Earth Tones

Earth tones are my long time favorites, so when I put this outfit together, it felt like I had owned it for hundreds of years, even though many pieces are fairly new to me. What surprised me about it was that a little girl at IKEA's Smaland, dressed in an adorable floral dress herself, stopped playing and stared at me through the glass as I was passing by, and a teenage hostess at the restaurant, as Justin noticed, was watching me on the way in and on the way out. Not just the fact that someone would watch me surprised me, but that it was this particular outfit - it's anything but loud, and to pay attention to such a subtle style, there really must be something special in both of those young girls.

It all started with finding this blouse at Goodwill a while ago. I thought it was unbelievably pretty - the floral design, the colors, the style spoke to my heart. But I realized that I did not have a bottom that would compliment the blouse, and when I saw this skirt on another blogger, I decided that it would be a perfect pairing. As I do most of my shopping online, it was difficult to guess a perfect size for me, and I think I could downsize it for a more dramatic body-conscious feel, but I don't want to go through sending it back and waiting for a return, too much trouble for my liking. I tried to show you on a couple of photos how stretchy the fabric is - the skirt has a rather dramatic line, very narrow on the bottom.

Then I decided that the shirt+skirt pairing needed another friend and was thinking vests. After looking at my little collection of vests (about 8 pieces now, I believe), I thought that this thrifted vest (I showed it here before) was just what I needed. I don't know if anyone noticed, but lately, I don't wear much jewelry, but this time, I knew Shawna's necklace would be right at home with this outfit. And then I thought, why only wear a necklace, and added earrings too. I forgot to mention my "dance" shoes (no, I haven't done any dancing in them yet, but they do call for it every single time I look at them). And the bright red "splash" a.k.a. my red leather purse. Oh, and red lips too because it really called for a bright accent or two. That's pretty much how the outfit came together. It was faster to create it than to write about it, really.

I felt positively Poirot-esque in it! If only I had a little hat, I'd be a picture of the 1930s lady. OK, maybe I would need gloves as well. And even though, we typically associate earth tones with Autumn, I think they work perfectly well in Spring too - all those half naked branches and awakening soil (farmer's fields are still pretty bare, though started getting greener). In any case, it felt just what I needed today - something calming and nourishing to help the good stuff in me shine on a rather challenging day. 

Blouse and vest - thrifted (Goodwill)

Skirt - ASOS Curve

Shoes - Josef Seibel (via Nordstrom Rack)

Purse - B Makowsky (via TJ MAXX)

Glass necklace and bracelets - gifts from Shawna

Earrings - hand-painted Russian enamel (finift)

Malachite silver ring - from a festival (long ago)

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