I’m joining Cindy, Mary Ann and a few of our friends for our monthly installment of Project Design and this month we are calling it Collected Fashion. I think there are probably many ways to interpret this project and that is one of the reasons I love these collaborations with fellow bloggers. We all take different approaches and make it our own. 
Wearing a vintage Burberry sweater and these jeans from GAP. The bag is by Philip Lim way before he dressed Michelle Obama. It’s a super soft leather bag that I forgot I owned…thanks to working on this post, I’m bringing it back to the front of my closet.
I’m not at all a fashion blogger, but I’ve always loved fashion. Wearable fashion, that is. I have had the same style my entire adult life and finally I feel like we’ve entered a time when really anything goes. I remember when I lived in a suburb of DC when our kids were young. I was wearing pair of tan thin whale corduroy pants, a dark gray cashmere v-neck sweater and red leather oxfords. And I thought I looked good. Ha! Because here’s the thing, oxfords were not really “in style” for women in the late 90s. I was shocked when a friend of mine (looking down at my shoes) started to tell me about a shoe sale and then proceeded to tell me that you can turn in any pair of shoes and get a credit toward a new pair of this particular brand. I cannot even remember the brand or even the kind of shoe, but I did know that I loved my red leather oxfords from Cole Haan. So what I’m saying is…I love that every style is in right now. I lean heavily toward menswear and finally, I’m sort of in-fashion, dare I say?
For this post I am going to rely mostly on what’s in my closet, plus a few very inexpensive purchases. I have never regretted making an “investment” purchase. Of course I still buy things at stores like Madewell and Gap. I love everything I’ve ever purchased from Everlane and can appreciate their approach of sustainability. I used to buy expensive jeans. I love that now I can buy a great pair of jeans and pay less than $100 and sometimes less than $50!
Wearing my favorite Everlane cashmere crew sweater. I size up and wear it over size like a sweatshirt. I have a few and wear them all the time with everything. The scarf from Madewell has the same colors as the pants from GAP. My Goyard bag has seen better days, but I love it anyway. My glasses are from Oliver Peoples and are not tinted even though they look like it...for some reason.
January is always a good time to take stock of what I have and not buy a lot of new clothes. It’s a time I like to cool it on the spending and organize and assess what I already own. In the above photo I’m wearing pants from GAP that were on sale for around $20 last fall. I’m wearing my vintage Cole-Haan oxfords, Coach Bucket Bag, a denim shirt from J.Crew and a Vince coat sweater. The denim shirt is super thick and I hated the way it felt in the arms when I layered it under a sweater, so I cut off the sleeves. It looks like I’m wearing a shirt, but it’s way more comfortable. I layer it under blazers with a t-shirt too. (I wore that Vince sweater in this post too).
I found this dress as I was walking through the Uniqlo in the new Hudson Yards mall. It’s a lot of dress, but for the sale price of $20 I knew I could make it work over a pair of jeans (wearing my favorite leg makeup because it’s January in the northeast).
This is a new shirt from Everlane and it’s super soft. I can see wearing it in the summer with white jeans or these from Madewell. They are the most comfortable high-wasted jeans.
So what do you have that’s been hiding in the back of your closet? Take a good look and think about pairing it with a new pair of jeans and it may become your new favorite outfit!
Please make sure to check out my friends posts to see how they interpret Collected Fashion.
apart from my art-sandra classic casual home-mary ann northern california style-kim rough luxe lifestyle-cindy the age of grace-eugenia the gardeners cottage-janet the real golden girl-kimberly the vintage contessa-elizabeth For more inspiration on menswear, check out my Pinterest board titled: Street Style.
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