The Glamorous Sweatpants.

Trench coat: Juicy Couture
Sweatpants: J Crew
Sneakers: Isabel Marant
Scarf: vintage (my grandmother's!)
Sunglasses: Ray-Ban
Watch: Juicy Couture

Eyes: Clinique Eyshadow On Safari
Lips: Clinique Heather Moon
Nails: OPI Uh Oh Roll Down the Window

I've been feeling a bit sick for the last couple of days, so my outfit here is sort of simple: sweatpants, my most glamorous (gold!) trench coat, Isabel Marant sneakers (my love!), and a big cozy vintage but trendy Russian ornament printed scarf (at least it WAS trendy a couple of seasons ago). Though it is almost the coat season, I am still wearing my trench coats because the moment I put a coat on, it means we have the six month of wearing coats ahead, and that is not fun. That is when outfit blogging gets really tough, as it all becomes about outerwear, and I don't have that much to come out with a new outfit idea every day. Though, I do plan for my blog to survive this cold season!

Lipstick:

The Red Coat. Fun Version.

Coat: Juicy Couture
Jeans: Gap
Sweater: J Crew
Shoes: David Braun

Lipstick: Dior 999
Nails: OPI Mod About You

So, I took the girly coat, the boyish jeans, a kiddy sweater and ladylike shoes. The result? A fun outfit.

Fun, but the outfit itself is definitely not girly, not boyish, not childish, and not even womens'. I think the key to creating such outfits is keeping the color pallette simple. I mean, if you decide to go crazy combining different styles, don't go crazy with combining colors as well!

Ahh, I LOVE when an unexpected mixture works so well!

The Red Coat. Elegant Version.

Coat: Juicy Couture
Shirt Dress: Zara
Boots: Seychelles
Hat: Zara
Tights: Calzedonia
Watch: Juicy Couture
Necklace: Mexx
Bracelets: Accessorize
Scarf: Juicy Couture
Sunglasses: Ray-Ban

Lipstick: Dior 999
Nails: OPI Mod About You

Ok, the easiest way to style a red coat is to make a ladylike elegant look. So, my solution was a white shirt dress and taupe accessories. This hat and boots are amazing, they are neutral, so they can be added to any outfit, and immediately give it a huge "polish". I just added a few little fun accessories like these bracelets, and red lipstick of course. I can't resist how amazingly this red shade of lipstick matches the color of the coat.

To summarize, the recipe is very easy:
1. Prepare the red coat and a matching red lipstick.
2. Then layer white and taupe (or tan) colored items around it as much as you want.
3. Finally, add a handful of little accessories in bright colors.

The Red Coat.

Coat: Juicy Couture
Jeans: True Religion
Booties: Clarks
Sunglasses: Ray-Ban

Lipstick: Dior 999

When autumn gets really cold, it becomes all about outerwear. A bright colored coat is my "basic" item number one on the autumn wardrobe list. Either red or any other vibrant color - it is your lifesaver! When you are not in the mood for any complicated styling, just throw it on, and you are immediately stylish. This is what I did for the today's outfit: regular dark blue jeans, red trench coat and red lips - at this is already an outfit! imagine a highly popular basic item - a beige trench coat here? Boring! Boring! Boring!

Or if you ARE in the mood for some creative styling, a bright coat is endlessly versatile. I will sure demonstrate it in my future posts.

The Songbirds Of Sadness.

Coat: Juicy Couture
Dress: Juicy Couture
Tights: AC
Thigh-high socks: Calzedonia
Beanie hat: Juicy Couture
Shoes: Salamander
Watch: Juicy Couture

Lipstick: Clinique Heather Moon
Nails: Sally Hansen Grey Area

The beginning of autumn, or fall, is the most beautiful season of all, both in its nature and its spirit. Those colorful leaves, yellow and orange colored flowers, soft sunlight and crispy air, poetic smoky sky. We still have memories of the warm summer not far back, but already may look forward to the wonderful holiday season. It is still not that cold and not that gloomy as the late autumn is.

