Cultivating Your Personal Style | Shopping

Now that I’ve created a mood board with ideas that inspire me and checked out what I already have in my closet, I can plan for how I’ll budget out and shop this fall. Before we dig into that - a little side story. Let’s stroll down memory lane a bit, shall we?

I’ve always love planning and shopping for fall clothes and it’s something I enjoyed with my mom when I was growing up. Each year before school started, we’d tour the mall and do pre-shopping. I’d make a list of what I liked, how much it cost and then determined what would fit into my budget. I’d have to get fall shoes/boots and a coat in there too, so it made me into a smart little shopper. We’d also hit up the fabric store to find coordinating fabrics for things like skirts (which are so easy to make!). The best part was laying out everything we’d bought on the living room floor and mixing and matching outfits. I’d put on a little fashion show for my mom by trying each one on and she’d say “oh Jessica! I love that one!” It’s such a fun memory I have with my mom and it’s really influenced the way I think about shopping now. 

Bonus Fun Fact! I wrote down everything I wore during my entire Junior and Senior year in my planner with a system for repeating outfits. Is What I Wore the blog any surprise? 

Without further ado, here’s how I’m looking at my closet for this fall. I know I have my basics covered and I’m bad at adding tops, so that’s the first category I’m trying to focus on. 

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Tops

Navy and Hunter Green Sweater You’ll see this in an outfit post tomorrow. It feels slightly nostalgic, almost old school collegiate, but could be modern too with a pair of jeans. I really like the light weight yarn and it’s not too expensive either. Currently out of stock but I bet they’ll do a re-order! 

Aqua and White Short Sleeved Sweater This definitely feels vintage and I like the colors that will be really cute with dark denim or the spice tones I’m really liking this year. On sale for $24.99

Pink Vacation Tee If I’m honest with myself, I do wear a lot of tee shirts when I’m doing my stay-at-home-mom thing, so it’s worth it to me to get something cute. I have nothing in this shade of pink and again, I think it’ll be cute with denim or rust.

Rainbow Indiana Tee I don’t have a photo of the actual shirt I’m waiting on at a local store, but it’s kind of like this one. Will be so cool with high waisted anything!

Navy Eyelet Top This is more of a transitional piece (which I bet will be on sale soon!) but for me it checks all of the boxes for what I’m drawn to these days. The navy eyelet is a nice alternative to the white eyelet I have so much of and I think it’ll be a great spring/summer/vacation blouse for years to come.

Spice Toned Suede Jacket This sort of fills my need for both my tops and color categories. It’s going to layer over just about everything this fall, so don’t be surprised if you see it multiple times per week! It looks like the version I’ve bought is sold out, but here’s one that’s similar. 

Navy on Navy Polka Dot Blouse One of my recent sewing projects that looks great with jeans and will layer well under fall jackets.

Striped Sweater I’m working on knitting a striped sweater that has all of the colors I really love this season. Stay tuned on this one!

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Dresses

White Printed Sundress Although this one is white, it has a lot of cute potential during cooler months layered over a black turtleneck and black tights. I got it on super sale too! Here’s the closet version I could find (both are from Old Navy)

Free People Dress On the more expensive end of the spectrum is the faded red floral number that I bought last month (and exchanged for a size up! It really does run small around the ribs). Again - it checks many boxes and will be wearable year round.

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Bottoms

I’ve been doing a lot of thrift shopping and sewing for my bottom pieces, so I don’t have links or photos, but I’ll tell you about them anyway!

I made this pair of high waisted jeans and I will use the pattern to make a duplicate pair in a burnt orange fabric and a skinny leg option in rigid cone denim.

I’ve thrifted two leather skirts (one of which you’ll see on the blog tomorrow) - one fluted lighter weight leather and the other a suede mini.

A vintage chambray wool skirt (potentially will be shortened into a mini) and a polka dot wrap midi skirt round out my latest finds.

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Accessories

I’m really digging these sunglasses I got for $12! Hello 1978!

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I am so excited about getting dressed this fall. I’ve got a renewed appreciation for my body and get to wear some of my old clothes again. Sewing and knitting make me so happy so incorporating my self made pieces keeps me feeling creative as well. 

What’s your fall vibe? Are you thrifting, making or investing in anything special? Share with me on my Instagram page!

Here’s Part I | Gathering Inspiration and Part II | Maximizing Your Current Closet.

Cultivating Your Personal Style | Maximizing Your Current Closet

Now that I have my mood boards handy, I can check out my own closet to see what items I can highlight this fall. It’s important for me to be very clear and stress that I do NOT buy a full wardrobe of all new clothes each season! I don’t have the budget or the desire to start over from scratch. I have my core closet of basics all set and ready to go plus the items you’ll see below. Two of the things I know I’ll be adding to my wardrobe are this spice toned suede jacket and I bought fabric to make some amazing rust colored high waisted flares (wish me luck!). I also bought this Free People dress for a possible wedding guest outfit and it was too small in the lower ribs. Waiting until the end of my Whole30 to see if it fits or if I need to size up!

Ok! Let’s talk about favorites I’ve already got and can’t wait to wear to fit my seventies throwback theme!

Shearling Jacket 

I made this beauty last fall when I was pregnant and I think it will be so cute over the Free People dress or with a navy turtleneck and those rust flares. And I’ll definitely repeat it just as you see here (with regular jeans instead of maternity of course!). Simply said - it’s a great neutral that’s going to get a lot of milage!

