Thrifting Queen

This Attitude by Jay Manuel dress has been a workhorse for me for the past three years. I swear the CPW is so low now that the dress actually OWES me money!

Today's wearing of the dress includes dark purple tights to pull out the dark purple tones in the dress and my black leather blazer. I'm also wearing a wide purple belt to accentuate my waist and provide a mini-bookending to the tights. I'm wearing my knee high Blondo boots as I have a fair bit of running around to do today at the hospital and these are incredibly comfortable for me. For my handbag, I'm using my black croc patent one from yesterday.

What do you think? Sick of this dress yet? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome.

Blazer: Danier Leather
Dress: Attitude by Jay Manuel
Tights: Hue
Boots: Blondo
Handbag: Danier Leather (thrifted)
Belt: thrifted

I just realized that the outfit I'm wearing today (http://youlookfab.com/welookfa.....-snakeskin) I would have absolutely hated a few short years ago.

In my pre YLF days, I equated fashion or style with a completely different set of parameters. Style meant items were not necessarily comfortable, were more form fitting, were higher heeled, were more what were on the "10 things you should wear" kind of lists, etc.

But today I'm wearing slouchy trousers (should never wear on a 5 foot tall curvy lady); voluminous horizontal striped sweater (should never wear on a 5 foot tall curvy lady); light coloured low heeled booties (short ladies should wear high heels to look taller and brunettes should not wear light coloured footwear). Nothing is uncomfortable, overly hot or fussy.

YLF - look what you've done to me? You have opened my eyes to all sorts of style possibilities and the joy of breaking style "rules"! Talk about a complete mind shift.

Next to black and white, grey is becoming my favourite neutral. It works well with my salt-n-pepper hair and seems to go with everything.

I popped on my grey and black tweed tuxedo-like slouchy pants and paired it with my voluminous grey striped merino wool sweater. I'm kind of surprised that I like volume with volume on my short frame. To pull out both the cream stripe in the sweater and the cream flecks in the tweed, I'm wearing my SE python booties (have I mentioned that Angie and Inge were right that I would be able to wear these no problem?).

For jewelry, I'm wearing my silver Haida wedding band and my silver and white bangle watch. My handbag is my black patent croc one because I thought the round silver clasp echoed the round silver watch.

On top of all that when I head out the door is my short citron puffer and a beautiful cream scarf and glove set with crystals embedded - a Christmas gift from my boss.

What do you think? Does it work together? proportions ok? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome.

Puffer: Esprit
Scarf & gloves: gift
Sweater: Lord & Taylor
Trousers: Jessica (Sears brand)
Boots: Sam Edelman
Handbag: Danier Leather (thrifted)
Watch: thrifted

Hmmm....I'm not entirely sure this works but it's too late to change anything now. Please let me know if you see something "off" and what needs to be tweaked.

We're having an unusually warm week here so am wearing my skirts while my legs don't mind. I started today's outfit with my crepe patterned skirt - I love all the different colours in this skirt, everything from taupe to dark purple to cranberry to red to moss green to cream. I've added my dark purple tank and then topped all that with my taupe draped leather jacket. For footwear, I've popped on my taupe/olive mid calf lace-up boots. I decided to have a little fun with pattern mixing so am using my taupe/cream snakeskin clutch.

What do you think? does this work? proportions ok? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome.

Leather jacket: Gap
Tank: Gap
Skirt: Cleo Petite
Fishnets: Hue
Boots: Clarks
Clutch: from Sona

ETA: So I just wasn't feeling the jacket with this outfit - something was off with the length and colour of it with the skirt, so ended up at the last minute tossing it off and popping on my purple Amber Sun jacket instead - much happier with it. Left the taupe/olive boots on though. I'm honestly not sure I'm feeling love for this taupe drapey jacket anymore - I've had it for a few years and it is high on the "fuss factor" with me fixing the drape all the time and shifts about constantly. I'm finding that I'm less and less willing to deal with fussy clothes.

Good morning lovelies!

