Day: Wednesday, January 15, 2014.
Where: Winesday at Whole Foods and El Paso Cafe for my brother's birthday.
Ease of Wear: (4.5 of 5 stars--5 being the most easy to wear.) For such a pulled-together look, this was surprisingly comfy. I felt like I could have easily worn it the whole day and not needed to change my shoes, tights, etc.
The tights were necessary since it was so blasted cold that day (and has been since, barring the lovely weather we had on the 20th). I purchased those tights from Boden last year and they are popular enough that Boden brought them back for fall 2013. It can be difficult to find proper thick sweater tights here in the States. A few places sell them, but they are very expensive. Target sells sweater tights now, which I was pleased to see, but at $12, they are still relatively expensive for tights. (And they got a run right away--in the upper leg, which I could fix with clear nail polish, but still!)
The shoes are the much beloved Leather loafers which I reviewed here. Most worn pair of shoes in my closet, hands down.
Cool Factor: (3.5 of 5 stars--5 being the coolest--for both outfits.) Some of my JCA friends will immediately recognize the look, which is why the post is titled Argyle and Lodden. Both the dress and shirt were styled together in the J. Crew Paris Catalog (September 2007). Obviously I couldn't wear it the way the lovely Vanessa Lorenzo did in the photo, but I could at least do half of the look. :)
Not cool, btw, just pretty.
If you are a fan of the shirt, and you sew, you can grab the fabric here at B&J fabrics (Liberty of London Lodden). I won't be making anything else from the fabric (I was able to buy the blouse on ebay), but I could see the print looking very pretty in a full skirt.
Anecdote from the Day: As per our usual, my brother and I went to Winesday that Wednesday. We found out our favorite host (there are five stations) has the same birthday as my brother (along with Martin Luther King, Jr., of course).
After that we enjoyed ourselves at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Paso Cafe. And as we always do, everyone took a moment to wear a sombrero, including yours truly.
Alrighty, you all have a great night!