Red and White Striped Polo Dress

 

 Hello, welcome!

 And thank you for stopping by my blog today!

Knit polo dresses, like the one I am wearing,

never really go out of style,

 but they have enjoyed a resurgence

  in popularity in fashion over the past few years

The polo dress is a classic, timeless,

and supremely comfortable, casual dress

 just like the garment it was adopted from,

 the ubiquitous polo shirt 👕

If you didn't know,

the polo shirt was originally invented in 1926

 by tennis legend René Lacoste,

specifically to play the game in 🎾

It still retains a sporty and casual vibe,

but today, the polo shirt and polo dress

 are worn on and off the tennis court,

 for all types of sports and casual wear,

 as well as streetwear

Today, I chose a red and white striped, long sleeve

polo dress with a crisp white collar and split V neck 

Since the weather is still a bit cool outside,

 I layered a navy blue cardigan on top

Keeping it colorful and fun

with a Kelley green embossed handle bag

I chose minimal, simple gold tone jewelry

to complement this sporty outfit

A few more accessories in Kelly green- 

A textured belt and pleated headband

Wearing navy blue patent leather kitten heel

 sling backs to finish the look

The last time I wore this dress on the blog

 was for my Memorial Day post last year,

with lace tennis shoes,

(not made for the tennis court at all)!

Red, white and blue in 2024,

  red, white, blue and green today

For my continuing series on my closet clean out,

an item that is leaving my wardrobe this spring

is this navy blue linen midi skirt

 It has a giant batik paisley print, in black and white

I love a big full skirt, and I have worn this skirt

 quite a bit since I bought it

It is one of those items that has been a little bit

 difficult to place, seasonally

 I have worn it in the spring and fall mostly,

in all the ways I could imagine

 It is quite a substantial linen 

and seems too heavy and dark for summers in Maryland

 which is the season it was marketed for

Here is one time I wore it in the spring of 2021

I don't think it was a stellar buy; 

I found the first time I wore it on the blog in summer, 2019

shortly after I bought it, so not bad

I hope a new owner will enjoy this piece,

and can get creative with it,

whatever season they chose to wear it in

Spring garden-

lots of daffodils in

different varieties pop their heads up

at different times during April and May

Their yellow frilly faces are so delightful!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Spring Monochrome in Coral

Hello, welcome to my blog,

 and thanks for stopping by!

Today, I am giving monochrome dressing a whirl,

with items from my closet

 that I have not previously worn together 

 A monochrome look is timeless and always popular, 

 but this look is really trending, now

 I am seeing lots of separates being worn together

 in different tones of the same color,

 as well as pieces in the same color

 with lots of fun and interesting textural details

  When I think of monochrome dressing,

 British royalty comes to mind

  Princess Catherine frequently dresses all in one solid color,

 and always looks very chic and sophisticated

Her looks seem effortless,

 with a quality of simplicity, which is lovely

 I find it is not really effortless to create the look

with separates, but I am going to give it a try

How about you, are you a fan of monochrome dressing?

I have chosen two shades of coral for this outfit

My scoop neck three-quarter sleeve blouse

 is a darker shade with a matte texture finish

 The skirt is a lighter shade of coral

 in a silky texture that has more of a sheen

I used different tones

 of the neutral color taupe for my accessories

to and a little contrast

Carrying a small embossed satchel bag

with horse bit detail

I chose some simple gold tone jewelry pieces

 for this streamline look

 A wide herringbone chain collar necklace,

 a twisted bangle bracelet and loop design hoop earrings

A few more accessories to embellish this simple outfit:

 a beaded coral, peach, fuchsia and wine hairband

 and dark taupe leather sash belt

Taupe patent leather slingback kitten heels

with buckled straps to finish the outfit

 

Another way to achieve a monochrome look

is with a one-and-done solid color dress

Is that cheating?

One more easy way to get this look

 is to go with all white or all black

Almost everyone already has a variety of pieces

 to mix and match in these two non-colors

worth experimenting with

 

 Here is an all white outfit from summer, 2021

I am looking forward to unpacking and starting to wear 

my summer whites- how about you?

 Or if you shy away from white,

black is very chic for spring and summer, too

Continuing with my spring purge,

here is another item

It fits right in with the monochrome them

of this post 

A grey on grey reptile print pleated peplum top

This top dates all the way back to 2016!

I have worn it off and on,

 as reptile prints and peplums have rotated

 to the forefront of the trend cycle

I take very good care of my clothes, 

 and this is one of the few items that just wore out

The black trim around the neck is faux leather,

 and it recently started peeling and disintegrating

I have gotten a good bit of wear from this top, though

 It turned out to be a valuable lesson

 about buying clothing items, bags, shoes

 and other accessories made of faux or vegan leather

I have several fashion bags,

from different price points that are

sadly suffering the same fate

Planned obsolescence, I guess 🙁

Here is a previous wear of the top from 2017,

well before it's trim started to crumbled 

Hope you all had a nice Easter,

and enjoy the week to come!

 

Easter Greetings

 Hello, welcome, and thanks for stopping by my blog!

Happy Easter season

 to all of those who celebrate this holiday!

🐣 

Does anyone else vote for Easter falling later in the year 

when warmer weather prevails?

I guess it depends on where you live

A little Easter holiday reminiscence follows

 I wonder if anyone else

 shares a similar experience from their childhood

that they would like to share!

