Festive Holiday Style

Here's to layering! I love this white dress, but it's oh so summery and the neckline is a bit low for work-wear. To get around those two hurdles and wear this dress to work in December, I layered the dress with a sleeveless, mock-turtle neck swing dress that is the same length and voila! Instant coverage from the cold and the oglers. This is also a bold combination when it comes to pattern mixing. The red plaid combined with the star burst pattern is a lot to take in and my coworker said that I looked like Punky Brewster but I decided to take that as a compliment.

I wore this for a a performance with my choir at the Fitzgerald theater. This is the second time that I've worn this dress and the second time that the dress has ripped in the armpit. I was able to patch the tear up the first time, but it might be torn beyond repair at this point. I must have a larger upper body than the average 60s woman because this is where my close fitting vintage dresses always get torn. So sad.

I had been envisioning this outfit ever since I bought this skirt at My Sister's Closet last year. The skirt is made out of a heavyweight velvet fabric and the bottom half of the skirt is adorned with many embellishments. It's very lush and beautiful, but it's not entirely versatile. It's a winter party skirt and that's about all it is. This skirt reminds me how much I dislike ugly Christmas sweater parties because I don't want to wear ugly clothes to a party. Never have, never will. I want to wear this skirt, dammit! And I don't have many opportunities. While I still have not had the opportunity to wear this skirt to a Christmas party, I chose to wear it out to dinner with my in-laws and to see my husband perform with Nicholas David at the Pantages Theater and it was just lovely.

On this particular Sunday, my husband and I were invited to a number of Holiday parties. I know what you're thinking. "Why didn't you wear your damn skirt, Anna?" Well, I put the outfit with the skirt on and while I was still in my house, I couldn't stop shivering. It was so cold this weekend that the people of Minnesota were advised not to leave their homes. But we're hearty Minnesotans and we had plans, so I changed my outfit to what you see here and I think it's perfect. I've got on many layers of silk and wool and I even threw on a fur stole under my coat for extra warmth and glamour. In my opinion, this outfit was even better than my fantasy Christmas party outfit. It's still got the richness that the velvet skirt has, but it's warm and cozy and comfortable too.

This is what I wore on Christmas after spending the day cooking for my family. I thought it would be nice if we got dressed up and enjoyed the delicious beef tenderloin that I had prepared. My husband, however, had other ideas. I had to fight him tooth and nail to put pants on. This is my life, people.

I don't know why, but I always wear black on New Year's Eve. I also always wear a fur of some kind. And glitter! Lots and lots of sparkly glitter!

Boxy Silhouette

If you follow me on Instagram, you may already be familiar with some of these outfit drawings as well as drawings from blogs that I have yet to post. In an effort to get myself back into the swing of things, I made it a point to post something every day during the month of December and label it with the hashtag #31daysofstyle. So far I've managed to keep it up and I don't feel overwhelmed about it. This is a good thing and hopefully this exercise will be the thing that will change my habits and make blogging a more regular activity.

I've been highlighting a few silhouettes that I wear on the regular. This is what I call the boxy/mini or the boxy/slim. It's usually a boxy high collared top paired with a very short or slim fitting skirt. I like the juxtaposition between the legginess and volume that this silhouette creates.

My Sister's Closet

This look was a good idea in theory, but it just didn't turn out quite right. The material of the top and the skirt are rather heavy and kind of bulky and they did not play well together. While the colors looked stunning together, I was constantly adjusting my clothes because of the friction that these two fabrics created. I think that this top would work better with a lightweight pleated tennis skirt, but I don't have anything like that.

Poppy

I'm playing with a lot of layers here to achieve this casual and studious look. I feel like I should have drawn in a stack of books under one of my arms. Maybe it's the color scheme of bright red, mustard yellow and light denim that reminds me of school. Whatever it is, it make me want to go to the library.

Handmade by Kristina

This bodycon dress from LulaRoe is so much fun and pretty versatile. I can easily dress it up or down. I can wear it by itself, layer it with jackets or vests or wear it as a skirt like I'm doing here. I'm really happy that it matches this sweater that I wear all the time.

I Like You

Here's that sweater again. I wish I had more of them in different colors like black or white, but I'm glad that the one I have is yellow. Yellow goes with everything and I've worn this sweater in innumerable outfit combinations since I got it at a very good clothing exchange

I love this sweater just as much as the yellow one, but I don't wear it as often. This is an around the house or weekend low key hang sweater. It's incredibly warm and kind of delicate so I never wear it to work where I do a lot of physical activity and regularly catch myself on merchandising hooks or protruding corners. I would ruin this sweater in an instant at work. A lot of people don't see me wearing this sweater on the regular, but during the colder months, I'm almost always wearing it when I'm at home. I had a mostly event free weekend and I wore this sweater everyday on top of boxy mini dresses with tall wool socks or leg warmers and I knew the meaning of hygge.

