Ensemble du Jour

This is how far I'm willing to go to fulfill my pledge to show more of my daily outfits. I'm willing to take a picture at the end of a very long day with a growth of antlers coming out of my head.

Nice, huh?



These are the eyes of someone who just spent a full day at work and then had to go to a government meeting.

The top and skirt are both from Anthropologie a while back. I just love the collar and cuff details on the sweater and the buttons on the skirt.

Then white tights and patent mary janes to bring it back to what the hubby calls my "1950s Sundy School teacher look."

These Facade shoes may be one of the best purchases I've made in recent times. I wear them all the time but they are especially cute with tights.

Now... get back to buying something so I clear this house out!

Ensemble du Jour

Sorry this was taking forever! Work has been sooo crazy. I know this month is going to be a mess when I had to dive head first into my trash can yesterday.

What a great way to start the month!

Anyhow... yesterday I wore a grey outfit to match the grey day outside.



12-1-08 by Princess Poochie

The top is from Anthropologie. I loved the contrasting collar and cuffs with the pearly grey buttons.

It has a bit of a school uniform vibe and I enhanced that with a button front little plaid skirt, white tights and my black patent mary janes.

What is it about white tights and black mary janes that instantly transports me back to being a Catholic school girl?

As much as I hated the uniform then, I find I keep dressing in plaid pleated skirts!

Week In Review Once More

This has been another crazy week at work. I feel like I've barely had time to breathe or sleep. So I'm just now getting to writing up the week's outfits! It hasn't been too cold this week but it has been blustery and rainy.

Monday I wore this black swing jacket (over a black cami) from Target with my denim skirt. I took this pendant from Etsy off of its chain and used it as a brooch on my collar. The military style of the pin, as well as it's colors of gold and enameled red and white, went well with the shoes.


11-10-08 by Princess Poochie

The focal point was all about the shoes. I know I had been debating whether I would keep these or not because the shoes from this brand tend to be a bit stiff. But in the end, I did. I just love the mix of colors and materials from the metallic edges, black sequins and red suede heel.



One this that did help is that I wore them with black opaque tights. I wore the tights to help keep warm and dress up the denim but they sort of toned down the shoes so the sparkle was more subtle. Wearing the shoes with the tights made me forget that I had found them less than comfortable.



On Tuesday, I was looking for an excuse to wear the JCrew acorn bracelet that had just arrived from eBay. I had really really wanted this when I first saw it in the catalog and the store but held out and then it sold out. Luckily I found it on eBay and for even cheaper than the store! Score!

The dress is the black v-neck Target dress I've worn a million times now and, since it's colder, instead of a cropped cardigan I added a long boyfriend cardigan (also from Target) and cinched it with a wide brown belt. I also have this necklace with a large chunk of agate as the pendant that I wore as well. I think I need to somehow alter this dress. It's a little loose now and the neckline is getting a bit low. I need to figure out if a few hidden stitches will take care of that.


11-11-08 by Princess Poochie

The focal point was the bracelet and I supported the brown of that with the belt and these shoes. I have these Manolos for a few years now and they are one of my favorite shoes. They are the perfect shape and height and such a neat pattern. I could walk all over town in these and be comfortable.




Okay, this is going to be such a let down, especially since I made such a big deal about teasing you with them... but I finally wore the Chanel two-tone tights and mary janes! Talk about burying the lead. I can't believe it has been since August that I've had these and haven't had an opportunity (or made an opportunity) to wear them. That's just crazy!

I was going to do a whole big reveal of unwrapping the tights and the shoes. I did put a whole set on Flickr, so they are there if you want to see more shots and bigger.

One of the things that held me back was what would be the inaugural outfit to pair them with. In the end I took inspiration from one of the runway outfits.


11-12-08 by Princess Poochie

I loved a number of the styles from the show but this one seemed very accessible, so I started there. I wore the tights and mary janes and then pulled out a denim skirt and my JCrew charcoal wool v-neck sweater. Very simple and straight forward.



Here are a few of the shots, but definitely check out the Flickr stream, there are just so many more there.



These tights are very cool in person. The illusion element of the two-tone is very strong. What's hard to tell from the runway pictures and even mine are that the front part of the tights is more of a flesh tone rather than a taupe. And they are not sheer at all. So the tights are very thick and soft. It wasn't quite what I was expecting but still neat. And when you move from the side or turn around the transition is quite unexpected.

I haven't seen a competitive pair in exactly the same way yet, although I'm sure they will come up sooner or later. Someone did share with me that there are a pair at Urban Outfitters that come close. The pair there are opaque black on the back and then a sheer black on the front. I don't think the effect would be as strong but could be good if you were looking for another option.