As much as I do my best to enjoy this beautiful season, it has always been marked by sadness in my life.

My son was born on September 19 in 2008 and though it was the happiest day in my life, it soon turned into a nightmare, when my baby got into coma the next day, and we didn't even know if he would survive. I remember looking out of the hospital window into the beautiful autumn day thinking how could it become so tragic for me. Thankfully, my Eduard started getting better, though he does have cerebral palsy now.

Then in 2010 another tragedy came around. My father died on August 10. It was so sudden and heartbreaking, and the whole months ahead were marked by grief.

Last year, just around the end of summer - beginning of autumn, I had my first panic attack. It hit me out of the blue, scared me to death, and made me feel miserable and weak. And the worst part was that they kept repeating, building up into a pattern, appearing in crowded places, underground crossings, subway, driving a car. I had to go to therapy a be put on drugs to get rid of those panic attacks.

They did though come back this past August again, making me even more frustrated and upset than before: I had been sure I had beaten them! So here I am, back on drugs!

And then the BIG tragedy came. My sister. Probably, the biggest tragedy I've had to deal with in my whole life. And again, in the beautiful month of September...

I don't want my life, or my blog, to be about tragedies.  I want it to be about fun outfits, and beauty, and style, an joy, and simple happiness.

So, right now I am going to focus on my outfit. Because this dress has a story as well. I first found this bird-printed dress in a Juicy Couture outlet in Philadelphia when I was in the US in February. I tried it on, loved it, but then saw the price tag: $ 200, and put it back on the rack. Then this summer I found the same dress on ebay for a fraction of price and immediately bought it. That is such a luck to buy something online that I've already tried on and loved in person! But then it was the dress I wore to my sister's funeral... So it will forever be the Sad Dress for me.

Though, I didn't want this outfit to look like I am actually going to a funeral, so I added a few funny details: a beanie hat and thigh-high socks.

Cold Season Can Wait!

Dress: Free People
Parka: Next
Boots: Tamaris
Bag: Coach
Watch: Juicy Couture
Necklace: Next

Looks like summer is making a lot of effort to make up for the lousy cold months of June and August with this warm and sunny weather, so I decided not to pack up my summer wardrobe just yet and wore this linen maxi dress by Free People. As I've already mentioned here, Free People dresses can really drive you crazy while you are looking for the appropriate underwear and slip to wear under those sheer fabrics and revealing cuts. This dress is not an exception! It IS beautiful with it's long sleeves, high neckline and flowy silhouette, but it also has sheer material and open back, which made it a tough task to find an appropriate undergarment. I bought this dress in spring, but didn't ever wear it because I was looking for something to wear underneath. First I bought a slip skirt which didn't work because it's waistline showed under sheer fabric of the dress. Then I found a slip that used to be part of a 2-piece set, I believed it had to work 100%. Well, that thing turned out to be of a very thick material and very high back, so it was crossed out as well. Then I found a Victoria's Secret slip and decided to give it a try. I've only received it a couple of days ago, tried it on with th dress, discovered that it matches perfectly and was ready to wait till next summer to wear it. Then this warm day came and here I am wearing it! I always love the idea of wearing a summer piece of clothing with something designed for colder days, like a blush colored linen maxi dress and military green parka. And boots, of course. I wouldn't wear this outfit with sandals, because instead of a warm day in fall they will send us to a cold evening in summer!

A Sprinkle Of Paprika (And A Little Black Pepper Too!)

                                                     
Skirt: Salvatore Ferragamo
Sweater: Juicy Couture

Jacket: Juicy Couture
Tights: Calzedonia
Shoes: Salamander
Watch: Juicy Couture
Necklace: vintage (my mother's)
Bracelet and earrings: unknown

What is really amazing about autumn is it's colors. All we have to do is watch them and just play along and blend in. And, probably, orange is THE color of autumn. Somehow over the past few years  my autumn-winter wardrobe has become full of orange color. Is that a coincidence? Well, that is definitely a great idea for a all-orange look.

