I’m thrilled to report that it was warm enough to wear this outfit to a baby shower this weekend and leave off the topper and hose. That’s huge news for us Seattleites. The sun is out and it’s beautiful weather. These photos were taken on the pier in Leschi, which is in walking distance from our home. 

Although my heart is with full skirts that swish and move, I’m re-kindling my affection with the odd pencil skirt in my wardrobe with the help of a fresh support act. This is my favourite pencil skirt because of the colour and fit. It’s 100% wool, fully lined, and sans stretch. The lack of stretch results in a tailored fit that isn’t overly tight. You also don’t get those pulling folds across the hip that you do with skirts that have stretch in the fabrication. 

You’ve seen this tomato red skirt matched with citron, and with black lace which is how I enjoyed wearing it most. Until now. The skirt is an orange-red, which means that matching it with a shade of blue is a slam-dunk. So why not wear it with light blue, my favourite shade of pastel? 

Wearing light blue with tomato red is a new-to-me combination that I would like to wear more often. It feels fresher than matching the red with another bright or neutral. A secret stitch keeps those sleeves scrunched, and wearing the shirt tucked is the classic way to go. 

This particular shirt is a new one that I bought to replace last year’s light blue and white shirt, which tore on the sleeves and was irreparable.

I finished off the outfit with new gold pumps, which are the metallic version of my white pumps. For my lilly white legs, a soft gold works like a nude shoe, and I prefer the metallic to nude leather. I love these pumps so much, both the white and the gold, and feel fortunate to have found two pairs of comfy, low heeled dressy Summer shoes that will go the distance for my walking lifestyle. 

I haven’t used the gold satchel since 2011, but what the heck, I went all the way, classically matching shoes with bag. It felt odd to be carrying a satchel again after almost exclusively wearing daytime clutches for a while. But again, it was a good change. And along with eyewear, darker lipstick, gold watch and wedding ring, I wore my late Mum’s huge gold ring. It’s extremely heartwarming to wear her wardrobe workhorse jewellery that I recognize from when she was close to my age and I was a little girl. 

I hadn’t realized how much I missed wearing a simple classic outfit until I put this look together — and it felt really good. I’ve been so preoccupied with slouchy trousers and jeans, roomy pullovers, bomber jackets, oversized blouses, motos and full skirts that this classic combination fell by the wayside. It certainly won’t be an everyday thing, but with our warmer weather, I do want to wear the combination more often. 

I feel like I’m cleansing my style when I wear this look. Making a statement with a few timeless style ingredients feels healthy amidst all the delicious junkfood trends. My style detox has begun.