A few weeks ago, Carrie over at a lovely little wardrobe shared a prompt she called Something New-Old-Borrowed or Blue and encouraged readers to shop their closet using inspiration from the prompt. Shortly after reading her post, I was doing a bit of tidying up in my closet and my western style booties that I’ve never worn called out to me, begging me for an opportunity to get out and see some of the world. Or at least, go out to lunch. Be patient, I told them, you’ll get a chance soon. (when did I start talking to my clothes?)
Then, from another side of my closet, I heard “what about me?”. The voice sounds vaguely familiar but I couldn’t quite place it. I went looking for its source and found an old friend, a much-beloved denim jacket, that I hadn’t connected with in a very long time. Hmm, perhaps I should introduce these old friends of mine and see how well they get along. I do have a friend’s birthday celebration coming up soon and maybe these old friends would like to meet that old friend. What?
Alright, enough of that “talking to my clothes” nonsense and back to reality. The something new-old-borrowed or blue prompt lead me to putting together the denim-on-denim outfit you see below. The outfit covers new, old, and blue. The scarf is the new item and I bought it in a pre-after Christmas sale. I bought several scarves that day thinking that I was getting a jump start on my holiday shopping for 2017 but I decided that was silly and kept them all for myself. Both the shoes and the jacket are likely about 20 years old but my memory is a little fuzzy on their exact age. The jeans and top I’ve had for about a year and were shown together on Day 12 of my 31 Day Footwear Challenge.
I originally bought the jacket as a gift for my sister but I could see when she open the present that she didn’t like it so I offered to buy it from her instead of having her return it because I really liked the jacket. I wore it a whole lot back in those days but at some point I stopped doing so for no reason that I can recall. There were times during closet purges in recent years that I considered getting rid of it and I’m glad that I never did.
I think that the lighter tone of the denim makes it like a neutral that can work with almost any color palette. For this outfit, I chose to stick with a palette of blues, tan, and ivory with a pop of rose in the purse and scarf.
The snug fit of my favorite skinny jeans helps to balance out the boxier proportions of the jacket. The lacy edge of my top showing below my jacket adds vertical length to it which also acts as a counterbalance to its wider silhouette.
I love the high-low shape of the hemline on this top as well as the lacy edging and the stripe effect in the knit stitching on the back. I’m wearing an ivory colored cami underneath because the top is a little too sheer otherwise.
And last but not least, the booties. Like the jacket, I have often considered getting rid of these beauties but never went through with it. I hadn’t worn them before because I worried that they made my feet look even bigger than they are and because the style is so western. I like western but wondered if I would look foolish wearing them if I wasn’t riding a horse or, at least, line-dancing. As I pondered on all of this the day the booties spoke to me, I decided that it didn’t matter what others thought as long as I felt good wearing them. With that new perspective, I had renewed my fashion relationship this long time friend.
Do you have a few old friends in your closet dying to get out? Have you considered renewing your fashion relationship them?
9 Comments
Aww…thanks for playing along. Great job on using the prompt!
I am particularly loving how the lacy hemline is ever so subtly peeking out from the hem of your denim jacket. What a lovely visual contrast of textures, playing hard against soft 🙂
Wow, you do have a way with words. Thank you for the lovely comment.
I love a fabulous Denim jacket. It looks terrific on you! Thanks for joining us on My Refined Style!
xo Jennifer
http://www.awellstyledlife.com
Thank you for the compliment. I’m glad I’ve kept it all these years. Soon it will be vintage.
I live for denim on denim looks. It’s one of my favorite outfits to wear
http://michellespaige.com
What’s not to like … it’s easy, comfortable, and stylish. Thank you for the comment.
I love shopping my closet…it’s amazing what new things you can create! Thanks for adding your flair to the My Refined Style Linkup. See you next month!
Shellie
http://www.thefabjourney.com
I’m glad you liked it. Shopping your closet is like reconnecting with an old friend and wondering why you hadn’t gotten together sooner.