Oh yeah! And the shoes! They are very interesting. Graphic. Unique more than stunning. There is a lot of craftsmanship in these shoes. I did find a contender for the black pair (which I've worn a lot) that mimics the style but if you were to hold both pairs up together you do see the difference in the work. And that is not always something I find to be true, especially as luxury companies attempt to boost their profits by skimping on quality.



Thursday I figured I might as well keep the crazy legwear thing going and maybe even push it even more. So I decided to wear my knee-pad over-the-knee socks from Hansel from Basel which I just love. I mean, I love these some much I got them in 3 colors. I had skirts all planned out just to wear with them.


11-13-08 by Princess Poochie

Yes, the focal point was the socks, which I wore with a flippy black Old Navy skirt and my Facade patent mary janes, but I have to show you this top.

I bought this at least 4 or 5 years ago at Anthropologie and, because it is a knit, it may be reaching the end. But it's just so cute. Sort of, saucy librarian-esque.



The inset panel is a sheer polka-dot fabric with a ribbon tie of the same and the buttons are tiny porcelain with flowers. The top is actually more red than it appears here so it has that red/white/black graphic element to it.



Finally Friday arrived! Thank goodness! I did have a client meeting so I toned it down just a bit. I had bought the sweater and the skirt in the picture but the sweater was an angora mix and finally pilled up so horribly and was so fluffy it had to go. But I still love the skirt. It's a purple tweed pencil skirt with great button detail and kicky pleats in the front and the back.


11-14-08 by Princess Poochie

The skirt was from Victoria's Secret from its "not-totally-trashy" collection. I was going to wear a slim v-neck knit top but for some reason I couldn't find it and ended up wear the Target Behnaz Sarafpour lace front cardigan again. I'm trying to reserve this so it too doesn't die an early death from over-wearing.



The skirt and slim cardigan have a retro feel to them so I thought I would wear a wiggly peep-toe stiletto with them. I have the Louboutin Yo-Yo Zeppas in black suede which I felt was a good texture to go with the lace and tweed elements in the clothes.



Whew! What a week. I'm exhausted. I have a party to go to tonight so now I have to think of what I'm going to wear to that.

Some folks asked if I have links to where I have bought some of my clothes. If I have a product image in the outfit collage, you can click on that and Polyvore stores the link. But if I just have a photo or you can't find something, let me know and I'll give you the info. I do tend to keep things, especially shoes, for a long time so eBay may be your best bet. Either way, let me know. I'm happy to help!

Store Focus: SoleStruck

I just realized that I hadn't posted a few of the other outfits that I wore last week.

I wore one of my favorite Target dresses. This was actually one of the first dresses in my "Dress Reintroduction" plan. It's a nice heathered grey wool with a two-tone green herringbone accent. inside the collar, cuffs and the reverse of the belt. I like to roll the cuffs up so you get to see the green and then I paired it with my vintage La Rose green velvet heels (which are more olive-y green) and my vintage locket.



Then, when it actually got a bit chilly I whipped out my Gap cashmere grey and black stripe dress and added lavender We Love Color tights. I also wore a matching lavender wrap so I at least had some thing to tie those tights too. And I added another new Paraphernalia piece - my Kiss pin. Oh yeah, and my Facade heels. These are my new #1 most versatile heels of the year. I'm going to wear them at least once a week I think. I seriously should have bought 2 pairs.



Not that either of those outfits have anything to do with the title of this post, but, hey, I did the Polyvores. I'm going to use them!

Anyway...

SoleStruck.

I hadn't shopped with them before. There are so many great stores out there, especially online, that I don't get a chance to go to all of them... if you can believe that! I tend to get lazy and go to the sites I use a lot. So I'm glad when other bloggers, friends and even the companies themselves make recommendations of places to check out. Also, there is a bit of a boycott going on against one of my typical shoe haunts, so I'm probably not going to be shopping there for a while.

I was actually contacted by Sole Struck about testing out their site and service, so I quickly popped over to see what I could see. And I have to say I was very interested, indeed. Like many sites, they offer free shipping which makes it much more convenient for shoe shopping. In my opinion you should not worry about ordering shoes online anymore, especially once you have a few favorite brands that you are familiar with.

Just order the shoes, they come to your house and, if they don't fit, just send them back. Free shipping, free returns... how much easier could it be? Well, my mailman (and the hubby too, I'm sure) might be sick of me and the packages but, eh, there aren't a lot of options here in Fashion Exile so, whatever.

Anyway, Sole Struck graciously offered me the opportunity to choose a pair of shoes. Hello! Kid in a candy store!

After spending a while on the site, I narrowed it down to seven pairs.

