Full-time blogger Suzanne Smith (55) lives in North Carolina and documents her style on her blog, Crazy Blonde Life. She is a jeans gal with on-trend polished casual style who likes to wear softer colours in Spring/Summer, while adding darker ones in the colder months. Suzanne sports high heels regularly, has an enviable booties collection, and believes in the staying power of versatile classics.

“I don’t care as much about trends as I did five years ago. I like to incorporate them into my wardrobe, but I try to invest in more classic pieces and add in a few trends that I love. I wear jeans more than anything else so I think I would describe my style as jeans and tees with a twist! In the summer, I do love an easy dress that I can just throw on and I never met a pair of booties that I didn’t like.”

Suzanne wore this casual outfit for a day of walking around in downtown Nashville. She’s paired full-length olive skinny jeans with a relaxed-fit linen blouse. The breezy boho blouse with its tassels and bishop sleeves creates visual interest. Combining the top with skinny jeans tempers the volume of the sleeves. Caramel-coloured slides with a low heel look wonderful with the olive, and echo the colours of the classic satchel. Lots of arm candy and a simple, dainty necklace that works well with the V-neckline of the blouse complete the look.

Pair sunny yellow with mid-wash denim and different shades of grey and you’ve got yourself a fabulous colour combo you don’t see all that often. 5’4″ Suzanne semi-tucked a ruffled top into high-waisted kick crop flares. Tucking the top lengthens the leg line, and the charcoal maxi cardigan creates extra vertical integrity. The streamlined fit and texture-rich material make it a great statement piece. Our blogger’s block-heeled booties in an eye-catching gunmetal grey and her silver crossbody bag bring subtle sheen to the outfit. The unique necklace with oversized agate pendant and long earrings amp up the visual interest and polish.

White, blue and grey is another colour combination that feels particularly fresh. Our bloggers is wearing grey cropped skinny jeans with an untucked blouse. The rough-around-the-edges vibe of the distressed jeans is in clever contrast with the ladylike top embellished with large dots. Fun juxtaposition! The jeans are the perfect length to showcase Suzanne’s crisp pointy-toe stiletto booties. Her double-breasted wool coat adds Modern Classic polish, while the sky blue colour makes it a great choice to wear on cold Spring days. The blue also looks wonderful with Suzanne’s blonde locks. An oversized cocktail ring and interesting shoulder bag with architectural lines are the fab finishing touches.

Suzanne wasn’t exaggerating about her love for booties. Her closet is filled with interesting and unique pairs like these greyish taupe babies with chunky lucite heels. They echo the colour of her sweater brilliantly! And that sweater is a statement piece if I ever saw one! The oversized style, chunky knit, big collar and different stitches make it a cosy piece that will stand out everywhere. Sporting it with slim-fit jeans lets the sweater do all the talking, while the white denim adds crispness to the look. The sleek shape of our blogger’s on-trend metal ring bag adds structure. Cocktail rings, earrings, pink lippie and oversized sunnies finish off the look.

Using interesting footwear and accessories is an easy way to make a simple tee and jeans outfit look fun and special. Start off with jeans like this pair with undone hems and bleached cuffs, and you automatically get extra visual interest. Suzanne is semi-tucking a grey long-sleeved tee with lovely drape. Scrunching the sleeves showcases the piles of bracelets on both arms. She then adds extra bling with a multi-strand necklace in silver and white. Her silver metallic slides with gold hardware detail and fold-over fringe add chic pizzazz and lots of polish. Suzanne’s go-to pink lipstick and matching nail polish complete this polished casual look.

A Modern Classic outfit infallibly looks current when you add in an on-trend piece like Suzanne’s black jeans with flounced ruffle cuffs. Tucking the blue and white striped shirt with bell sleeves and adding a belt creates structure. So does the tailored fit of the jeans above the ruffled cuffs. Our blogger’s fab geometrical-shaped bag and lucite-heeled booties both make a second appearance. The polka dot scarf tied to the bag is a fun way to do a spot of pattern mixing. Add silver bangles, a short necklace, pink lipstick and Suzanne is ready to go.

What do you think of Suzanne’s polished, on-trend casual style? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to check out the rest of her wonderful outfits on her blog.

Nordstrom

Madewell 10-Inch High-Rise Skinny Jeans

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We visited Utah recently, and despite careful packing decisions, it was colder in Park City than what was forecast when I packed for our trip. I adore the heat, but am miserable in the cold, so I needed to shop for an emergency pair of full-length jeans that I could wear with nude knee-highs, loafers, and under a dress. 

I headed to Nordstrom in Salt Lake City, which was in walking distance from our hotel. I began looking for long black skinnies because they would work best under the dress. Madewell’s 10 Inch High-Rise Skinnies caught my eye right away and I tried them on first. They are thick, substantial, don’t bag out, and aren’t overly tight. They are an inch short of full length — just as you see on the model — but close enough. Miraculously the high rise does not dig into my waist, and I was very comfortable. The black denim is uniform with zero distressing, giving them a dressier integrity. They followed me back to the hotel.

I tried the jeans under the dress-jeans-jacket-loafers outfit I had in mind. I prefer the dress without the jeans, but liked this combination too. Wearing dresses over jeans is an acquired taste, but when in-house fashion stylist Greg gave a thumbs up, I was good to go. Most importantly, I was an insulated happy camper.

