I love the Helene Berman cape coat I bought during this year’s NAS. The oversized plaid pattern makes me happy, and it’s roomy so I can layer under all my on trend fluid fit and oversized knitwear. Since acquiring the coat, I’ve been paying extra attention to how other people are wearing and styling capes. Here are some visuals you might find inspiring too:

• 25 Chic Ways to Style a Cape This Fall.
• The Guardian’s tips on How to Wear a Cape.
• The Dos and Don’ts of Blanket Scarves.
• The One Fall Piece You Can Wear All Season At Any Weight.
• And last but not least, a few Pinterest boards with everything from sassy capelets and fun patterned little numbers, to cosy blanket scarves worn as capes and dramatic midi styles: Ms. Black, Meredith Alexander, and Lu Zazou.

Fab Links from Our Members

Joy found The New Breed of High-Performance Wool Clothing an interesting read.

Caro in Oz likes the idea behind this post on How to Stage Your Home for Living, and believes it applies to our wardrobes too. She said: “I want my living space to look great while I’m living in it rather than just when I’m selling.”

Ummlila thought The Real Reason Why You Feel Like You Have Nothing To Wear had some good visuals to illustrate the Essentials versus Statements discussions on the YLF forum.

Laurinda came across quite the artistic accomplishment: Designer Gail Be (and 23 beaders) spent three years to bead almost 1 million beads on a 400 pound wedding dress with a 20 1/2-foot train.

They say that variety is the spice of life, and that’s very true when it comes to your daily outfits. Variety prevents the dreaded style rut and for many people is a big part of making them happy with their style. The degree of daily outfit variety that my clients are after varies considerably from person to person. Some enjoy extreme changes from day to day, while others prefer to keep the differences subtle. 

I see two main groups among my clients when it comes to the drivers of outfit variety.

My stay-at-home clients typically achieve variety within the framework of day-to-day formulas, like casual pants with a statement sweater or combining a cardigan with jeans and boots. They change up the colour, patterns and texture of the pieces. They might find variety in different silhouettes. Or in footwear — switching between boot styles is particularly popular in Fall and Winter, for example.

My clients who work outside the home have much more inherent variation in the requirements of their wardrobe. For they may need all sorts of trouser styles and suits, as well as jackets, skirts and dresses, across a range of colours, textures and silhouettes. They might also need to dress up jeans on casual Fridays. And over the weekend their styles are usually much more relaxed.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that all of my stay-at-home clients seek less variety, or that all of my working clients love to have more of it. Although their life circumstances demand a certain amount of variety from their wardrobes, they don’t need to let that dictate the way they choose to express themselves with style. They can be creative within the constraints. For a stay-at-home mum this might mean pushing the boundaries of what they do within their daily formulas. For an office worker it might mean finding items that can be dressed up and down to meet different needs.

My need for daily outfit variety lands somewhere between the two extremes. I wear knitwear, shirts, jeans, trousers, jackets and coats with boots most days in Autumn, Winter and Spring. Most of my outfits are smart casual, although I wear business casual and casual looks too.

But I do need ample variety within this framework of outfits in order to avoid getting bored with my style. Switching to colours after a few days of neutrals. Patterns after a few days of solids. Tonal outfits after a few days of high contrast. Switching to white-out when I’ve been wearing dark outfits a lot. Pattern mixing when the outfit the day before felt tame. Colour and pattern play a big role in achieving outfit variety.

I also find that switching between tailored and slouchy silhouettes is a particularly effective way to add variety. For example, I like to wear baggy boyfriend jeans and straight leg jeans in the same week. And I don’t like to wear jeans every day, which makes wool trousers and happy patterned pants a must have for my wardrobe.

Finally, like most people I find variety in accessories. I’m a bag lady, so I frequently get my outfit variety by switching handbags.

Over to you. Is your need for daily outfit variety subtle, extreme, or somewhere in between?

My typical loungewear is warm and cozy: Tee, hoodie and baggy sweatpants in bright colours and bold patterns. This includes Summer, because it doesn’t get all that hot in Seattle and I feel cold at the drop of a hat. But I’ll be vacationing in a hot climate for two weeks in November, so breezier loungewear is suddenly a necessity. 

It’s important to me that my loungewear is soft, baggy, happy and fashionable. After shopping many retailers, I finally found exactly what I was looking for at Gap Body. I’m impressed with the quality, fit and colour variety of their fashionable, practical and flattering assortment this season. The fabrics are SUPER soft and luxurious, and they launder well too.  