Fringe Leather Bag

I bought this beauty during the Nordstrom Sale a few years ago and it’s one of my most used handbags. I love the color and style and it’s big enough for a couple diapers, wipes and my wallet. I rarely carry a diaper bag at all actually! Anyway, this will look great with my new thrifted boots as well as others already in my closet.

Navy Peacoat

Say 1970s and I’ll instantly think of one of my favorite movies - Love Story. Ali McGraw wears a navy peacoat and it’s such a great classic. It works as easily with modern looks as it does more vintage styled outfits. I like navy because of how it works with so many other colors in my closet! 

Cream Cable Turtleneck

This is another classic that looks great with just about every jacket or pair of pants in my closet. It’ll be worn a lot - just like in years past!

High Waisted Dark Denim

I love these Frame jeans (I wore this over the weekend which you can see here) because they make my legs look super long and the stretch fabric makes them comfortable! Also - they go with just about everything!

Camel Cape

This vintage cape is best suited for days when I’m not holding kids (cause let’s be real, capes are not easy with full hands), but I like this piece a lot!

Oxblood Vintage Leather Crop Jacket

I can still remember buying this piece at a Fort Wayne Goodwill over 15 years ago! It’s gotten a makeover (it was originally a long coat) but I wear it a lot more cropped off. I like the wide collar and braided details!

High Waisted Denim Skirt

I want to give this skirt a little more love this season. Obviously it didn’t work for me when I was pregnant last year, but I think paired with boots and a hippy-esque boots it would be super cute at some end of the summer barbecues. 

High Waisted Button Front Jeans

Ugh. These jeans got misplaced during our move and they are the one thing I wish I could find most! The rise is so cute and I hope I can even tailor them in a little bit for a more defined waist.

Navy Ditty Print Maxi Dress

One of my all time favorite dresses (see all of the ways I’ve worn it here) will absolutely be worn a bunch this fall. I think I’ll give it a new look by wearing it with the suede jacket I mentioned above with a navy floppy hat.

Purple Printed Chiffon Dress

Here’s another dress I can’t wait to pair with the suede moto jacket and boots for a kid free afternoon or evening. 

These aren’t the only pieces I’m excited to feature, but they are a good start! I have some vintage sweaters and printed skirts and dresses I hope I fit into soon too! 

For the final portion of this series, I’ll recap the pieces I’ve put on my wishlist and more ideas for how I’ll style them up! Stay tuned!

Cultivating Your Personal Style | Gathering Inspiration

Today I’m excited to walk you through how I’m working on cultivating my own personal style for the upcoming seasons. If you’re anything like me, you’ll fall into a style rut once in a while. Adjusting to being a new mom (or in my case - a mom of two!) pushed me into a routine of tee shirts and shorts, days without washing my hair and generally - not caring much about how I look. And that’s ok. We all will have times in our lives when what we wear takes a backseat. That said, I also know myself well enough to know when I feel good about the way I look it can carry over into the rest of my day. Simply said - I’m ready for that feeling again!! 

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Whenever I approach a new season, I like to work with fresh inspiration to organize my shopping list and highlight what’s already in my closet. For today’s post, I’ll be sharing how I gather ideas and get my creative wheels spinning. Guys - it’s a lot of fun! I really encourage you to spend an hour or two playing around with ideas like this before you run out and hit the mall (slash Target/thrift store/whatever!)

I went out to you guys on instagram and asked if you had any personas you used for your closets and there were some great ones - Yoga teacher applies for a loan, Midcentury librarian, Old Lady Artist at craft fair (in all black with stunning statement necklace), and Sante Fe Gallery Owner. I’d love to hear more on my Instagram comments if you have one! 

Part I Gathering Inspiration

The first thing I like to do is search for images that can take my initial ideas and branch them out further. This fall I’m playing with ‘70s Art Teacher’ as my early theme. Other search terms I’m using are bohemian, 70s style, 1970s fashion, Charlie’s Angels, High Waisted Jeans, and High Waisted Flares. I do this all on Pinterest and hello! rabbit hole! 

As you scan through your results, save anything you’re initially drawn to - you can go back and edit it out later if you want. Another feature I use a lot is the “more like this” whenever I find something I really like. It can take you further in creating your mood boards!

For my theme, I started pinning pictures like you see above - a palette of navy, rust, oxblood and orange. But I also felt drawn to weekend styling like retro style tees paired with high waisted jeans! There’s room in my life for both so I saved them all! And don’t feel like you need to copy anything head to toe (unless you want to!) I know that blue tights aren’t going to work for me, but I like the sweater, shirt and skirt combo, so on to the board it goes. And if you find photos that embrace the general mood - add those too!

If you’d like to scan some other mood board ideas, I have an entire category of them here (like French Casual, Choppy Bobs with Bangs (should I get bangs again is my ever present question en route to the salon!) How to Style a Houndstooth Blazer, Ways to Wear Bandanas)

Later this week I’ll be posting Part II of how I cultivate my personal style - Shopping Your Closet. I’ll take my mood boards here into my own closet to see how I can use what I already have (like the faux shearling coat I made last year pictured above!) before I make a wishlist for this season’s buying! Until then, here are some more of the images that have me ready to embrace my inner artsy fartsy, flare leg loving, high rise (mom) jean self!