Yet Another Example of Sal's Awesomeness

Even though she lives far, far away in the frozen tundra of the Midwest, beautiful blogging buddy Sal still manages to be in my life pretty much every day. On this particular day it was because I was wearing this gorgeous jacket that she sent me just because she's awesome (though she claimed it was because the jacket was a little too snug for her). Check out how the little buttons and puffed shoulders fit so perfectly with my love of Edwardian styles. Does Sal get me, or what?

This jacket gave me the perfect opportunity to wear this never-before-seen-at-work ruffled top; in fact the only time it's even been seen on this blog was in the outfit I wore to the Edwardian Ball. The jacket covered the super-fancy ruffled bust and let just the bottom ruffle peek out at the waist, as well as the beautiful high collar, which protruded elegantly at the neckline.

The suede skirt is one I've had for ages and rarely wear, but for some reason keep hanging onto. I like the textural similarity between the velvet jacket and the suede; to me the bottom half of the outfit needed to have the same richness as the top but without so much detail. The skirt worked wonderfully, which I guess explains why I've kept it all this time.

Thanks again Sal, I adore the jacket and plan on giving it tons of love!

Top: Sequioa and Gita
Jacket: Gap
Skirt: Anne Taylor Loft
Shoes: Tsubo
Necklace: sadly, I don't know; it was a gift

Patchwork

This outfit isn't a super exciting one; it was a comfortable, casual look that I threw together in the morning when I was running around trying to get everything together for meeting with my tax guy. But I wanted to show it to you because it features this beautiful suede jacket that I found while out thrifting with my mom in Oregon last month. This jacket is a perfect illustration of patchwork done really well; the patches have subtle variations in texture and color, giving the jacket depth without making it look like it was just thrown together from a bunch of scraps. It also looks like it has never been worn, which is unusual for a suede piece found in a thrift store.

The other thing I did with this outfit was to throw in the scarf for a splash of unexpected color. This is one of the easiest ways to jazz up a casual outfit -- anyone could see that pairing the purple top with brown pants and purple boots would work, but adding the green scarf is a bit more adventurous and interesting.

Scarf: Rhapsodia
Top: Just Angels
Cords: Marlowe
Boots: Fly London
Jacket: thrifted
Bracelet: Betsey Johnson