I’m moving on from my brown and navy obsession for just a day or so to embrace another color combo I just can’t get enough of….olive and burgundy. This coat and hat are among the few items I purchased to enhance my wardrobe for fall!
I already own a black coat for chilly weather, but given so many of my color obsessions this season correspond best with brown and tan, I went shopping for a coat that would fit into that palette. I found this one at TJ Maxx (Vince Camuto) for $99! I love the leather accents and the asymmetrical front zipper panels. It makes the coat look way more expensive than it was!
It looks like I was getting sassy with the camera, but really I was just running my mouth and trying to show all the corresponding colors, like the burgundy piping in the lining of the coat, and the burgundy elements in the print of my shirt.
These burgundy suede booties (Steve Madden Luxe) were a re-sale shop find at Crossroads Trading Co. in Brooklyn from two years ago. They are definitely reaching the end of their lifespan but they were perfect for peeking out under my jeans for this look.
The hat (Giovannio New York, purchased on MyHabit) was a gamble since I have a lot of hair that doesn’t always fit with headgear. I knew I wanted to incorporate one item in this color into my wardrobe this season and when I saw this hat, I thought it was a creative way to do that. This style is called a ‘lady fedora’ – the v-shaped folds on the top and the bow make it so!
I don’t usually condone matching one’s eye shadow to her top (e.g. light blue shirt with frosty blue eye shadow – yuck!) but I do think it’s okay to incorporate new colors into your everyday makeup if they correspond to other elements of your look. It’s also a less expensive way to experiment with color trends, too!
These shadows are brand new from the (PLA) Beauty Opulent collection for fall. I started with a wash of the light color from lash to brow, then applied the burgundy color in the crease, and rubbed the dark blue into the outside corners of my eyes. Layering the blue onto the red tone made a nice purple shade that complemented the green coat and burgundy hat really well. I’m going to try doing a makeup tutorial on my blog sometime soon, so I’ll definitely revisit this palette then!
Secret: these jeans (Paper Denim and Cloth) were my boyfriend’s. He was getting rid of them, so I snatched them out of the pile and tried them on – they fit like a glove. Score!
WHY I WORE IT:
I hope I’ve been clear enough in my past posts about my reasons for choosing certain things, but for the sake of over-explaining:
- I chose the jeans because it was Friday, and we can wear jeans to work. These jeans are also more gray than they are blue, so I didn’t think they’d throw off the olive and burgundy colors I chose for my outerwear. The top has such an involved and unique pattern that it’s a way to add character without being over-styled at the office.
- The top also has burgundy elements in it, so it would pick up the hat I intended to wear nearly perfectly, and would also stand alone as a complete look with the shoes since I took the hat off when I got to work.
- The shoes were an easy choice since they matched the hat well enough, creating my ‘bookends’ that are a major element of how I dress. For the most part, I like to make sure that an eye-catching element in the bottom half of my look has a piece to answer to in the top half of my look in a similar color, shade or pattern.
- The green coat picks up the burgundy quite well because greens and reds are opposite each other on the color wheel, and are considered complementary. I think this is also why I like navy and tan/brown together so much because blue and orange are complementary colors (and in my mind, tan/brown is closer to orange).
- And finally, the navy monogrammed clutch (Gigi New York) wasn’t an obvious choice but I’m so in love with it, so I went for it, and it kind of linked to the dark jeans.
- The makeup I explained above but is clearly in line with the color palette of the shirt, clutch, shoes and hat.
P.S. This look also made me feel like a detective, which is always a plus when my outfit makes me feel like a new character!