When I was a little girl,  

 I remember my grandmother taking me shopping each year,

 for my special Easter Sunday outfit

 Back then, all of the retailers

 put their Easter finery out around the same time,

a few weeks before the holiday

There was always so much anticipation for the day

when we road the bus downtown,

 and I got to pick out my fancy new Easter dress

What a special treat it was!

I wonder if this is possibly the sweet memory

 that fuels my love of dressing up today? 👗👒👛

 The new dress would also be worn

 throughout the spring and summer

 to any special event that came up,

especially coveted birthday party invitations

But alas, the same vexing problem

 occurred every year

 Easter Sunday came, and the weather

 was too cool for my chosen frilly frock

I wore my new dress most Easter Sundays 

covered up by a cardigan or coat   

Today, I am more wise to the weather

 and plan on the cardigan

 Even though I'm not wearing a frilly new dress

 purchased just for Easter,

 a sweater is still in order

This Easter, I am wearing a wrap dress

 in a psychedelic paisley and floral print,

in shades of aqua, blue and violet

All the blues are trending this spring,

although the dress is several years old

I layered the wildly printed dress

 under a nubby textured blue cardigan

 I chose this cardigan for the outfit, 

because it is sort of a throwback style,

 reminiscent of the ones worn way back when

 It is a classic take on the lady cardigan or lady jacket

currently popular once more today!

A stance my grandma might have taken 

while waiting for me to get all my buttons and bows in order

 so as not to be late for church-lol!

Carrying an embossed taupe small satchel handle bag,

 with gold tone horse bit detail

I chose three pieces of bright gold tone jewelry

 A necklace of rounded square reticulated links,

a bold hinged bracelet and loop design hoop earrings

Accessorizing this outfit up

 with a navy blue polkadot bow headband

 and navy blue belt

Taupe suede cross strap block heels

 to finish my Easter look 

A flashback to Easter time, 2020

Layered up back then, too

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago,

these beautiful cherry blossoms

are a pink carpet on the ground, now 

Some Easter holiday treats-

the bunny cupcakes are (almost) too cute to eat!

I will be back next week,  

with another outfit and another item

 purged from my wardrobe

Hope everyone is having a lovely

 Easter holiday season!

Mocha Mousse

 Hello, and thanks for stopping by my blog!

Today, I am sharing an outfit

 featuring the color "Mocha Mousse"

Mocha Mousse has been somewhat divisive as the choice

 for color of the year by Pantone 

There was a lot of attention on it at the beginning of the year,

 of course, but the color really has not seemed to catch on

 in a big way in fashion

 I have noticed a shift toward cool brown and beige tones

in interior design, though

 I'm seeing some various shades of brown

 being worn on line and on the streets this spring so far,

but not a whole lot

It is only April though, and many women are just starting

 to really plan out their spring and summer wardrobes,

so maybe there will be a lot more to see!

 It seems like pastel blue

 has caught on like wildfire though, in fashion,

and I have seen a lot of that color already  

 Anyway, some women seem to love Mocha Mousse,

 and some really don't like it at all 

I am on the fence-how about you?

 I don't have very much brown of any shade in my wardrobe,

 so integrating this color will be an interesting challenge for me

I decided to give it an experimental try

 I have only purchased one piece this season

in Mocha Mousse, which is this midi length pleated skirt

Interestingly, the few other solid brown pieces

 in my wardrobe are also skirts, but deep chocolate brown

I also have a very few tops with brown in the print

I like the skirt, with the all around pleats, 

so let's see what I can do with it 

for a spring outfit this week

I am wearing the skirt with a white classically tailored blazer

 that has an all-over embroidered floral pattern

 It's white on white, so a little hard to see in the photo

 Under the jacket is a square neck fuchsia tank top

 For a bag I chose this chain strap handle bag,

 with structured bow detail

Adding some shiny, bright gold tone jewelry

 My "D" initial necklace, a tubular open cuff bracelet,

(which I could have bought in solid gold, and still gotten good cost per wear on, I have worn it so much!)

 and a pair of irregular shaped fuchsia stone post earrings

To finish the outfit I am wearing 

fuchsia reptile embossed kitten heel slides

Here is an oldie from autumn, 2020

with some brown tones

I no longer have the brown and beige satin shirt in my closet,

if I did, it looks like in would have paired well

with the Mocha Mousse skirt!

But I do still own the rusty brown suede skirt

The skirt gets a minimal amount of wear,

as it is heavy and only suitable for cold winter days

If you follow me week to week,

 you know that last week I started a series documenting the items I am purging from my closet this spring

 I keep my clothes for a long time, 

and put a lot of thought into what I release, purging lightly

 This week's item that is leaving my closet

is a wheat color linen jacket 

It has served me well, 

and has been in my closet for a long time

 A short or cropped blazer is good for my petite frame,

 and this one has gotten quite a bit of wear over the years

So why am I passing it on?

 I decided it is time, 

 because it is a size too big for me now

Also, it would look great on a curvier body

that fills out the bust darts better!

  I have definitely gotten good cost per wear from this jacket

(roughly, because I don't track items exactly),

 and it remains in great condition 

Good linen just gets better with age!

  I pass over at a lot these days because of the fit

 I hope it's new owner has fun styling it

 and loves it as much as I have!

 This photo is from 2020,

 but the jacket dates back a few years further

Hope everyone has a good week to come!