November 3, 2023
More heroines, making “festive dressing” choices…
First, our pastel-loving heroine:
Her existing 32-piece wardrobe is complete, and depending on where she spends the holidays, she may be well-equipped…
But the weather is occasionally cool where she is, so she wants a sweater, and a neutral, dressy skirt. And when she sees the classic, elegant dress, her shopping is done!
Earrings – BaubleBar; shirtdress – J.Crew; sweater – L.L.Bean; bag – INC International Concepts; pleated skirt – J.Crew; shoes – J.Renee
Here’s how her new purchases fit into her existing wardrobe – lovely additions!
Her new accessories fit in well – although both her shoes and bag are unquestionably the dressiest ones she owns! But those 2 pieces, put with almost any outfit, will make a major difference…
Her new skirt can be worn with (maybe) every top she owns! And of course it can be worn all year ’round…
Her new sweater isn’t particularly “holiday-ish,” but she can wear it with (maybe?) all of the bottoms in her wardrobe. It’s a neutral that should last for decades…
Her new dress is going to be worn a LOT through the holidays, and probably much of the year! She can wear a jacket or a cardigan over it, but to start, she’s experimenting with what she can do with accessories…
Our next heroine isn’t going to have a particularly dressy holiday season – her friends are more likely to wear ugly holiday sweaters, or ornamented sweatshirts, than anything with sequins!
Let’s enjoy her art inspiration for a moment:
Her 32-piece wardrobe from October has lots of outfit options; if she’s seriously NOT going to dress up, she’s in a good spot…
But she sees a sparkly sweater that really catches her eye; dressy, but not frou-frou… A warm shirt, and a pair of pants in the perfect shade of grey for her new sweater, and she’s set:
Pearl & turquoise earrings – The Jewellery Store London; vintage teal chamois shirt – L.L.Bean; Silver metallic sweater – J.Crew; teal scarf – Treasure & Bond; grey pants – J.Crew; sneakers – Puma
Her updated wardrobe looks almost EXACTLY like it did before – everything fits in perfectly. Clothes in a closet shouldn’t all look alike, but they should at least share DNA…
Green sneakers make a nice statement – especially with a matching scarf!
She loves her sparkly sweater, but she wants to wear it in a “toned-down” style – how about wearing it with denim?
Her new pants are the kind of thing you reach for when you aren’t certain of what’s appropriate. They’re pants, so they aren’t TOO dressy, but they’re lovely non-denim, non-canvas, non-corduroy pants, so they feel dressier…
Her cozy chambray shirt can be worn on its own, but this time of year it really shines as a 2nd layer. Warm, relaxed, and a delicious color:
Do any of you celebrate Thanksgiving in a really dressy style? Normally my family has always been VERY casual for Thanksgiving, but then we started going out for dinner that day, and that changed everything!
(If you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, do you celebrate any other holidays in a dressed-up style? The way families sustain their traditions fascinates me…)
love,
Janice
P.P.S. Eight years ago, I strongly suggested that you watch the television series “I’ll Have What Phil’s Having.” Still a wonderful series…
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Another gem from Janice:
“Clothes in a closet shouldn’t all look alike, but they should at least share DNA…“
I love this one.
The dress in the Klee wardrobe is truly fabulous.
Green sneaks! 😍😍😍😍😍
Love the Monet wardrobe. A bit too monochromatic for me, and I think the colors would wash me out, but I do love it’s calm peacefulness just the same. We are VERY low key around here for all the holidays. When I was growing up we had a very good friend who declared Christmas Day as her day off. Stayed in her pajamas and didn’t cook. Fortunately she had a large family which took up the slack! As my boys have gotten older and have girlfriends they appreciate that we are low key and don’t go ballistic if they spend the day with the girlfriends family vs. us. To me it’s all good. Happy Friday everyone.
In our family, it’s very much just wear whatever you want. I have worn a favourite lace sequin t-shirt to my sister’s house on Christmas day for a few years while others in my family have just worn Christmas-themed t-shirts and jeans. I’m sure no one would bat an eye if I showed up in pyjamas either. I do try to dress up a little for our at home Christmas Eve and New Years Eve dinners, but it’s still pretty low key and there is zero expectation.
I like that white shirt dress in the Klee wardrobe. I think she could also use that as a duster jacket in the warmer months.
beautiful again.
The earthy heroine definitely needs a long pastel-colored coat, possibly light blue.
