This post has been in the drafts for over a week, during which time I was flattened by the flu and mostly just vegetated in bed. Actual last week’s outfits, therefore, were just really one: the standard at-home vegetating look, as introduced in the last post, topped with a blanket. But I’m still slogging through the Hard 75 Style challenge (short version: get dressed + record the results for 75 days during which you buy nothing), so I may as well present my outfit log for the last two (actually three if you don’t count the flu days) weeks. Unsurprisingly, a lot of things get repeated. As they should, I spent a decade accumulating this lot and I have favourites.
this bears repeating: as mentioned in the last post, the clothes and accessories in the pictures, except where specifically noted, are all secondhand from the sub-$50/sub-$100 ends of TRR, Etsy, and my ultimate rabbit hole - Ebay.
Outfit 1: Luciano Barbera coat, White Stripes band t shirt from 2007 bought at a gig (the print on it - just visible - is of a ribcage with a heart on the left side), Michael Kors skirt, Wolford tights, red patent Salvatore Ferragamo Vara bow pumps, Lanvin Happy bag (via ebay, purchased for $200).
That skirt once spent three years squashed in the bottom of a carry-on I didn’t unpack after flying home. Probably an avoidance technique, but I was an idiot to deprive the rest of my wardrobe of the chance to be combined with one of the best executions of a check pattern I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s also one of the rare exceptions to my ‘natural fibres only’ rule that I’ve been a stickler for since I was 191. I assumed the coat was one too until I googled orylax and found it wasn’t some higher-end semi-synthetic material like I’d thought.
The main draw of wearing this is that something about the silhouette - elongated, demure, no ‘cool’ accessories, shoes that wouldn’t shock a hypothetical granny - makes me feel like I’m doing a little midcentury period-drama dressing2. Admittedly, yours truly is a bit too scruffy at heart to ever look truly ladylike and may look a bit tired of life in the pic, but I’m pleased to have got dressed in the White Stripes’ colours on at least one day. My 2007 self who bought that shirt would have approved.
Outfit 2: Uniqlo mock neck with & Other Stories cactus print skirt (bought new in 2016 and 2015 respectively), Paul Stuart coat with vintage brooch on lapel, Wolfords, Acne Jensen boots, Lanvin bag same as in outfit 1.
Midi skirts are the jeans of my wardrobe, and this particular one was a high street gem bought in the summer of 2015 - it’s made of a sweatshirt-like viscose that feels as comfortable as an actual sweatshirt, but also heavy enough to drape nicely and deliver a bit of that midcentury swish. My favourite part of it is the print - in a photograph of the full outfit it almost looks like wonky polka dots, but it’s actually cacti. I remember & Other Stories having a pile of pieces in that fabric and print, and they were always fabulous. While I try to avoid buying things firsthand from mass retailers these days (and haven’t in fact bought any since March 2020) I also believe that good design isn’t the sole preserve of higher-end brands, and a bit of carefully-chosen in-person shopping can provide the cogs on which my wardrobe turns, as long as I pay attention to fabric and fit.
Outfit 3: back to black again but with camel this time
Etro coat bought on ebay for £40, Dries van Noten bubble-hem silk dress worn over ALC floral mock neck top, Wolfords, Acne Jensen boots same as in outfit 2, Lanvin Happy bag same as in outfits 1 and 2.
A lighter coat, in colour and weight this time (outwardly quite plain for Etro, but the house codes rear their heads on the inside - the lining is orange paisley-patterned silk at the sleeves, and a burgundy paisley-patterned silk on the body), and an old favourite of a dress. I love it, it feels like wearing a little cloud.
Outfit 4: vintage cashmere cardigan worn backwards over White Stripes band t shirt and Jiva silk slip. Standard at-time vegetating outfit, as seen in previous post. Also (with different t shirts underneath) my sick-week outfit.
Outfit 5: the result of a resolution to wear more trousers and not just live in my midi-length skirts. Kate Moss for Equipment white silk shirt from the Outnet, Malo green crew neck, Luella wide-leg puppytooth trousers, brown Salvatore Ferragamo Vara pumps, rust coloured suede belt (just seen), Paul Stuart coat and brooch as seen in outfit 2, Lanvin Happy bag as seen in outfits 1-3.
Honestly, I’m not very fond of this one - it felt a little too straightforwardly like I’m cosplaying someone’s rich and very stodgy grandmother, but that’s my fault for treating dressing for this particular occasion (at work) as costume of a sort.
Outfit 6: Etro camel coat as seen in outfit 3, over no-label hand-me-down silk shirt, 1930s pointed silk scarf, 1980s VERY WIDE Charles Jourdan belt (just seen), Elizabeth & James blue silk floral trousers, Tutu-Anna socks bought on a 3-for-¥1000 deal from Ikebukuro metro station in 2016, brown Salvatore Ferragamo Vara pumps same as in outfit 5, vintage Bally crossbody bag.
I try to learn from my mistakes - the Lanvin would have probably tipped it into rich-grandma-cosplay territory again and I didn’t want a repeat of that, crossbody bags may be in the purgatory of identifiably millennial trends but I adore the colour on this one, like a reddened chestnut bordering on burgundy.
Outfit 7: Grey House of Fraser silk/cashmere blend roll neck with silk shirt underneath, pink pleated wraparound Prada skirt, AP holdups, red patent Salvatore Ferragamo Vara bow pumps (same as in outfit 1). Didn’t photograph the bag (Lanvin) because it was just hard to hold and photograph at the same time, like a bag throws my balance off.