Ode to Pattern Mixing

I love clothing with fun patterns. I also love to mix patterns when building outfits. Not everyone knows how to do this successfully. I'm not even sure if I know how to do this successfully, but I do know how to dress fearlessly and through trial and error I am able to achieve some bold and successful combinations.

My Sister's Closet

This outfit might be slightly ridiculous, but I love it. This was when I was unapologetically wearing scarves in my hair a la Little Edie. If your hair can't make you feel glamorous, cover it up with something that does. This is why I love hats and scarves. I haven't gotten into wigs, but If I had the funds to buy natural looking wigs, I would be all over it.

Urban Archaeology

Here's a fun dress from the 80s that has been altered to fit like a babydoll dress. I love the print. It's like hounds tooth meets Three Men and a Baby. Seriously, wasn't their apartment like an 80s bachelor's wet dream? I'm not an 80s bachelor, but I'm into it.

Go Vintage

7 months later and I still can't decide if this print mix works or not. The dress and sweater are the same colors, one of my favorite combos, kelly green and navy blue. The two different prints are variations of each other. In theory, I think this looks good, but in reality it kind of gives me a headache, which is a bummer because I have yet to find a successful outfit for this cropped vintage sweater that I love so much.

Lula Vintage

I Like You

This dress is so unique and classic at the same time. I bought it this fall and have been having fun pairing it with different shirts underneath. This was my first attempt at styling the dress after I bought it. I played up the western vibe that the piping on the chest suggests. I think this dress will be really versatile because it also has an East Asian vibe that is hidden under my shirt collar and the dress is overall kind of nautical. You'll be seeing more fun combos with this dress in the future.

I love that it was still warm enough in October to wear this incredible linen dress that I bought at a vintage clothing store in Portland. Obviously, I have mixed emotions about global warming.

Who Knew I Liked Blue?

I've never been fond of the color blue. I've always considered it to be the most boring of colors, besides South Dakota beige, of course. However, I've noticed that blue has been creeping into my daily wear more and more lately. This is partly because I've been wearing a lot more denim and chambray, and also because I've discovered that blue looks great with my hair, which is currently dyed bright red/orange.

Giant penny earrings from I Like You

I think it's in my DNA to love the look of denim on denim, or the Canadian tuxedo, if you will.

Some people think it's tacky, but it reminds me of my dad and makes me feel strong. I'm gonna keep wearing it, fashion faux pas be damned.

Earrings made by Kristina

Navy and sea glass. This is a beautiful color combination.

Earrings from Poppy

The first day that I wore these chambray overalls, the side zipper split open in the middle. The only way I could get out of my pants, was to cut them off of myself. This experience really enhanced my fear of getting trapped in a jumpsuit when I really have to pee. Thanks a lot fashion.

Earrings made by Liz

Batik skirt from Aviena

Teal is a shade of blue that has never been far from my heart. I've always considered teal to be closer to green than blue so I've been wearing head to toe teal ensembles for awhile now. Nothing new here. 

A Familiar Silhouette

Ever since midi skirts came back into favour, this has been a go to silhouette for me. I love a midi skirt, in any cut, but I especially love a midi-length pencil skirt. There's something so sleek about it. It's sexy and modest at the same time. I know not everyone is comfortable wearing this look, but if you have long legs, I recommend you give it a try.

Dottir

LaLunette

Here's a blast from the past. Can you believe I haven't posted anything since May? Time flies when you're having fun or whatever. 

This vintage jumper has seen better days. It buttons all the way up the front and most of the button holes are wrecked or the fabric where the buttons are secured is wrecked. Either way it's kinda wrecked and held together with safety pins. In fact most of my clothes are held together in some fashion by safety pins. 

Since the election, there is a new movement of wearing a safety pin to show support for the vulnerable. I've worn one on my lapel, like the masses do, but mostly what I'm thinking is, this is going to come in handy when my skirt inevitably rips up the back seam. All I'm saying is, I've always worn safety pins, not as a political statement or as an accessory, but as a useful tool. So, if you're ever in need of a safety pin or an ally, I'm your girl.

UP6 Vintage

Poppy

Here's a vest that I thought I'd wear more often than I do. I'll have to work on getting that back into rotation now that it's layering season again.

