Retirement Remedies: The Fall Wardrobe Series

I really debated not doing this series at all, despite several requests last Spring for me to follow up with Fall items.   My reasons were that I have at present only about five tops and three pairs of pants...and I'm not sure how long I'll be able to continue to wear the pants.  Really how far could I possibly stretch a small and hopefully temporary, wardrobe?

Then I was reading The Listening Valley by D.E. Stevenson and one of the characters was a French girl who arrived with one suitcase and a handful of things in it.  She always looked 'smart' as it was put in the book, and managed with just a change of scarves or a sweater added to look as though she had a whole new outfit.

That put me in mind of an article from one of the vintage magazines about a French student in an American college who always managed to look chic...but when her dorm companions peeked in her closet they discovered she owned a pair of jeans, a sweater and the skirt, blouse and jacket she'd worn out that evening!

Well so what if my wardrobe is limited?  I still have to dress this fall and I might as well have a bit of fun seeing how well I can do it, right?



And then I started playing about on Pinterest Saturday evening, which is my major Pinning time and I saw an outfit that I really, really liked.  It proved to be an inspiration to me and the next thing I knew I was scanning the fashion files of Angela and Karla and a few others that I follow on Pinterest and finding more and more possibilities to use what I have to create a fall wardrobe.

So essentially I started with this photo:

 I don't have a source for this photo, it merely says uploaded by user...No info in that is there?

I loved the red and camel and immediately thought of a silk scarf I have and a red purse I'd noted I'd not carried in a long while.  I don't have boots...and while this is styled with jeans I opted for black pants, but jeans could work just as well.  I didn't bother with jewelry after I picked up some red glass earrings and discovered that the 'red' was actually paint which had peeled. ( They are now a lovely pair of frosted glass earrings!  Just a little rehab required to get them to that state.)  I'll likely use some really chic looking gold hoops with a gold drop on the end for earrings with this outfit. And possibly my cream enameled bangle with the black pinstripe.   I started with this look:

A taupe 3/4 sleeve cardigan and a cream/ light coffee colored tee shirt, black pants, a red purse and the scarf I mentioned which has black, gold, red, taupe and cream.   I was really pleased with the overall look. 

As I was pulling out the scarf to style the first outfit, I realized that my collection of vintage scarves and wraps and such was going to stand me in good stead for Fall.  Using those same two pieces above as my base, I came up with this as a second outfit:

I used the black pants (or I could use black jeans for a more casual look) and a vintage alligator purse in a rich dark brown.  The scarf here has a hunt scene in taupe, maroon, mustard and an olive gray color. The purse was Mama's a long time ago.  In an old book on good grooming written by a French woman, the reader is urged to use alligator only as a casual purse, never as a dressy one...but it does appear dressy anyway, doesn't it?

 This scarf is cream, taupe, gray, navy and mustard.  Styled here with a mustard bracelet and blue jeans.  I have a darker wash jeans now than I had on the day of the photo.  I'll likely use those.  I'm feeling the need for a purse in gray or navy...Shall keep my eyes open for that.

 This is a wrap that I often will drape over my shoulders when it's really cool as it's quite heavy and warm.  I love to layer it with a sweater anyway.  Although it's a dark brown and rust there is some black woven into this.  I chose the black pants to go with this and likely would wear a set of tiger eye and amber beads I really like, and carry my brown bag.

 When I was using this scarf in the previous look I noted the grays in the makeup of it and thought about my pinstripe gray pants.  The pinstripe is a deep teal  which the blues play up more in person.  The pants are quite lightweight really and so I thought a simple fitted gray knit top would be a good one to style a more casual outfit.

 I could easily use the scarf here with this outfit as well if I chose, but I opted for a necklace.  The Robin Egg blue knit top is one I purchased for $1 at a thrift store earlier in July.  I felt adding the jeans jacket would also help create a more casual style to these pieces, making them more versatile for my lifestyle which is far more casual than dressy.  Again, feeling a strong need for a nice gray or navy bag...

Here are the pants styled with the Robin Egg top and a gray and steel toned necklace.  I'd wear this to church I think and likely would use black bag and shoes with it.

Now that is a portion of my small wardrobe.  I have three or four more tops to share and will style them in various ways as well, many inspired by Pinterest photos which I'll also share.