This needed another accessory on top tbh, all that light grey was severely in need of some breaking up. Miuccia would not approve of this.
Outfit 8: Paul Stuart coat and vintage brooch same as in outfits 2 and 5 (I should admit I just keep it pinned to the coat lapel oop), Luella wide-leg trousers and rust coloured suede belt same as in outfit 5, Beams check shirt, Lanvin Happy bag same as in outfits 1-3 and 5, Acne Jensen boots same as in outfits 2 and 3.
This is basically outfit 5 with a different shirt. Getting rid of the crew neck and swapping in a colourful shirt for the white one probably makes it work better, though I also think a bag change would go a longer way to tone down the primness of it all.
Outfit 9: back to (almost entirely) black. Black silk Dries van Noten bubble-hem dress (same as in outfit 3 - my current go-to dress) over navy Uniqlo mock neck (same as in outfit 2), Wolfords and Acne Jensen boots as in outfits 2, 3 and 8, topped off by a black Dries van Noten opera jacket and Lanvin bag, this time worn with the chain handle fully extended - the handles being convertible are a major reason why this ends up on my arm so often.
It’s funny that all-black, in theory, should feel dour and funereal but between the textures (silk, boucle) and cut of the dress and jacket(puffy, generous), this outfit feels like the most indulgent thing I’ve worn in the last few weeks. Romantic but, thanks to the boots, just a little sharper than that word usually implies.
Outfit 10: Etro camel coat over ALC floral mock neck top (both worn in outfit 3), Luella trousers and rust suede belt (both worn in outfits 5 and 8), red patent Salvatore Ferragamo bow pumps (same as in outfits 1 and 7), vintage Bally crossbody bag (same as in outfit 6).
That top is something of a dark horse in my wardrobe - far too distinctive to ever truly be a ‘neutral’ but the combination of a dark floral print, high neck, close fit and 3/4 length sleeves make it work with about 90 percent of what I own in cooler weather and for practically any occasion. It’s never going to be the ‘nice top’ of the ‘jeans and a nice top’ trope but it works beautifully to put a little ‘made an effort’ reflected shine on everything it’s worn with. This is also about as close as the wardrobe gets to doing a 1970s look, with the camel coat on top I almost feel like I could be swishing around Fargo season 2.
Outfit 11: Wanted to try the combination of a more formal top and coat with more casual trousers, to maybe dodge the costumey aspect of some of the earlier looks. I do think the thinner, slinkier fabric of the trousers and shirt (and the latter being finally not buried under fuzzy sweaters) helps. Paul Stuart coat and vintage brooch (same as in outfits 2, 5 and 8), Kate Moss for Equipment silk shirt (same as in outfit 5), Elizabeth & James blue silk floral trousers (same as in outfit 6), Lanvin bag, Acne Jensen boots (same as in outfits 2, 3, 8 and 9).
This was my last outfit before the flu housebound me and made sure I was only wearing Outfit 4, on repeat with only the t shirts underneath the cardigan changed out daily. A bit disgusting I know, but well, that’s the flu for you. I’m just grateful to have my head stop feeling like it’s had an ice pick driven through it.
I’ve noticed that the crap lighting in the mirror means my favourite socks aren’t properly seen. They do deserve their own spotlight, and they’ll get it, below:
I don’t actually have any insights at the end of this lot, other than photography is still not fun, I still repeat pieces (a good thing) and outfit templates a lot (not a bad thing?). They do involve more colour - and more lighter colours - than the last round, also more trousers and prints. I suspect they’ll lighten a bit more as the weather does.
Truthfully, it’s rather boring to yak on about my relatively prosaic, desk-job-appropriate wardrobe and why I wear the things I do: despite a love of fashion, I don’t actually enjoy going into granular detail about why I wore the things I did. And certainly not in this volume anyway, it feels like homework. I’d rather be writing a valentine to a Chanel Spring 2003 jacket or just shooting off about how a model on the cover of POP back in the day had a strong resemblance to a frilled lizard. But somewhere in the process of attempting a fashion substack, I seem to have absorbed an unspoken rule that when it comes to fashion, my thoughts are less valuable than my appearance - or at the very least, count for more if they’re accompanied by images of me (illogical and I know plenty of people - self included - ran fashion blogs back in the 00s and people run substacks now without making it #ootd-centric, but it doesn’t dislodge the feeling). And now all I’m blogging about is…photographs of myself? This isn’t to blame anyone who likes that stuff and I don’t intend to never post another outfit pic again - I was a huge fan of those personal style blogs back in the blogspot/typepad days, but it’s just something to reflect on.
never mind that the only natural fabric I could afford then was cotton and the occasional bit of wool, since this was an era when you could still find decent quality 100% fabrics in H&M if you looked hard enough.
not the ‘Capote Swan’ kind though.
Sorry to hear you were so unwell! I hope you're much better now.
I often delete drafts because I feel like no one needs to read about my clothes in such granular detail-it feels repetitive even to me. And also, blogging (then and now) can make me feel inadequate about my wardrobe; it's like everyone else has all this archival Prada or Dries and I'm still in Uniqlo. But this same feeling also prompts me to sometimes post because maybe somewhere out there is someone who needs to know that it's totally fine to wear Uniqlo and dress basic (like me!), lol. I think a part of me posts outfit photos because I feel like it encourages me to find satisfaction in what I wear, but generally I have very little to say about them. But I would love to take the time to think more about what I am drawn to, and explore that in my newsletter this year.
PS: Love those socks. And the plaid skirt! A plaid done right is so many things (trad, punk, period etc).