Ocean Park Project - November

All I really wanted this month was tall boots and a sweater. Then I found the most amazingly perfect sweater set at Pendleton. Let no retail stone go unturned. I'm not sure I would actually wear it with the tall boots, but since I'd already found them, I hunted up a pair of skinnies that most closely matched the boots and go perfectly with the plaid. In this fantasy project, every pair of pants fits, no sweaters are itchy and the budget has no limit.

I started this in January (see link below if you are wondering what this is all about). One more month and I'll have done it! I'm mulling over a different project for 2018, but let's finish this one out properly first. Looking forward to your ideas on what a good final post might be.

October - mixed plaids in a darker neutral

September - completing NAS purchases into outfits

August - party dress

NAS - splurges and pot-hole fillers

July - perfect print top

June - dress over pants

May - beach party & swimwear

April - crops and denim jacket

March - the dress

February - date night jeans and sweater

January - the original plan

entire collection so far

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NYDJ Alina Legging Jeans in Vintage Pewter

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Top Pick

Nordstrom

Cole Haan Pearlie Tall Boot

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Top Pick

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6 years ago

3style

Veteran

I'm a bit confused. Is that "twinset" itchy? Totally something that I would wear if it was comfortable.

Anonymous

OMG. I love this even more than last months! How do you keep doing that? How do you make every single month better than the last.

I want. I want. I want.

Rambling Ann

(website)

3style, I have no idea if it itches. This is a pure fantasy exercise to see if buying one outfit a month inspired by a painting results in a workable wardrobe.

Sterling, I got lucky and I'm learning to stay focused. I really want it too. Maybe my Christmas present?

Rambling Ann, I take it that you are a fan of theviviennefiles.com? That one and YLF are the only two fashion blogs that I read consistently.

Style Fan

Fantastic. I love each month. Fantasy wardrobes are the best. Itchiness and budget don't matter. Neither does fit.

LaPed

I'm really enjoying this project! Pondering on an art piece or scarf I could use as inspiration; I may try my hand at this next year.

Elizabeth P

You do seem to one up yourself every month. This is great!

Idea for December... play with remixing the pieces. Let's see a week of summer, a week of fall, etc... after all, if the goal is to see if buying an outfit a month results in a workable wardrobe, lets see if it works!

3style - yes, if you read the linked post from January, you'll see that I am trying to do Janice's exercise for myself. One rule I made for myself is I have to do mine before reading hers.

LP- that would be great!

Elizabeth P - we are thinking along the same lines. And maybe my last shop is for things that are needs to finish up outfits. I was playing around last night and realized I wanted a dark turtleneck and a light long sleeved blouse. There are probably some other missing outfit completers as well.

We also need pajama
That is going to be a challenge.

Runcarla

Or holiday!

Well, my birthday is coming up and the present I ordered myself didn't work out. I showed the sweater set to DH and he said get it, so it's on order now. I might sneak in the earrings too

Rambling Ann,
Thanks for the clarification. I admire your dedication to the project. Are you taking a vacation from real life shopping for the year? I plan to do that for 2018 except for undergarments and shoes.

3style - I have mostly spent my budget this year on gear, which I wear 90%+ of the time, because I have a farm. Occasionally I get called out to speak in public or otherwise socialize and we are starting a retail business, so I do have to put on my casual city clothes a few times a month.

Fantasy shopping scratches the itch for pretty things when my closet of already pretty things goes mostly unused day after day. I have splurged on a few items this year for DH's retirement functions, a couple of things from this project, and some outfit completers like layering tees.

Next year's budget and needs depend entirely on whether we get this business launched, so I'm hanging loose on that.

Jenni NZ

Hi again, this month is fantastic. Love that set and the earrings. Good looking boots too, too high in the shaft for me. Hope those retirement functions went well, I seem to remember angst about at least one of those outfits.

I just want to say one more time what a fun project this has been to follow. I have enjoyed watching it unfold.

Elizabeth's suggestion is a great one because I assumed everything would just naturally evolve itself into a well formed wardrobe. It is always important to put things to the test.

Rambling Ann, I was getting ready to leave the house this morning after reading your message, and the Green Acres theme song popped into my mind So I had to go find it on YouTube. I loved to watch it in syndication when I was a kid.

Lucy

Just gorgeous! What a treat to follow this month by month.

Joy

Gorgeous! I think you should do this for real. For December my suggestion would be Holiday..maybe a casual party look but some glam. How about adding silvery touches? Ugly Christmas sweater? New Years Eve party?
Looking at your whole collection so far, you have that beautiful turquoise dress. Maybe a metallic silver wrap for it?

Sal

Really nice look- love the boots!! Thanks for sharing.

Joy - I love the idea of accessories for the holidays and that dress. Maybe some silver heels too? As for doing this for myself, I kind of am, although I am struggling with the idea of switching from black to navy as a neutral. For some reason, the idea of shopping for navy and weigh makes my heart sag. But my current black and olive is too dark for my coloring as I get older, so I need to find a path forward.

Sterling - thank you for being my #1 cheerleader all year.

I think it would be fun to show a collection of "near misses," things I found that didn't work for one reason or another.

The Etsy seller wrote back and those earrings were sold out. One more great thing about fantasy shopping is that everything is in stock.

Yes! Silver shoes and heels for that dress. Make sparkly diamond snowflake earrings?
I once decided to switch from black to navy. It was a Fail. Too many shades of navy that just did not work together like blacks do. The key is to try to buy them all in the same brand from the same dye lot. Greys are nearly as hard.

rachylou

Omg. It’s like Pendleton was following you and said ‘we need to do this.’ It’s sooo perfect! The grey jeans and boots are perfect (and hey, I can do that!)

I can’t believe the year is almost up. You have excellent follow thru, lol!

JAileen

Another beautiful capsule. I really need some sea glass jewelry.

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