So, I bought this dress from UP6 when they were having their moving sale. I also bought a crazy Saved By the Bell era yellow and black stripey cropped jacket that I have yet to make work. This was during my black and yellow phase that I'm still really into. Anyway, the day that I wore this dress, I went over to a friend's house to hang out and when I walked in the door, everyone pointed at me with mouths agape. This was not the greeting that I was expecting. Apparently, my friend Jeanette had gone to the sale that same day, tried on this dress and seriously contemplated buying it. This is my friend who I have never seen wearing anything other than jeans and a hoodie. When I heard this story, all I wanted to do was take the dress off and offer it to her because in my opinion, there's nothing better than a super cute dress that makes you feel like you're wearing jeans and a hoodie. Actually, it's even better because it's basically a calf length t-shirt and you don't have to wear pants...and isn't that the American dream?

I Like You

New favorite outfit for sure. Serioulsy, if this whowhatwear line from Target keeps pumping out midi-length pencil skirts with my name all over them, I'm going to have to stop going to Target. Maybe that's a good idea anyway.

On Becoming Little Edie

Ever since my last haircut I've had an increasing number of bad hair days. I still get lots of compliments on my hair, but I'm not happy with it. I find myself battling a cowlick in the back that never existed before along with other hair drama. I don't know why this is happening, but it is. 

To alleviate the stresses of bad hair, I've come to rely on scarves. Scarves are not new to me. Tying a scarf in my hair as a fashion accessory has been a go-to Spring/Summer look for me for a couple of years now. It's only recently that I'm covering my entire head of hair in a scarf, accented by a big bow, brooch or flower. What I find interesting is that even though the reason for the scarf is to cover up the unsightly mess underneath, there's something glamorous about a head wrapped up in fabric. 

My new look reminds me of the movie Grey Gardens. I feel a fondness towards Little Edie. She lives in squalor, is held back by her mother, her hair is falling out, but that doesn't stop her from being fabulous. 

Of course, she's completely delusional, but who cares. It's all about attitude.

Layla's Elaborations

A friend asked me today, what it is about these jeans that make my legs look so long. I told her that my legs actually are long, but it helps that these jeans reach the ground even when I'm wearing heeled boots. There is a current trend that I'm not into, which is cropped wide-bottomed pants (wide-legs & flares). If you want to make your legs look super short, wear these.

Here's another yellow and black ensemble. The colors in this photo are way off. That sweater is actually a light yellow and white. I had to darken it up so that you could see the gray hounds tooth pattern on my skirt. Oy, I'm not so good with photo editing. Cute outfit though.

Since I started this blog, I've had a number of people ask me about this place called My Sister's Closet. "Is it actually your sister's closet or what's the deal?" No, I do not have a sister who's closet supplies me with endless amounts of fabulous clothing. My Sister's Closet is a store with two locations in the Twin Cities. They are consignment and they specialize in quality women's clothing and accessories, modern and vintage, at reasonable prices. I love this place. The staff is incredibly friendly and helpful, the prices are appropriate and the inventory is well-curated. Check it out next time you find yourself on Grand Ave or in Uptown. I dare you not to find something amazing.

I wore purple today in memory of Prince. I have yet to put into words the impact this news had on me, but I don't think I need to. Literally everyone I know and don't know has written about their feelings on the loss of the purple one and my sadness and devastation echos theirs. My heart is heavy.

Yellow and Black? Like a Bumblebee?

I tend to gravitate towards a different set of colors each season and I've been feeling Yellow and Black this spring. I'm finding that only using the black, white, gray and yellow items in my closet this season, I am able to come up with multitudes of interesting and chic outfits. Here's a sampling of some from last week.

Similar jacket

The first night that I wore this look, it was a big hit and I've been recreating this silhouette ever since.  This combination of high-waisted, slim fitting pants, a tucked in blouse, and a cropped jacket really works for me. It's also a good way to utilize this amazing yellow and black plaid jacket that I scored at a garage sale last fall. 

Similar scarf  Mall of St Paul

I do believe that this scarf is what influenced this color combination in the first place. It's probably the best scarf that ever existed and I wish I had at least 4 more just like it. There's something about it that makes many of my ensembles look effortless and completely pulled together at the same time.

Similar vest

Ok, so this outfit does not include yellow, but it's a pretty good use of only black and white and it's an incredible example of my layering skills. This outfit consists of black leggings underneath a long-sleeved black slip dress underneath a short-sleeved sweater dress underneath a sleeveless, knee length vest and I've managed to avoid looking bulky or busy. Excuse me while I give myself a round of applause.