Here are the exact items of the outfit I wore out to dinner on a chilly evening.

Custom Find

by Angie

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Topshop

Floral Print Mesh Skater Dress by YAS

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Nordstrom

Madewell 10-Inch High-Rise Skinny Jeans

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14

Zara

Short Blazer With Zip

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17

Nordstrom

Naturalizer Emiline Flat Loafer

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24

Yoox

Furla Handbag

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20

Custom Find

by Angie

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Here comes the double wild card: Black jeans are not my thing, and high-rise skinnies were not on my radar. Yet I enjoyed wearing the full-length high-rise skinny jeans so much that evening that I wore them with a fully tucked and semi-tucked pullover and knitted top for the rest of the trip! The high rise showcases the natural waist, and I like that type of structure. It also elongates the leg line from the hips upward when paired with a tucked top, which comes in handy when you wear flats 99% of the time like I do. Full-length jeans are a fab change from a closet full of crops.

Sometimes, you hit on a look or silhouette that you like by accident and your style evolves from that point. These style surprises are fun. I’m not sure whether I’ll get another pair of high-rise skinnies, but I’ll wear these like a wardrobe essential and enjoy the change.

Gap

Stripe peplum tee

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Today we’re celebrating those unexpected wardrobe items that you got for a song and are still going strong. I’ll go first.

I bought a navy and white striped peplum top on deep discount on the sale rack at the Gap three and a half years ago — and it’s phenomenal. It’s made of a very substantial knitted jersey, which is a wild card in itself since I wear woven tops and knitwear almost exclusively. I’m lukewarm about peplums, but this one fits perfectly and I like classic stripes. It was the only style like it on the sale rack, and was coincidentally in my size. It has a back zipper which allows the neckline to close very tightly around the neck providing the structure that my long neck and narrow shoulders crave around my shoulder neck point. The sleeves are a bonus elbow length, and the fabric is soft to the touch and drapes like a dream.

It’s been worn and laundered over and over again, and still looks new. After a cycle in the machine, it hang dries perfectly as if it was ironed. It hasn’t shrunk, faded or stretched out. It looks crisp and polished on the body, and does not crease.

The silhouette has longevity, and classic stripes hold my interest. So I’m keeping the top until it falls apart – which at this rate is going to take a good long while. It’s a great top for warm-weather travel, because it’s soft, comfy, does not crease, and looks crisp after a long flight or road trip. It also layers well under a jacket and works with a range of jeans and pants.

My word. It’s the best $11 I’ve ever spent on a top.

Your turn to celebrate a wardrobe item or two.

Every so often a Fabber asks about the difference between a rise and a waist measurement. The waist measurement we’re talking about is the length of your torso, not the circumference of the narrowest part of your midsection. It’s what we’re referring to when we say “short-waisted” or “long-waisted.” 

Here’s a simple definition of rise, waist and torso measurements:

• Rise is the distance from your crotch point to your natural waist
• Waist is the distance from your shoulder neck intersection to your natural waist
• Torso = Rise + Waist

Either measurement can be relatively short, long or regular. You can usually figure out where you fall on the rise continuum by trying on lots of bottoms. People who are short in the rise tend to prefer wearing low and mid-rise bottoms, and are cautious with high rises because the waist of the garment comes up higher on the body than it does on average. People who are long in the rise wear high rises extremely well because they have the real estate to fill out the length. They tend to find low and mid rises too low because they’re positioned lower on their bodies than was intended.

The distance between the shoulder neck point and the natural waist will vary, even among people who are the same size in other respects. If you’re outside the norm and either “short-waisted” or “long-waisted“, it can be a little trickier to find clothes that create flattering proportions because most clothes are designed for people with average proportions.

It’s easy to figure out if you’re short or long in the waist. Stand up straight (don’t sit!) and see if you can fit two hand widths between the under bust and the natural waist. If you can fit more than two hand widths, you have a long waist. Less than two is a short waist.

When you are relatively short both in the rise and waist, you have a short torso relative to the average person. When both measurements are relatively long, you are long in the torso relative to the average person. Often, people who have short torsos have relatively long legs. People who have long torsos have relatively short legs.

I’m 5ft 6, and relatively short in the rise. I like low rises, and mid rises tend to come up higher on me than the average person. I cautiously wear higher rises if they aren’t too high. A nine inch front rise on a pair of jeans or pants is in line with my belly button. A ten inch rise is as high as I can go on a pair of tailored jeans, thereby covering my belly button and reaching my natural waistline. I can go longer in the rise on a pair of pants when they’re baggy because the crotch point isn’t fitted and hangs lower on my body.

I can fit exactly two hand widths between my under bust and waistline, so I’m regular length in the waist. This helps me to create flattering proportions with high-rise bottoms, despite my short rise measurement. I enjoy semi and fully tucking tops, and belting at the waist because I have sufficient length in my upper torso to comfortably accommodate the action. Since I wear flats up to an inch in height 99% of the time, semi and fully tucking tops, or belting at the waist is a useful styling strategy because it lengthens the leg line from the hips upward without wearing high heels.

Understanding how your measurements relate to each other can help you create your figure flattering priorities, so over to you. Are you relatively long or short in the rise? How many hand widths can you fit between your under bust and waistline? Are you short or long-waisted? Feel free to ask questions in the comments section.