First up were this pair of Campers Twins. I liked the shiny overlapping dots and that each shoe is different. I thought they would be cute with a whole slew of tight colors for Fall.




And they have a nice sturdy rubber sole which would be good for winter weather.



But who am I kidding?

I've worn stilettos during a sleet storm in New York (okay, yes it was stupid I know that but it was more than 10 years ago and I was caught out in the storm unexpectedly. I did almost kill myself!)

So I thought I would be more practical and get a fun pair of Hunters, because I've been having a hell of a time finding some rain boots in my size and in a cute look. Wouldn't these but nice and sturdy and great for running around in the yard?



Yes, I do need a pair of boots but there were also cute girly shoes to think about so maybe I'll hold out on those this time.

I mean look at these adorable Betsey Johnson peep-toes. Bows! Peep-toes! Scalloped edges and contrast stitching! I likey!



But of course I get distracted again looking at other pink and red heels including these Jessica Bennett buckle pumps. I love love love pink and red together.




Then I see they come in a green and blue combination and now I really can't choose.



So I went back to Betsey Johnson Betseyville section to see the red and white pair and saw these wedges and knew that I was completely smitten.



I mean, seriously, look at the shape. And the adorable chunky zipper-edged patent bow. But black and green or....




or black and turquoise? I still can't choose. Maybe I should just flip a coin.



In the end, I asked for these Vince Camuto leather knot heels with contrast stitching. My favorite element of the design is how the body of the shoe is sewn to the sole. It gives them a unique and hand crafted look.



These are very comfortable, classic and well-made shoes. I was so happy with them in person that I immediately wore them on Friday to work. They are great with jeans because they are a warm medium camel color and will work well with a whole slew of colors.

I paired mine with my new Gap Classic jeans (which I'm obsessed with, by the way. They fit soooo well!) and my medium green argyle sweater from Target. I also pinned my new crest pin from my last antiques festival excursion to the hem of the sweater.



All in all, I'd recommend checking out Sole Struck. They carry a number of really great lines, including favorites of mine like Chinese Laundry, Charles David, Report and a bunch more. And they have great customer service.

Personally I'm keeping those other pairs in my shopping cart. I think I'm going to have to go back in there and get those wedges. Green? Blue? Both?

Yes!

Ensemble du Jour

It's been a weird week already but the weather! The weather has been great.

On Tuesday I had two meetings so I wore my new plaid suit. I have a bunch of ways I'm going to break this up but I paired the swingy jacket with this brown cami-type top and then my teal Nine West heels.



I also reorganized my drawer of tights (and I have a TON!) so I'm going to be wearing patterned hose and tights all Fall and Winter long. On Monday, I wore a pair of polka dot Calvin Klein stockings which may possibly be my favorite pair ever.

And today I finally wore my fringe-y Roxy tights from Bebaroque. They are delish! I wasn't sure what I was going to wear with them at first but ended up wearing my black and white Mizrahi ruffle dress from Target. And my lovely Lou Lou Loves You bow.



Yes, they are a-dor-able. And look great with my new Facade heels. I should have bought two pairs of these shoes. I like them so much I'm going to wear them out!



What do I wear tomorrow to top these? I'm thinking possibly a skirt and my new kick-ass boots. Hmmm....

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit

I'm trying to mix some summer and fall-ish items to bridge the transitional time we're finally getting into.

The appliqued skirt is a very light skirt which is good for the warmer weather but paired with tights and a dark top and heels it feels appropriate for September. The tights are a light but have a textured stripe and formal up the skirt a bit.



The Focal Point

I'm testing out my Chanel mary jane stand ins - the Façade patent mary janes. They are actual quite comfortable and I really like the shape. I think I'm going to be very happy with these.




When I was in New York, I saw the Chanel pair in person at Barneys. I was surprised to see they were a charcoal wool and black leather. I thought they were black leather and black patent. I'm glad I went for the tan and black pair and got these for the solid black option.

We Have a Contender

I'm still on the hunt for the perfect mary janes to wear with my new Chanel two-tone tights. I haven't totally ruled out getting the Chanel pair from the show but I'm sure I can find a good substitute for the black pair. It might be harder to find another version of the tan and black pair and I like them both so much.



I have a few pairs of black mary janes but not with this same balance of chunky heel and strap. But I think this pair by Façade is the closest I've found so far. They're all patent so you dont have the textural contrast or the rounded buckle flap detail but you have the similar height and heel and shape.





These are sure to be far more affordable, at just over $100. I'm going to try and be patient and see what happens with the Chanel shoes. But I need to decide soon so I can wear my yummy new tights. I want it to cool off so I can break them out!