I ended up with two loungewear ensembles that are quite different from each other.

Wide Pants and Fluid V-Neck 

Gap

Medium-weight modal tee

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Nordstrom

DKNY 'Citi Essentials' Pants

$48.00

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I first bought DKNY’s Citi Essentials Pants at Nordstrom because I enjoy wearing flowing soft wide pants as loungewear. The stripes are fun and make me smile. These don’t cling onto your tighs like many of these styles tend to do, and are very soft and drapey. But I couldn’t for the life of me find a lightweight top with a neckline that did not slip off my shoulders. Then I found Gap’s Medium Weight Modal Tee, and although I don’t usually wear V-necks, the neckline is cut close to my shoulder neck point, so it stays put. It is SO SOFT. The tee looks great over the wide pants with a little side front semi-tuck and scrunched sleeves. 

Tapered Track Pants and Pocket Tee

Gap

Reverse jersey tee

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Gap

Slim terry flower pants

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I don’t usually wear tapered lounge pants because they aren’t floppy enough for my loungewear needs. But I was attracted to the embroidered flowers on Gap’s Slim Terry Pants and tried them on anyway. They fit me as fluidly as they do the model, and to my surprise I loved them after I’d pulled up the hems for extra leg scrunch. I paired them with Gap’s Reverse Jersey Tee in blue, and once again scrunched the sleeves and semi-tucked the front at the side for a little more outfit structure. The tee isn’t as soft as the black modal tee, but it’s still very cozy, and does not fall off my shoulders. I bought the blue, but be sure to have a look at the red tee on the model too, to see how fab the shirt looks with scrunched sleeves. 

I wear lounge clothes first thing in the morning before I shower and dress for the day, and at night when we wind down for the evening. It is important to me that I feel good wearing these wardrobe basics, so I give myself permission to not wear any old thing as loungewear. And I even go so far as to think about how the items look semi-tucked or with scrunched sleeves.

That said, I do understand if putting thought into the way you style your loungewear is a step too far. But for me, it’s just another way that I can have fun with fashion, so why not?

This is my take on the Urban Equestrian formula that I described in a recent ensemble post. It’s version #2, “Glitzy with Tweed & Jodhpur Boots”, and one of my favourite outfits for Fall. It’s less authentically equestrian and darker than the more classic version I recently wore with white jeans and a pink clutch. I don’t usually prefer a darker outfit, but in this case the gold jeans, cognac accents, green specs and redder lipstick go a long way to brightening up the black and grey. 

I’ve mentioned before that I love combining new and old items in outfits. The Prada Chelsea Boots and Gap Merino Turtleneck are new this season, but the rest of the items are older. I’ve had the Kate Spade gold jeans for a couple of years. The grey Smythe equestrian jacket and brown studded Michael Kors belt are going into their fourth season. I’ve held onto the black Chanel clutch for twenty years, so it’s my very own little vintage piece. 

I like both my Smythe equestrian jackets best over a simple turtleneck. That keeps the focus of the outfit on the impeccable quality and cut of the jacket and not on the top underneath it. I chose a fashionably fluid black turtleneck to create a lower contrast against the gold jeans, and more conventionally flattering proportions. The jacket looks great in motion because the tail kicks out as I stride. And although it’s a warm jacket, I can keep it on indoors like I would with a blazer. That’s good news because the jacket IS the outfit in this case.

The gold jeans add an urban touch. A pair of black jeans or cigarette pants would have looked more classic and refined, and I will happily wear that combination too. But the disco glitz is a fun juxtaposition with the countryside tweed and elbow patches of the jacket.

At one point I thought about leaving off the studded belt, but that looked sloppy. The belt finishes off the outfit, making it look neater and more polished. And equestrian style is all about looking tailored and polished. I chose my studded cognac belt because the studs blend into the gold of the jeans, thereby creating a low contrast between the two items. Furthermore, belting the outfit (and faux tucking the turtleneck) makes it look better when I do need to remove the jacket.

The gold jeans are ankle length, and I wish they were longer. But adding ankle boots with a longer shaft is a great little trick that visually lengthens the jeans, so I’m sorted. I chose my Prada boots because they look like little jodhpur boots, amping up the equestrian vibe of the outfit. The clutch, although vintage, brings back more of an urban element. Watch, wedding ring and my specs are all I need in the accessories department. 

I have worn this outfit out to dinner a few times recently, and I’ll probably sport it again before the start of Spring. I love repeating outfits that make me feel extra fab, and see no reason to remix pieces for the sake of change.