Exclamation Necklace

I'm pretty sure I planned this outfit around this utterly gorgeous necklace. And the fact that I wanted to look fabulous for the last day of Nutcracker merriment, of course. Neither teal nor peach might be the first colors that jump to mind during the holiday season, but I loved how the the pretty peach tones of the necklace looked against the cool hue of the dress. Teal is so my color anyway, and the fit of the dress is pretty great too. Not a bad canvas, I say.

Dress - Ann Taylor / Belt - Banana Republic / Mocha tights - We Love Colors /
 Brown buckle pumps - Christian Siriano for Payless

Thanks to a run in my favorite Spanx sheers, I decided to go with tights for the ol' gams. Since I loved the unexpected combination of teal and brown the last time I wore this dress, I went with mocha tights and darker brown heels to create a nice tonal effect. A wide belt in a tan snakeskin helped define my waist and balance out the colors, but I wonder if I could have benefited from a more streamlined look without it. Next time, I guess. Besides, it was all about the necklace anyway, remember?

Necklace - Anthropologie / Ring & earrings - Banana Republic 

Handbag - Steve Madden

Red Hot

The nice thing about a freezing cold, sunny day is that, if I do choose to brave the elements for outdoor pics, I know that I'll be done in a blink of an eye. My eyes might be watery and skin paler than usual, but gosh darnit at least I've got sunlight on me.

"Marilyn" sweater - Lane Bryant / Flare jeans - Lane Bryant / Patent snake belt - Lane Bryant

The morning light threw off my usual locations, though (to good effect, I think), and the chilly wind kept flipping up my portrait collar on this new sweater of mine (to less good effect). I don't really own much red, and since I could never say no to three-quarter length sleeves and off-the-shoulder styling, I snagged this Lane Bryant "Marilyn" sweater during their 40% sale as quickly as I could. I'm planning oodles of ways to style it (and I know you know a pencil skirt will be involved), but for its first outing on a casual day, I chose jeans, a wide black belt (much like the product picture) and fabulous leopard print heels.

Leopard print pumps - Max Studio (via DSW) / Ring - The Limited / Earrings - Lane Bryant

And say goodbye to my beautiful ostrich Furla. It's on its way back today! Thank you for a gloriously caramel, zippered, textured month, Ms. Amazzone.

Grey Area

I adore the combination of browns and greys together. It's definitely a pairing I advocate whenever I can. There's just something so sophisticated about these two neutrals together! Once upon a time (before I fully grasped the concept of neutrals, I think), I had it stuck in my head that they clashed, but then one day I thought better of it. I think my first such outfit (pre-blog) was a brown cowl-neck sweater and grey wide-leg pants. I might have belted it, too. Nothing earth shattering, I know, but something about it felt avant-garde at the time. (Of course, many things feel "avant-garde" in my corner of the world.) Now the combination has come of age, I guess, and I see the combination out and about more often than not. Not gonna lie - a small part of me wishes I could take credit for it, but I can't imagine I have that much style clout. =7

Dress - Dress Barn / Instant Sleeves in Dove - LucieLu / Wide belt - Banana Republic /
Handbag -  Furla (via Filene's Basement / Heels - RSVP (via Zappos)

The last time I wore this dark grey dress, I did something similar with tan and gold accessories. It helps when there's an embellishment of bronze, grey and gold that lends itself to such combinations, of course. It's such a great fitting dress, too. It fit a little loose when I first bought it, but at a few pounds heavier I'm grateful for the extra room. Though the dress does have cap sleeves, I wore the LucieLu Instant Sleeves (yep, again) more for the tonal color variation than for the coverage. Although, I do love the look of elbow-length sleeves on me. I guess that explains why I've been wearing these babies a lot lately, eh?

Ring - Ruche / Earrings - The Limited

Be sure to enter my two blogiversary giveaways for a fantastic necklace and a unique earrings/bangle combo! It ends Sunday night!!