Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Suddenly, Fall

A Little Longer--Wednesday, 10/12/16

I immediately gravitated toward this combination of maroon pants, navy blazer, and navy patterned top from Fonda, who I think has the on-the-conservative-side business wear style that most resonates with me of all the bloggers I follow.  Although I obviously have the latitude to dress more casually than she does at work, her professional outfits-of-the-day are a great starting point for creating Sally-ified ensembles.

From savvy-southern.blogspot.com

For this outfit, I initially thought it would be a good opportunity to wear my navy faux giraffe print blouse--a very business-y top that was purchased as part of my interview clothing set.  But when I put it on, I realized that it was an odd length to wear with the pants.  Too short to wear untucked, and worn tucked in...well, I hate futzing with tucked in tops and this one threatened to come untucked immediately.  So I substituted a burgundy/navy paisley blouse, which was just that little longer enough to be viable (though I would have loved it to be a little bit longer still).



Burgundy paisley blouse (Lands End/gift from Mom)
Maroon pants (thrifted, Lands End), $0.87/wear
Navy ponte knit blazer (Target), $3.33/wear
Nude Rockstud flats by Wild Diva, $2.50/wear

Outfit total: $6.70/wear

As you can see, the burgundy top here is appreciably darker than the maroon pants, yet I find the combination attractive enough.  As I've discussed before, colors on that maroon-to-burgundy spectrum are tricky--sometimes two colors that I think will go well together look terrible, and then other times (like this one), I have low expectations for the combination and am pleasantly surprised.  My backup plan was just to grab a navy striped top and be done with it, but I'm glad that I had the opportunity to wear this top again.

It has a funny history--it was an item that came completely by accident in a Lands End Internet order to my mom.  Not in place of another garment, just an extra.  My mom had no use for a dressy office blouse with a bow tie neck (although that fits the stereotype of the librarian pretty well, I think, she dressed in breathable natural fibers for her very physical job shelving books) so she gave it to me.


I just wouldn't feel right with a blog post headed by "A Little Longer," featuring ankle pants no less, if I didn't reference Lyle Lovett's "That's Right (You're Not From Texas)" with the famous line "And buy your pants just a little longer..."  I know I link to the video every few months, but come on, everybody could stand to hear this song every few months!  I really liked this song when I was living in Texas (as a non-native), but now that I'm here in these strange northern lands where people do not get it at all, I even more strongly appreciate Lyle's ability to conjure up that quirky, crazy, unique, and ultimately kind of awesome Texas-ness.

Today's rabbit is a long (though not tall) Californian.  I think the white fur would really bring out the white design on my shirt.


In other news...It was all of 48 F today, which is setting me up nicely for my vacation to my hometown, where temperatures in the upper 80s are expected.  Wha..?

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