Ah, an interesting lab post!
I like the outfit with the Pliners. (I'm a bit biased, though, I imagine! ha ha) And the one you wore in the afternoon, without and with the cardi. I prefer the pants rolled and would wear them rolled with the Pliners, too.
I thought the proportions on the tops was fine in #1. What I am not crazy about in the outfits with the Munros is the red-gray-red-gray pattern, looking up and down. It's like matchy gone wild or something. I think the pants are keepers--so cute on you. I would just accept that they are cropped, and wear them rolled or tucked into boots.

Hehe Una, yes! I do it the way I showed, and will also sometimes do the opposite: tucking the inside half inside the boot and leaving the outside out.

Wow, so many great observations and suggestions. Thanks!

Aida, that is a fun way to wear the pants! These ones wouldn't do it, because they are so soft that they'd just collapse down. Una, I think that would be their fate if I tucked under, too. I do use that trick with my regular jeans sometimes if I want to adjust the length. But the fabric of these ones makes it tricky. They're not denim but this soft rayon stuff.

Sharan, LOL on the Pliner bias. Not to mention matchy-matchy gone wild. You are so right. I have to watch myself because I definitely have that tendency. I agree the more neutral footwear worked better. I think I get all excited about putting on the Munros since they are as comfy as slippers.

Caro, what the heck is a false hem and how do you make one?

My first choice was #4. Interested to see with the hem a little higher with all the options, although I don't know if that works in your climate.

I think that the shirt needs to either have more collar showing or no collar showing for this to work, I otherwise like the look, although the blouse could be a bit shorter for this look. You look great in the grey sweater and the pleione blouse. Are you happy with the quality and how they wash? Does the blouse wrinkle awfully? The color is gorgeous on you.

http://www.threadsmagazine.com.....at-lengths
or
http://books.google.com.au/boo.....ng+a+false

You can let the pants down by the amount of the hem (the turn up on the wrong side) less what you need to attach the new fabric to the pants. It's best to use fabric of a similar weight to the garment not bias binding or similar as they don't wash as well.

I love what you ended up wearing -- the shell, the neutral footwear, the rolled pants.

As for the outfit lab -- I think it looks good actually. I am craving seeing it with a higher heeled shoe or bootie for some reason, or maybe I'm just curious to see what that would look like.

Have you tried this shell with a shorter top underneath?

ETA - And I think the pants look good too.

Sorry -- I couldn't get back to this right away -- and thank you for the insights and thoughts!

Denise, I think you're right that a higher heel might have helped the proportions of the outfit lab outfits. Not that I have any, except those cage sandals I ended up wearing, LOL.

Caro - thank you! Alas, it won't work -- the pants are already let down to literally a cm. hem. Attaching some fabric to that might help "weight" things a bit (which would be good) but it won't make them longer. I suspect the solution is just to hem to ankle length or roll -- or make up my mind that I've had three years' good wear out of them already and they've served their time.

Elly, the quality of the Pleione blouse is just fine I think. It does wrinkle a bit but the wrinkles fall out pretty easily, too. I iron it after hanging to dry. Agree that it might be a touch too long here -- I probably should have gone for a petite.

Shevia, yes, I could roll the pants a bit -- it's staying really warm so far. And until the temperatures change, I am keen to wear warm-weather looks!

I'm a little late adding my 2 cents, but I think the fit and proportion are perfect here. I even love the mix of textures and prints from the blouse to the sweater to the pants. I think the reason why you may not love it is the low contrast between the sweater and the blouse.

I've realized that dark red/burgundy/maroon paired with black is a very moody combination and needs another lighter color (cream, white, or a metal among other possible pairings) to make the combination pop. I'd play around with another shell/blouse color combination.

Also you have FABULOUS arms. WOW!

I like the pants and see why you pulled them from the dustbin.
I like the vest at either length because I'm not sold on super-cropped.
The Pliners are fab. Not sure why, the oxfords look off proportion-wise even though they can bookend your hair--look large somehow?
I combine burgundy and black, too and agree sometimes I'm looking for something to lighten it up. White might not be moody enough, but a pale taupey blush if it didn't clash with the tones in the pants, might be fun and add the burgundy back via the booties.
Does the pullover feel fluid enough? I've just gone bonkers over how so many of my knits feel too tailored or fitted even ones I thought were sized up last year. Though, for the shell top look, the less-boxy style works to provide structure over a fluid shirt.

Sounds like you are sorted - no false hem this time