Its seems the thing to do this time of year is to do a retrospective, a year in review if you will detailing the best and the worst. Now it seems a bit premature given that I'm only 8 months into this experiment, but I will bow to the greater fashion blogger community and give you what I liked the best of what I wore in 2012. As for the worst, sure we all have our fashion faux pas, but at the end of the day, good, bad, or ugly I stand by my choices, so its all good in my book. So in no particular order the outfits that topped my list are (click on the post title in red to link to the original entry and see all of the outfit photos):
I love these plaid trousers, and I look for a pair for a very long time, and I have fun styling them. This particular collection of pieces and the painting that inspired it were my favorites, mainly because a lot of the pieces are unexpected pairings with a rather traditional pair of vintage plaid pants. I especially like the olive green blouse and fun flowered shoes by Naughty Monkey and how they word so well together.
This vintage navy blue, red, and white dress had become one of my favorite vintage pieces I own. Even though its from the 1980's its cut and style area throwback to WWII. I definitely feel like going outside to plant a Victory Garden and join the Red Cross when I wear it, especially with this vintage handbag and flowered headband mirroring the 1940's style for small compact hats. Remembering that day I only drove my mother to the doctor, but this outfit still made the day feel like something extra special.
If I had to pick my favorite outfit and photo I took it would be probably be this. First it was a color outside my comfort zone, but it still worked wonderfully for me. Two I had a great hair day and he outfit photographed really well even though these were the days before I mastered the self timer on my camera. Three though almost everything I was wearing is new, though some was new/thrifted it has a vintage 1950's feel with the full skirt and faux pearls, incidentally this is my favorite era for vintage clothing. Lastly this was the day I got more compliments at church than I could count, and it gave me the confidence to start giving out the web address for my blog, I figured that if that many people approved of my outfit, maybe there was something to sharing it on the web.
This outfit is a close runner up for my favorite, another church outfit, it was the perfect weight for a hot summer day. I like the bold pattern mixing but still think the color plate really ties it all together. Sometimes all it takes to make a great outfit is taking a whole bunch of your favorite pieces and putting them together to make some thing really special. This was also the first time I used Mount Hope Cemetery for my photos (as you can see the front part is like a park, there are no graves at all) and every time since the photos have always been really spectacular.
In reading 2012 was a year of Sharpe and Bernard Cornwall for me, and I couldn't not pick my outfit inspired by the soldier's uniforms from Sharpe's Tiger. Its a classic 'me' outfit, it doesn't match at all, it doesn't even mildly coordinate, but I absolutely love it. The purple paisley cardigan works with the ruffled leopard print dress because they're both so bold and unique. The more subdues shoes and accessories help all that pattern to further stand out. Its an outfit that makes people point and stare, and not in a good way, but that's just my style. The photos were also taken in the Lincoln High School parking lot after a torrential downpour and thunderstorm, but it made for great lighting and everything glistened, which only enhanced my crazy pattern mixing.
I wore this outfit with flats to work and its amazing how much sexier it is with heels, the instant 30 second transformation. I normally only wear this dress out for special occasions, its very dressy and was expensive. This jacket was not only a fun remix of the traditional Christmas color plate but also helped tone the look down to daywear appropriate and let me get more wear out of the dress. The photos were taken in a race against the sun as I drove to the Yankee Spirits Bourbon tasting in Swansea. As I drove it kept getting darker and darker and finally I pulled over at this farmstand that was already closed for the season just to squeeze in a few outfit photos, luckily the setting and lighting made every photos come out beautifully.
My friend Jen and her pals the
Tropigals always are a good time and I've blogged about two of their shows I've been to. This outfit from their show The Perfect Storm commemorating the great Hurricane of '38. Vintage and cocktail attire is a must, but many of those attending, including me went with a nautical theme, I went for a mermaid look, with this sparkly Salvation Army find as my tail. The outfit is almost identical to the one I wore to the
Wedding Season Swap earlier in the year, but with better accessories and great outfit photos taken by my friend Alyssa.
Yet another church outfit (what can I say, I'm old fashioned and like to wear my Sunday best). This was a great, almost perfect thrift find, like it had never been worn. Also I find this type of dress flatters my figure the most. Perhaps the best thing about it is the variety of ways you can style it based on the colors in the pattern. I like this mix with the spring green tank and shoes much more that the easier and more traditional brown and black most people would accessorize with. also I'll take any excuse I can get to wear peacock feathers and elephant necklaces, especially if it means channeling one of my favorite heroines Karen Bixen from Out of Africa. the park around the old Diamond Hill Ski Lodge is hardly the plains below the Ngong Hills, but it sure photographs lovely on a summer afternoon.
Not a showstopper I know, its very matchy matchy for me, and yes I realize I've picked outfits incorporating all three of my identical Violet and Claire blouses (olive green, silver, and purple), but I just felt it was a very pretty look. The little cape (not shown) tied it all together so nicely it really made me happy. also with the exception of the blouse its a totally thrifted outfit which always makes me feel good. Fall foliage also makes the perfect backdrop for a purple blouse, if necessary I fee like I could easily wear this to a grouse or pheasant hunt at Gosford Park.
This outfit will not win any awards for fashion forwardness, in fact its probably a little dowdy. What can I say I had fun being a cowgirl/farmer's daughter for a day. Its a comfortable, lightweight dress that you can just throw on and go, besides Grant Wood felt farm folk were at the heart of America, in vogue or not.
For a delightful bit of fluff young adult reading I can't help but recommend Katie Crouch's Magnolia League series. I read the debut book last year and was delighted last week when I found the second book in the series, The White Glove War on the shelf. I live in new England, and am a Yankee at heart but I have to admit there is a certain amount of me that adores magnolias and moonlight, there is some thing timelessly seductive about the South. One can never see Gone With The Wind too many times, and even though you know its can be racist, full of kudzu, and a little bit backwards, yet you can't help but yearn for the land of cavilers and cotton fields. To sip mint juleps and dance at cotillions. Then you remember that in addition to Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans which all ooze Southern charm there are far less pleasant places to visit like Mississippi and Arkansas, which I'm sure have charms of their own, its just I never saw them while I was there. Souther hospitality does have its limits. Which I suppose is the whole point of Katie Crouch's books. They tell the story of a California hippie forced to move to Savannah after her mother's death and live the life of an aristocratic debutante in the Magnolia League. The League can transform you.... but for a price. The lovely League members with their ageless grace and charm all pay for the privilege, and the Buzzard family of hoodoo practitioners gladly provide it. I will never be a debutante and am certainly not a Southern belle, but reading about how the women dress for their society teas and charity fundraisers, never a hair out of place and head to toe in pastel inspired me to try and recreate my own version in a rather cold and nasty New England winter. Much to my surprise it seems I wasn't the only one longing for delicate spring florals and garden party worthy clothes. I got more comments on how happy my bright yellow dress made people. Then again these were swamp Yankees, I wouldn't last ten minutes with Scarlett O'Hara.
