Details: Club Monaco turtleneck, Escada dress, Rebecca Minkoff belt, Aldo shoes (all thrifted) Thoughts: I thrifted this vintage Escada dress years ago (circa 2017) but it’s been hanging in my archive closet for a long time. It’s a beautifully made and cut dress, but despite being seemingly plain, it’s anything but. The detailing makes it special but it also makes it a challenge to style. The good news is that I’m on something of a 70s kick at the moment, so I’ve got more ideas for this than before. Starting with this outfit, which is pretty simple but quite effective, if I do say so myself ..read more

Details: H&M top (retail), Ralph Lauren vest, InWear blazer, BDG jeans, vintage belt, Dooney bag (all secondhand) Thoughts: Guysssss! This is it! I finally found my palazzo jeans — the style I’ve been hunting for nearly 2 years. They were worth the wait, I love them so much. This one is called the BDG Puddle jean. I think there might be different versions with the same name, though, because the one’s I’ve found on Poshmark under that label look different. Why am I looking for another pair on Poshmark? Because my daughter also loves them and has been trying to steal this pair ever since I ..read more

I originally wrote this post before my impromptu sabbatical, and the title was less on-the-nose at the time. But, what the hell, let’s go with it! There have been lots of beginnings this year. The biggest news — on the creative front, especially — has been the fact that I wrote a book. Well, to be precise, I wrote something I hoped, one day, might become a book that other people might read. It was an incredibly consuming but also fulfilling project … until I ran into a full-on crisis of faith, not just over the quality and merit of my writing, but of my ideas. I want to be clear here: I think ..read more

Details: Club Monaco turtleneck (retail, old), Ralph Lauren sweater (eBay), J. Crew blazer (retail, old), Fossil belt (thrifted), Banana Republic pants (retail), Coach bag (Poshmark) Thoughts: This shade of brown is one of my faves … wait, did I just say “one”? Does that imply I have more than one favourite shade of brown? Who am I????? It’s true, though. I’ve been afraid of brown — well, not afraid exactly, more like uninterested — my whole life, but it turns out that it’s actually a beautiful colour. Or colours, rather. This shade is at the intersection of brown and burgundy, and I love its ..read more

At the beginning of the year, I wrote about my goal of shopping more mindfully and intentionally going forward. As I’ve been working on it, and working through my thoughts on consumption and consumer culture more general as I write my book (more on that later), my perspective has been evolving — and my approach along with it. I wanted to document that process here, as I think it’s a useful companion piece to my shopping- and style-oriented posts. Most of the time, on social media and elsewhere, we are presented with the results of consumption without any context, divorced from its real-life im ..read more

Details: Wilfred vest, Ralph Lauren skirt, Escada blazer, Rafael Alfandary necklace (all secondhand), J. Crew shoes (retail, old) Thoughts: I haven’t worn much red in years, but this vest has been like a shot of adrenaline to my closet. It’s what I consider my “best” red — a poppy red, slightly orange-leaning shade. I had to pair it first with this skirt, to pick up on the pattern of the skirt. It feels like such an electric combination somehow. Kept the outfit very simple, but felt smashing in it. Details: Wilfred sweater, Topshop dress, Jones NY blazer, BR belt (all secondhand) Thoughts: C ..read more

Last year, we talked about outfit building blocks and outfit formulas, which gets us most of the way to an outfit. What’s left? Well, choosing the specific pieces to use in an outfit. This can feel tricky when colour is involved. If you fall down the rabbit hole of reading about colour theory online (much less stuff like seasonal colour analysis), it’s not difficult to feel overwhelmed. Ready for my hot take? I think all those theories can make it all seem far more complicated than it is. Assuming no vision impairments, figuring out what colour combinations work can be very simple: just look a ..read more

Details: Ralph Lauren blouse & skirt, vintage vest, BCBG belt, Thierry Raboutin shoes (all secondhand) Thoughts: To me, this is a quintessentially Jo March outfit and I love it so much despite its very muted colour palette. It’s all about the details, like the delicate paisley pattern on the blouse and the lace insert, and the texture contrasts. I chose a jeweled belt instead of something more southwest-inspired because I wanted to lean more into the late Victorian vibe than the prairie vibe with this outfit, and also felt that a juxtaposition of influences might overwhelm the outfit. Som ..read more

Details: Tahari shirt, Ralph Lauren sweater & skirt, Ports International jacket, Asos boots, Coach bag (all secondhand) Thoughts: Here it is: THE skirt! Isn’t it amazing? You can ignore my derpy expression, caught in the act of giving my recalcitrant photographer instructions on how to shoot this pretty dope outfit (if I do say so myself). My photographer is almost always recalcitrant. If it’s my son, it’s as a matter of principle because he thinks taking photos of what one is wearing is, to quote, “dumb”. If it’s my husband, it’s because he knows how much it annoys me, and gets a kick ou ..read more

Last week I promised you an epic eBay story and I am a woman of my words. In my ongoing project of curating my own personal Ralph Lauren capsule, I scored a big win last month and I’m here to tell you all about it. Maybe “epic” is a bit of an overstatement, but this was an exciting purchase for me — the online version of the “start the car” moment — so I hope you’ll forgive my enthusiasm. There is also maybe a moral of sorts to the story, but I’ll leave you to decide that. I’m not going to try to keep you in suspense about what piece of clothing is the protagonist of this saga. It’s this skirt ..read more