some added movement and flow, as well as a more interesting structure to the fuller cut.

As I mentioned, the waist to this skirt is tight, but since it is so high, I like to tuck my shirt in; also to combat appearing overly dowdy, I generally wear a more fitted top. This black and white striped tee shirt features a key-holed back neckline, which I would normally deem a tad too racy
for work; however, again, when coupled with a longer, heavy skirt, it provides an infusion of youth and vitality to the outfit.

I really enjoy how narrow the stripes for this shirt are; this was an amazing Century 21 find, for maybe 5$. Added to the cotton is some spandex, giving this shirt a nice weight as well as shape.

These lace-up heels were a TJ Maxx find; I could expound on the glories of shopping in TJ Maxx stores in affluent socioeconomic areas for hours. Or in a single sentence: TJ Maxx stores where wealthy people live are amazing and have the best selections and deals. Particularly, if that affluent-audience TJ Maxx store happens to be, for whatever reason, in a more run-down, rough-like, rumble type of shopping center, say one that also sports a Wal-Mart and a dollar store. I have nothing against Wal-Mart, I shop there all too frequently. Clearly, I am describing the one and only shopping center within my two mile commute from my apartment to my place of currently semi-employment.

The heels are about three or so inches, and a bit of a thinner heel than I typically aim for, with that type of added height. Despite the long and lean design of the heel, these shoes are quite comfortable for the office.

I adore the contrast of leather and suede, a sort of contemporary interpretation of Victorian lace-up booties, with a pinch of men's wear inspiration thrown into the mix.

Though as of late I have been partial to gold, silver was my first love, and I have some really interesting silver bracelets and bangles, such as those featured in my Christmas Party outfit, glorious beauties of vintage lucite. This cuff is also vintage, from perhaps the 1970s, and the earrings are silver and bubblegum pink costume pieces, either late 1960s or early 1970s.

The cuff is about two inches wide, and has a hand-hammered type of look, causing the silver to appear to be scaled, as if it is made of some skinned ancient reptile.

Now that I think about it, these pink earrings are among the first three pairs of earrings I ever owned, found when I was in eighth grade. They are large and round, each a pink hemisphere, and similar to the coral earrings from yesterday, add a splash of color. With the large swatch of blue in my skirt, this slight sampling of pink offers a bit of balance and contrast.

Outfit for a Wednesday: Linen in Winter

Traditionally, linen is a fabric associated with the warm summer months, ocean-brine infused tropical breezes, and light-hearted lazing and relaxing. In an attempt to harness some of these sentiments and perceptions in the final thrusts of winter, and during the drudgery of the office, I adapted the linen look for the season and for cubicle-sitting. In addition to having an amazing pattern, which almost alludes to a zebra without being a blatant animal print, the linen fabric of this dress offers some different texture. Naturally, I enjoy the soft cream coupled with the black, and to combat the chilled breeze of February, wore a black cardigan and opaque black tights underneath.

This black cardigan features slightly ruched sleeves, which hit right at my elbow. The shorter sleeve worked well with the shorter length of the dress and the covered legs; although the dress hits about mid-thigh or so, the plain black tights facilitated an office appropriate look.

I love that the pattern on this dress is large and bold, but simple with the cream and black. The cut of the dress is a basic sleeveless, almost Jackie Kennedy O type shift, with some tucks around the neck, adding just a touch of accent and texture.

I found these Salvatore Ferragamo kitten heels at a relatively new vintage boutique in my town, when one of my dearest friends from university, and roommate of four years, Katherine, was paying a visit up north. She now resides in Richmond, a delightful town according to anecdotes, and I cannot wait to return the favor. She also found an amazing pair of vintage Ferragamo's while browsing this cluttered and cramped shop; although the pricing varies wildly from pleasantly surprising to ludicrous and nonsensical, each pair set us back only 25$. These shoes have proven incredibly versatile, given the amount of black and gold I wear. The slight sheen of their fabric also lends an easy, immediate polished look to any outfit.

The bow and gold detailing of these shoes are simply darling. Being Italian, they are, of course, very narrow, which I generally need for my feet, however, by the end of a long day, despite having a lower heel, they can cause some mild discomfort. No pain, no professional or sartorial gain.

Once more, the gold barbed wire bangle, along with my grandmother's golden maple leaf necklace and some vintage coral earrings.

This necklace is one of my favorites, for both aesthetic and sentimental reasons; I remember discovering it stowed away with some other pieces belonging to my father's mother, a few years after she had died. I love how it appears to be golden lace. Originally, I found the leaf strung with a plain black string; my mother gave me the gold chain and I switch various pendants, often large brooches adapted to be necklaces, on and off.

These earrings are a simple shape, and just the perfect splash of grapefruit, coral color for this cream and black based outfit. The almost swirled look of the coloring reminds me a bit of hand-blown glass. The film maker enjoyed these in particular, out of the bevy of my earrings, and likened them to a glowing cold red star. Although for the most part, I like to choose between either necklace or earrings for an outfit, I was brazen and donned both, again, with the earrings providing just a bit of warmth on a gray, middle of the week day.