Inspired By The Look: Taking The Sweatpants Out Of Comfort Zone.

This is the look that inspired me, it is from J Crew featuring their famous Saturday Sweatpants:

I got crazy about these sweatpants the moment I saw this look. That is probably because ever since I became a stay-at-home-forever-mom, I have been haunted by the wearing-sweatpants-for-the-rest-of-my-life-ghost. So the idea of dressing them up made me super-excited.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find these same pants anywhere, not even on ebay. So I got the last year's sweatpants from J Crew (I actually couldn't resist and got myself the matching hoodie too ;) as they where very close the ones above: skinny and knit, and heather gray.

But it took me a year to finally dare to wear them outside the house! May be because now I feel so miserable and  heartbroken   because I lost a dear person, I don't really care what people in the street think of my outfits. Yes, here I am, a crazy mom who takes her child for a walk all dressed up! Having this blog motivates me a lot as well, this is such a lifesaver! Such a cozy little home for my soul.

Cardigan: New Look
Sweatpants: J Crew
Shirt Dress: Zara
Boots: Chinese Laundry
Bag: Louis Vuitton
Sunglasses: Ray-Ban
Watch: Juicy Couture
Necklaces: Mexx
Bracelet: unknown

Nails: OPI Mod About You

Ladylike.

Trench: Juicy Couture
Shirt Dress: Zara
Tights: Calzedonia
Boots: Chinese Laundry
Necklace: Monet
Bag: Louis Vuitton

Lipstick: Elizabeth Arden Coral
Nails: OPI Uh Oh Roll
 Down the Window

I've recently discovered this shirt dress in the back of my closet and I've been wearing a LOT! What a versatile piece of clothing!

1. It is white. Perfectly bold but neutral color at the same time. Can be dressed up and down till you get bored, which will actually never happen.

2. It is shirt style. Shirt dresses have been super trendy this past spring-summer season, but in my opinion, a white shirt dress will always look fresh and modern. The only thing you have to do is find the shape that's right for you. Which leads to my next point...

3. It is wide a flowy, more of a tunic style. For some reason I've never liked the way a classic shirt dress looks on me, I mean the form fitting ones, that look like a long button-down shirt.

So, the dress is well-discussed and let's talk about the rest of the outfit. I had  "ladylike" idea in my mind, so I chose a classic trench and a beige palette. I even took out this old Louis Vuitton handbag to keep up with this idea. And a large flower necklace! And I completed it with my hair style: what's more feminine than a high bun?

But as usual, I didn't want to look like an ACTUAL business lady, so I brought some contrast with my shoes and ... nails. I've just received this new nail polish - OPI Uh Oh Roll Down the Window which is a dark mossy green. I was dying to try it, though I am going to wear it mostly later in autumn and winter. It was a perfect match to the color of my necklace and a fun contrast to my ladylike look!

How To Get Tight With Nude Tights.

Parka: Next
Shirt dress: Zara
Sneakers: Isabel Marant
Tights: Calzedonia
Necklace: Mexx
Bracelet: unknown
Watch: Juicy Couture
Bag: Michael Kors

Lipstick: Dior Couture 999

The cold, really cold, season is officially here, and I can't object to this any more by wearing summer pants and bare legs. So I took my tights out.

Tights are probably the most controversial item of a woman's closet. There is hardly any blogger or a fashion web site that hasn't mentioned them, that hasn't said how unappropriate they are: either wear bare legs or wear pants! Well, I gave those tights a lot of thought too, and I came to this conclusion: they work, but they work as long as you think of them as part of your outfit, not as a way to "cover" your legs or "protect you from cold". Ok, ok, we DO wear them because of cold, but why not to play with them and treat them as a fun accessory,  not a necessary evil.

This outfit below is basically led by tights!  They may be neutral and taupe, but they do pull the outfit  together. With bare legs a shirt dress like this would look like I've borrowed a men's shirt to lounge around the house and went out having forgotten about that. The tights help make this look like a dress.