New Clothes! Part 2

Some of you have lobbied for "real" photos of my new outfits, that is, you want to see me actually model my clothes. Well, I can't promise anything, but maybe some time I'll do that. It's just that it requires a fair amount of prep work: I have to get dressed, and then I have to find someone to take my picture. Repeat half a dozen times or so. Then upload and post photos.

So since I already have photos of non-modeled outfits, that's what you get today.

First, you may recall this outfit from Ann Taylor that I copied:



















Well, when I was looking for that gray blazer, I instead found a red velvet blazer (new, $8) that looked pretty smashing, and instead of black slacks I found a black pencil skirt (thrifted, $6), and my new white shirt looked better than my new black shirt, so this is the outfit I ended up with:















The shoes (new, $17) that you see there are still on trial. They are very cute on, but I haven't decided if they will stand the test of actual wearing time. I have made that mistake before: buying cute shoes that absolutely kill my feet after an hour (or less!) of use.

And since I had the skirt out, I paired it with another new acquisition, a striped henley sweater ($6, new):














The sweater was not on my actual menu of clothes, but it fit in with my new color scheme of black, gray, and white, so I think it was a wise purchase. Besides, for six bucks--?

I actually wore this on Sunday, except I put my new white shirt under the sweater, and I wore black tights and black mary janes (which I had in my closet-- bought them probably ten years ago, paying a PRET-TY penny for them, and I learned something: it pays to spend good money on classic, well-fitting shoes. They always fit, they always look good, and they never go out of style. Note to self: REMEMBER THIS.)

I felt all cute and stylish, but after a short while I changed the skirt for my black slacks, because, y'all, it was COLD on Sunday. Oh well. With my new interchangeable wardrobe it was no problem-o.

Here's another outfit I tried to copy, this one from Eddie Bauer:


















And here's my version:















The jeans and shirt are the same ones in one or two of my other new outfits, but the coat is brand spanking new from Schwesers, half price at $35. I am very happy with the coat, and Hubby is thrilled too, and thinks I looks fabulous in it (which definitely adds to my happiness!)


Here's an outfit from Old Navy that I thought was cute:



















I actually planned to just go to Old Navy and buy the whole shebang and be done with it. But Old Navy is a good hour drive from here, in BigCity, and I haven't had a day to do that yet. However, looking through my closet, I realized that I already have the makings of a similar look. See?:














And then I realized that I can also do this:















which gets its inspiration from this look that I've been trying to go after:



















And finally, there's this outfit that I had no picture inspiration for, but draws on several things I liked:














It makes me wish for warm weather, because I'm looking forward to wearing the classy white shirt:














with the pretty necklace that Hubby picked out for me himself:















and these great gray pants:















Can you see how cute those are? Do you see that wide elastic back-waistband that is not only cute and different, but also makes the pants FIT? And can you see that price tag that says they were marked down to EIGHT bucks?

Also, do you remember how I said I don't like khakis? That has been bothering me, because according to the fashion lists that I am trying to listen to, a good pair of khakis is pretty much essential for being sort of dressy casual, and I don't like khaki. At least, not on me, and not in my closet. What goes with khaki? To my mind, nothing matches. That's because, I realized, no color that looks good with khaki looks good on me.

And then! I had this great thought: Does "khaki" come in other colors? I went looking, and sure enough, it does; and I came to the conclusion that if I had pants in shades of GRAY, all my troubles would be over. So I went looking for a pair of gray pants, which, as you see, I found, and when I got home I laid them out with nearly every shirt in my wardrobe. Guess what? Everything matches! So there you are. I found my version of "khaki" and in the world of my closet, it's easy to match gray.

On that note of triumph I will stop for today.