Today's pairing started with my black & white graphic print Maggy London wrap dress (waving to dress triplets Natalie and Rita!). I decided to kick up the bold and colourful quotient by topping the dress with my tomato red blazer (waving to blazer twin Amy!). A pair of nude micro fishnets and my black wedge booties finished off the outfit. For my handbag, I went with my cream/black leather handbag.

I'm really happy with how this looks and can't figure out why I didn't pair this blazer with this dress before.

What do you think? Does it all work together? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome.

Blazer: Gap
Dress: Maggy London
Fishnets: Hue
Booties: Blowfish
Handbag: Danier Leather (thrifted)

Wearing my skinny slouchies to work on Friday again - have I mentioned I love these jeans? This pair is the one size up and I also have a pair that is two sizes larger than my regular size - I pick them up after work today from being hemmed just a wee bit more and will try those next week.

I've paired the jeans with a couple of older items in my wardrobe - this v-neck animal print short sleeved silk tee and a charcoal herringbone blazer complete with elbow patches. Once I got that together I thought the outfit had a bit of a menswear vibe so went with that and added an old leather belt with metal studs and large gunmetal buckle and my three tone patent oxfords. I like how the cream in the oxfords picks up the cream in the tee and lightens the outfit a bit.

Then for a ladylike juxtaposition, I added my black/red KS handbag and a strong red lip.

Not sure this photographs as well as it looked to me in the mirror but I'm really pleased with this outfit and my happiness scale is right up there.

What do you think? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome

Blazer: Gap (thrifted and altered)
Tee: Nygard
Jeans: Canyon River Blues
Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell
Handbag: Kate Spade (thrifted)
Belt: thrifted

Several of the ensembles I like have great layering tees and tanks and that is something I am totally lacking.

Reminder to self: get good basic long sleeve, short sleeve tees in solids and stripes and a couple of great solid tanks come Spring. Also a couple of slouchier striped and solid tees would be great additions too.

That is all...

This outfit didn't photograph as well as I would have liked - don't you hate that?

Anyway, I wanted to pair my purple Amber Sun jacket with my grey Glen plaid wide legged trousers. I wanted to keep the top underneath the jacket low contrast and remembered I had this dark grey wrap top from two years ago. I think it works well here to give me a column of colour. For a bit of visual interest, I added my silver/black vintage brooch to the jacket.

For footwear, I pulled out my trusty gun metal Naot Mary-Jane pumps. I'm ashamed to say I kind of forgot I had these :( They are incredibly comfortable and provide great support when my bad knee is bothering me. Handbag is my grey faux snakeskin clutch.

What do you think? Proportions ok? It is kind of dark and moody in terms of colour scheme - is it too "blah"? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome.

Jacket: Amber Sun
Wrap top: Cleo Petite
Trousers: Ricki's (thrifted)
Shoes: Naot
Clutch: Sondra Roberts (thrifted)

P.S. the crotch of the pants is doing something weird in pics #1 and #2 - it is obviously because of the way I'm standing 'cause it doesn't do that IRL

It's going to be fairly warm here today (only -9 Celcius) so a dress was definitely on the menu!

Thanks to Anna's keen eye and Sveta's sale savvy, I got t his BR ponte knit sheath dress to replace my old one at a very good price (thanks ladies!). I can already tell I'm going to love this dress - it's extremely comfortable, fits great and is of very good quality. I've paired it with my Lord & Taylor cropped black & animal print cardigan. For a bit of colour, I've added a red croc leather belt and my red quilted handbag. I decided instead of ladylike footwear, I'd go a bit more urban and wear my Doc Marcie boots. A vintage bangle and wedding ring for jewelry and Bob's your Uncle!

I'm really happy with this combination as I think the proportions are good and everything fits well. I'm developing a real fondness for good fabrication these days.

What do you think? As always, all comments/suggestions welcome.

Cardigan: Lord & Taylor
Dress: Banana Republic
Belt: Danier Leather (thrifted)
Boots: Doc Martens
Handbag: Nine West (thrifted)
Bangle: vintage