What About This? Part IV

So this post has been sitting in draft form for weeks to the point where many of the items are now extremely marked down. With the holidays and the laziness and the start of the new year and the laziness, it's been hard getting this one off the ground.

Next up we have Now in Boston friend. She, Dance-y friend and I worked at the same company before scattering like leaves on a warm, autumn breeze. Or, more appropriately, like rats fleeing a hurricane. With NiB friend, we return to someone on the shorter side of things. She is smaller on top than she is on the bottom, which is actually the case with all of my friends. Apparently I'm just a non-hipped weirdo.

When living in Boston, your coats are some of the most important pieces of your wardrobe. As a hometown girl, I can tell you that the last of the snow often didn't melt until early April. And having a sweater in your tote is necessary for most of the year. If there is one city that calls for a classic all-rounder, Boston is it. And with her shape, she can pull off the double breasting in this coat.


I saw the brand that makes this scarf at a tradeshow I attended while at my internship, and I wanted to take their entire soft, warm, cashmere booth home with me. It comes in a rainbow of options, but I like this choice as I think it would set off her eyes very nicely.


NiB friend is also a lover of the Marc Jacobs purse. This one comes with his classic quilting. And I think the fire engine red would look really great as you carried it through a snow shower. You know, when everything's still pretty. Before the city is overtaken by the gray slush that seeps through your shoes and leaves you disgruntled and susceptible to frostbite.


NiB friend works at a company where she can wear jeans to work. The thing about wearing jeans to the office is that you sometimes have to overcome the urge to show up looking like a piece of shit. Maybe you went a little overboard after someone at your favorite restaurant bought tequila shots for the bar on a Wednesday night (not that I would know anything about such shenanigans). Or perhaps you and your co-workers drank a six pack on a commuter train because, really, how else can you get through a 1.5 hour commute after a day from hell. Trouser cut jeans makes the next day dressing simpler. They always look pulled together and flatter almost every shape. All you are left to worry about is the top half. And where you put the Advil.


But because they are jeans, they also work outside of the office. Like on a lazy Sunday, when all you want to do is throw on a comfy sweater.


Maybe with a pair of sequined Chucks.


At the office, layer dressing is key. For some reason, office buildings are always 10 degrees too hot or too cold. Our old office had a constant case of icebox, which meant that we always had sweaters, like this cardigan, or jackets at the ready in the middle of the summer. We had to keep an eye on them though. There were some people in the office who were constant sweater snatchers. And chair snatchers. And snack snatchers.


Higher necklines, like the one on this sweater, can be hard to for many women to pull off. Except for NiB, who would look great in this sweater. And the vertical ribbing adds a nice contrast to the horizontal ribbing in the cardigan.


Her puppy, who once spent a good part of a car trip licking my arm because of the lotion I was wearing, got a bit too mouthy with her cowboy boots. And leather and sharp teeth do not mix. I suggest a high hiding place for this pair.


Some days you have to put the jeans away. Maybe for meetings or interviews or just for the fuck of it. This skirt, with its length and color, is appropriate for all of those circumstances.


The slim cut of this blouse is the perfect partner for the pleating and volume of the skirt.


Gray tights will keep her warm while allowing her to stray from the classic black in a way that still works for the office.



A classic heel for a classically styled outfit.


The first thing I do when I start thinking about these posts is make a bookmark folder labeled with the name of the subject. At least half of the items I find when browsing get discarded before I settle on the final pieces. I kept coming back to this dress. I searched for things with more color as I'd kind of fallen down on the job in that respect (sorry NiB friend!). But this dress, with its defined bodice and the skirt that floats away from the body in progressively darker colors and the exposed zipper in the back. This was the dress. Color be damned.


You can always leave the color to the shoes.



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