I can also imagine her with a more floral pattern and if I were to meet her it would be pure joy.
The second heroine needs snowflake earrings to celebrate discreetly.
I like the balance of colors.
Pretty additions.
We always dress up a bit for Thanksgiving – when we started joining my brother’s in-laws for Thanksgiving, they started dressing up too! It’s a “flexible” dress-up (i.e. can accommodate the changing waistline over the course of the evening) but its good fun. I love picking out different jewelry for these occasions (and admiring everyone else’s picks). I have yet to find an appropriate sweater dress for the occasion though…
We also dress up a bit for Christmas eve – my generation cooks a “pot-luck” style 4pm-10pm type of dinner, reminiscent of cocktail hour pushing into dinner. The fun part is kicking my parents/aunts & uncles out of the kitchen (i.e. “the adults” get a break) – we started this tradition when we were still kids in highschool, so we still feel like “the kids” even with kids of our own! The “adults” still handle Christmas dinner though (although we step it up as kitchen helpers).
Are pleated skirts all the rage these days? They pop up frequently in wardrobes here but I don’t see them much in stores or being worn in my region. Just curious.
My family dressed up for Christmas dinner as long as my sister hosted it but now that we have our own dinner at home – just us – it’s less fancy. I still put on a fresh outfit for the meal, changing out of the one I wore while working in the kitchen, but there’s no expectation to dress up. I guess we wear business casual – nice, but nothing fancy. Thanksgiving is the same.
Also, I’ve observed that our Thanksgiving in Canada isn’t as big of an occasion as it is in the US. We definitely celebrate it but it’s comparatively more low key.
I do enjoy “dressing up” the table a bit for these dinners. It’s great fun to use the pretty things my mother and grandmother owned and I have always subscribed to the concept that food tastes better when it’s on pretty dishes.
Ugh, a rayon (“viscose”) dress for $248 that has to be dry cleaned to boot?! Rayon is garbage: frays, pills, and wrinkles horribly. She better not plan on that dress for more than a season. Not up to your usual high quality standards.
Lovely dress, but I agree, my experience with viscose and other rayons has been negative. I won’t buy it anymore no matter how cute it is, the cost per wear is just too high.
I love the way both of these wardrobes came together. You can really feel the personality of each woman and both palettes are colorful with a good balance of neutrals.
In my family, we always dressed up for any holiday, and it was a fairly dressy affair. Of course, we were also expected to dress up for church and the post-church family dinner as well. Any more, I barely own anything dressy and live on the other side of the country from them, so maybe I’ll throw on a skirt or dress as a nod to tradition, but that’s about it.
We are pretty casual for our holiday celebrations although we dress nicely for a Christmas church service. But for seeing family it’s usually just nice jeans/pants and a pretty shirt or sweater. Nothing too fancy.
I really love the Monet wardrobe and would take that in a heartbeat. The grey pants are so nice!
I love to dress up – velvet and sparkly tops/jumpers. So the silver sparkly jumper is right up my street. If she wants to be casual dressy then a velvet jeans with the sparkly jumper and a scarf would do the trick. Velvet can be dressed up or down in my opinion. Tonight I’m going out for a Hen Dinner to celebrate my daughter’s forthcoming wedding. I’ve just come from my hairdresser who did my wedding makeup trial, so I’m feeling rather glam. Tonight I’m wearing navy velvet trousers and a shimmery top. We always dress up for Christmas and New Year.
Enjoy your evening, Beth! Your outfit sounds lux and beautiful.
Sounds beautiful!
hugs,
Janice
I am dying to know what a hen dinner is?!?!
Bunch of women dining and partying together – the female equivalent of a stag party. Dublin is littered with these parties every weekend – Ireland is THE place to drink and get festive! That’s how I learned of this…
hugs,
Janice
Lovely offerings again, Janice. I have a sweater very similar to the silver one. Matte sequins take the sparkle factor down a notch. Love the grey trousers as well. And if you worry about spilling anything other than eggnog on that ivory skirt, it comes in other colours. I love pleated skirts for their versatility and their size forgiveness. Had a crystal pleated one I wore through 3 size increases!
We dress up some for the holidays. My mother is all about any excuse for a party. So we party. My closet is heavy on tops that can be “business casual” or with a change of accessories “Sunday go to meetin’” the older I get the more I’m into comfort first.
I love both of these wardrobes; I don’t know if I could pick a favorite if pressed….