Pretty Blouse Plays a Supporting Role

 
I know that most of you will be too busy on Thursday to visit this blog, so I am posting a day early as a special holiday treat.

 
 
As part of our Continuing Education series on Closet Mining, allow me to show you a familiar blouse shaped into a different silhouette.
 
I look so small
A special holiday treat, I say

full size front
Closet Mining sounds more dignified and scientific than “shopping your closet”
 
 
You’ve seen all the elements of this outfit before . . . although you haven’t seen me wearing the jacket. I previously recommended it to you.
 
Let’s not quibble on Thanksgiving about what I’ve previously disclosed and what I’ve held back. The point of this post is not that the blouse looks radically different. It was a blouse then, it is being worn as a blouse now; it’s being worn with pants and under a jacket. It’s all perfectly normal.
 
But the outfit looks a little different with a short, fitted jacket. For those of you who prefer a short jacket to a hip length jacket, this might be just the way to wear a simple jacket/blouse/khaki combination.

 
 
This peplum is split at the side seams and actually creates a leggy look.
side view peplum slides
Note how leggy; also, note how wrinkled; I wore these pants all day

 
 
I had originally thought to replace these buttons with black or dark horn buttons —
but I think I have been won over by the white buttons. Perhaps I will upgrade to a more luxurious white or ivory button.
3/4 view
And then again, maybe I won’t; maybe I’ll just let these buttons ride

 
 
 
One final note: I have become bizarrely dependent upon my pointy-toed mules which, at best, are scarcely appropriate for office wear and, at worst, look like the finishing touch on Halloween costume. Yet I love them. This surprising turn of events is particularly unfortunate because wearing backless non-shoes in 50 degree weather is causing my feet — which I pampered all summer — to become dry and chapped. Oh no.
 
Admittedly, this is not a big problem and there is a clear solution.
close up
More challenging problem: these buttons

 
To all of you, I wish a restful, contemplative Thanksgiving day of abundance and sharing. And some mirth. Maybe after your guests leave, you can watch some North & South, or Poldark.
 
Jacket: JCrew Cropped Jacket in Boiled Wool; Blouse: Doundup from YOOX; Pants: Ann Taylor; Shoes: Rebecca Minkoff Alexis Mule with Studs; Bag: Coach

12 thoughts on “Pretty Blouse Plays a Supporting Role”

  1. Happy Thanksgiving! Perhaps a blog post on what to wear to the Thanksgiving meal would be amusing. I am going for layers, as I will be in a Manhattan apartment that will get overheated. I am going for elastic at the waist, for expansion purposes. I don’t know what all I have that will fit those criteria, but they will be the building blocks of my outfit.

    Reply
    • I think people fall into two camps on what to wear: The Disciplinarians and The Realists. The Disciplinarians wear a hard waistline or belt, imagining that it will keep them in check. The Realists wear soft pants because they understand how these things always go . . . Your plan sounds very wise; I hope you have a wonderful holiday!

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    • Lipstick is NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Walkyrie, which I have been wearing lately because I ran out of my daily (Trish McAvoy Plum Brown). It’s a pretty red, isn’t it?

      Reply
  2. Happy Thanksgiving from a Canadian reader! Just wanted to thank you, as always for your blog. And a belated Happy Birthday! I didn’t get a chance to comment on your birthday-related post but *loved* that orange coat! I’ve waited for a suitable orange J.Crew coat to come up on eBay for years now, to no avail.

    Reply
  3. Giving thanks for your style and witty writing 🙂

    Never mind the cracked heels, can you actually WALK in those mules? Are you not getting toe cramps trying to hang on to them as your foot lifts? I get the impression I would end up doing an undignified shuffle as toe exhaustion set in…

    Reply
    • You are so welcome, Ursula (in Cadiz)! I can walk in the mules very easily. But there are other mules that I look at with the same skepticism you are communicating here. And, I cannot run in these mules. No running at all. I’ve tried and it feels like cross-country skiing . . . without snow or skis.

      Reply

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