I've already mentioned my top 5 acquisitions and my 5 fails. Here's a more general summary of where I've been in terms of style this year. I'll add another post with plans/ ideas for 2024.

I bought a lot this year! Twice my usual amount. (Collection in Finds.) Between last year and this year, I also retired many more items. So in the end, my closet remains more or less the same size. But much of what's in it is new.

I didn't plan on this. It just kind of . . . happened. Surprise surprise, a lot of what I bought is blue. Which works with my word of the year for 2023 (flow) and my colour (indigo). Yay for that!

The previous three years, I'd found it quite difficult to source things that worked for me. But this year, I enjoyed a couple of extremely successful in-person shopping expeditions.

A major refresh made sense for me at this point, too. It's been a full decade since I built my wardrobe from scratch, and many of my essentials dated from that period. (I've been on YLF for more than 12 years!) Even after multiple edits, I still own a lot of items from my early years on YLF! But I was seriously due for some switch ups in silhouette particularly in bottoms (especially in light of Angie's fashion diagnosis -- "trendy on the bottom"). And I'm glad to say that apart from the five items I mentioned earlier, and a few dressier things that I haven't had occasion to wear yet, i have been wearing and loving my new clothes.

Fortunately, I came into extra freelance work to help fund my purchases. 35 items were on sale, and 2 were via consignment, which helped keep costs more manageable. Note that in most cases they *happened* to be on sale when I was in the store, which definitely made it easier to take a risk. But I wasn't seeking out a sale. So apart from an online mistake, there were few sales goggles purchases.

My current moniker is "laid back luminous garçonne," which is not so far from my old one (urban prince). I'm still and forever the somewhat polished, slightly prep, slightly punk-inflected gamine. However much I admire minimalism and avant garde looks (and I do!); however much I would love to dress like Irina or Greyscale, I always seem to gravitate back to my plaids and stripes and colours and blues and pattern mixes. Admittedly, this is not a sophisticated look for a person in her mid-60s. But it's vibrant, dynamic, and a little bit dramatic. Which seems to be what I crave at the end of the day. But who knows how things will develop in the year or two to come? I definitely feel myself influenced by the 20s (the ones 100 years ago) and by the 60s and 80s. Will that continue? Hard to say.

I do notice some shifts in the past year:

1. I'm wearing more dress pants during the week for work at home and in general. My Wit and Wisdom pants are on repeat and also a pair from J. Crew and one from Club Monaco.

2. I'm wearing jeans less often. This is a big shift for me. I still adore denim and do wear it -- but more when I'm going out!

3. I'm wearing wide legs (full length and cropped) almost exclusively. Still have a few BF jeans. Also, I wear my red velvet wide leg crops a lot and my burgundy cargo pants.

4. I'm favouring short jackets and a long coat.

5. I'm wearing scarves again, or rather, leaning into the fact that I never really stopped. I like having some pattern near my face.

6. Footwear comfort is becoming more important than ever. I can still wear a small heel (up to 2.5 inches) and I also like a flatform or a sneaker with cushioning/ insoles but a true flat (like a Converse sneaker) is torture for me. The toe shape, adjustability with insoles, and stability is crucial.

Some favourite outfits from the past year. I'm low on summer outfits because I was laid up for a month following my accident.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and I hope my reflections may spur some of your own.