Something You Can Rely On

 
Work is simplified when you know exactly what to wear.
 
The question of what to wear is easy to answer when you have a few great pieces in your closet and some basic formulae for making them into outfits.

 
 
Last summer, we discussed the indispensability of a utility jacket with a white dress.
 
This summer, I will share one of my oldest outfits with you:
 
{bright, shaped jacket + striped t-shirt + khakis}
 
BOOM! (That was a mic drop.) Outfit!
 
This is a no-fail combination for a casual day in which you need a little authority.
It's like money in the bank
This combination is like money in the bank

side view full length
For forever, or until one of us disintegrates into dust
 
 
I first wore this outfit to prep an expert for his deposition in Los Angeles. In 2011.*
 
Yes, the jacket is that old. Actually, it’s older than that. The t-shirt and khakis have been replaced by more recent iterations of the originals.
 
A jacket this charming deserves to live with me forever.

 
 
I remember this trip like it was yesterday. The Photographer and I were newlyweds at the time, and while I was in Los Angeles, he was in Moscow — and we realized that we were almost as far apart on Earth as two people can be.

3/4 view
The Photographer and The Directrice — before they were The Photographer and The Directrice – were separated by 11 time zones

trompe
Note the trompe l’oeil collar; you may remember that I have this jacket in ivory/navy stripes
 
 
When I travel I love to eat dinner in my room while sitting on the bed watching a movie.
 
I don’t always have time for the movie, but on that trip I watched the fifth installation of the Fast and Furious franchise: Furious Five.**

bow, pockets
The patch pockets are so clever; they dip below the hem of the jacket
Here’s the other thing I remember from this trip. I was staying in Westwood and couldn’t find a bookstore within walking distance of my hotel. I asked the concierge and people in the shops around the hotel and no one had any ideas. You might be thinking, Amazon and Borders killed the independent bookstores . . . but Westwood is a college town.

 
 
To finish things off, black patent leather flats with a little peep toe. Platform sandals or regular ballet flats would work well too.
Peep toe shoes
Faster & Furiouser

Jacket: JCrew; T-shirt: JCrew; Pants: Ann Taylor Style Name Too Long to Reproduce Here; Shoes: Tory Burch; Bag: Orla Kiely
 
* Why do I remember these things? And what useful and important information is being denied storage in my brain because I am holding on to things like this?
 
** I had to check Wikipedia for the title. Scanning the list, I was very confused why the producers gave the first and fourth movies the same title and then realized they are different. The first movie is The Fast and The Furious (nouns, or even proper nouns) and the fourth is Fast and Furious (adjectives). Genius. Recently one of my colleagues, an intelligent and cultured woman, astonished me by holding forth at great length about this film series. She said, at one point, “With the third movie — Tokyo Drift — they really lost their way. But they returned to form with the fifth one.” When you think about it, it’s not surprising that these films have grossed more than five billion dollars worldwide. Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, and Michelle Rodriguez have loads of charisma, the plots are beyond ludicrous, and Paul Walker was very handsome.

6 thoughts on “Something You Can Rely On”

  1. Being an alumni of UCLA, it’s quite simple – they should have told you to walk a few more steps onto the campus and browse the very large bookstore there. I hope you at least got to eat a Diddy Riese ice-cream sandwich. If you didn’t – go back to Westwood!

    Your jacket has everything – I especially like the closures.

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  2. Wonderful! And that jacket in the two colourways is so clever; all the same delightful details, yet a completely different mood. I’d love to see this one with something pink, whether most delicate blush- or sizzling hot-.

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  3. OMG, totally love the jacket! So gorgeous!

    And smiling at your obvious love of words in the last paragraph — I’m with you!

    On the other hand, I feel sad for your toes, smashed into those shoes. My feet hurt just looking at the close-up shot.

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  4. Those shoes plus the whole outfit looked trendy today as opposed to being older. Good choices first time around apparently!

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  5. Great outfit and that bag is perfect with it. That series of movies I tried to watch one but was overwhelmed after twenty minutes.

    Reply

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