Soft Gamine variations - YouLookFab Forum

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Soft Gamine variations

krishnidoux

Veteran

Sorry to be flooding the forum like this with all these submissions! I finally had a chance to get a hold of my son yesterday so he could take pics of outfits I had been preparing over the last 2 -3 weeks. I have to find a better way.

For these, I tried to go a bit outside the box for me, and follow Kibbe' s "Soft Gamine" (http://colorconnection.yuku.co.....QZvTb_BGnY) which, after doing the test many times, seems to better describe my body type.

So here are three looks with one skirt I thrifted last year and almost never wore for a lack of what to wear with it. But I like how it looks with my new booties, so maybe that was the issue. Come to think of it, maybe my resistance to the Gamine look has been because of the types of shoes I tend to buy, too classic maybe. Hmmm...

Do you think I could go to work in any of these (corporate setting, French teacher)?

Outfit 1 (pics 1- 4) Chic Soft Gamine

Taupe booties Steve Madden
cotton light gray tights
puffy wool skirt, thrifted (no name)
Polka dots transparent mauve blouse (Cynthia Steffe), tucked
jacket Proportion Petite Conrad C
Flower print scarf (?)

Outfit 2 (pics 5 - 8 ) Soft Soft Gamine

Taupe booties Steve Madden
cotton light gray tights
puffy wool skirt, thrifted (no name)
Polka dots transparent mauve blouse (Cynthia Steffe), untucked
Grey wool cardi with lace details, Kookai
Purse: Brown's
Jewel: gift from DH

Outift 3 (pics 9-13) Funky Soft Gamine ?

Really not sure about this one. Trying to sport a cardi I also made, but have a hard time wearing for some reason.

Taupe booties Steve Madden
cotton light gray tights
puffy wool skirt, thrifted (no name)
Polka dots transparent mauve blouse (Cynthia Steffe), untucked
Cardi: my own design

Thanks for looking!
Suggestions, comments welcome!

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Dressing

15 replies

Latest reply was from Beth Ann

Anonymous

Krish, you are so beautiful. I think you must be a dynamic teacher, because your energy just leaps out.

Mellllls

Veteran

i think you look great.

krishnidoux

Veteran

Well thanks! Ceit, what a kind thing to say.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Echoing Ceit here - you are so lovely and your skin just glows!!

I think, to fill others in a bit, Krish works and lives in Ottawa, which in the winter is extremely cold and usually snowy. Dress code in the city tends to be a bit conservative and old-fashioned, but with touches of sporty (due to the extreme weather), arty (not sure why) and, for want of a better word, what I would describe as "French," because the Francophone city of Hull is just across the river and Montreal is not too far away (and we are officially bilingual.)

I think for Ottawa's climate, you can certainly wear one or more or these combinations in your setting.

As a teacher, you are not required or expected to look exactly like the business people who may be studying with you -- it is actually nice if you show a bit of French fashion flair!

Secondly, warmth is crucial, as is comfort, and these clothes look as if you can move in them yet stay warm.

I completely agree with your earlier comment about your previous (often classic) footwear choices arguing with the rest of your natural style. More and more I have come to see footwear as a lynchpin to style!! In your case, most of your shoes are great for comfort and some of them will still be perfectly workable in your wardrobe if you get the other elements working the way you want. But in combination with classic pieces they took away the soft gamine (sort of a scaled down arty eclectic, really) that seems to suit you very well. I also think you *do* still have shoes that will work great -- the Josef Siebels are a great example of a soft gamine look, to my eye -- the scale, the detailing. That is why they are not quite perfect for me (though I LOVED them and wore them to death last year!!!) I find the detailing is too much for my simpler style.

(A whole other topic that would be fun some day to explore....you and I look so much alike...and are a similar size, and yet we are completely different style types....not out of preference, exactly...I mean in the sense of what seems inherently to WORK on our selves and our bodies!)

My suggestions, for what they are worth:

#1 I think this would work better if the jacket were a bit shorter. The proportions would be better to my eye. This jacket will work brilliantly with pants or a straight skirt, though (because of the nipped in waist.) I do think you can wear it this way, though, and it looks good -- just not 11/10.

#2 Of the three, I think this one works the best as is.

#3 You are an incredibly talented knitter!! What a pretty sweater! I think it might be tough to wear because of the colour -- not easy to work in with others, although it looks as if it should be. I think perhaps the proportions would work better with another, simpler top, tucked in - letting the sweater be the whole show, really? I know intricate detail is one mark of a soft gamine style but there can be too much of a good thing, know what I am saying? I really think that neckline will show your pretty clavicles to advantage. It's lovely!

Anonymous

I agree I do think an energy comes through the photos. I love all the looks and I love those new booties. Beautiful coclour schemes too.

cinnamon fern

Veteran

I especially like the second outfit - such a beautiful color scheme, and so beautiful on you.

How would it look with the shirt tucked in? This is a lot of volume, especially for a small person like you.

anne

Veteran

I agree with what Suz said!. And I admire your knitting!

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I say KILLER all round. Fun layers, sweet flared skirt and flattering colours. A little volume, a little structure. Lots of personality and fab

LOVE THE HAIR!!

Krish, I also see an arty, playful and whimsical streak here. Arty Eclectic meets Gamine. Perhaps your descriptor should be Eclectic Gamine.

Niefern

I think you could definitely go to work in the first outfit, looks great. About the others, they are nice and cute, but not so sure they are the most appropiate for a teacher in a formal corporate setting. Where I live teachers often wear the most casual clothes, personally I think it can sometimes detract from their professional image. But I am no style expert, I am learning myself.

krishnidoux

Veteran

Thank you for all your positive comments!

Suz, wow! Thank you for taking the time and the energy to think it through so well, you are bringing me tons of insights here. And thank you for the precision on who I am, where I teach. Because "corporate" doesn't mean the same in Ottawa and, say, Tucson.

It's funny about your perception of Hull's francophones here. For me (originally a Montrealer), I find English speaking Ottawa dwellers often more trendier and more adventurous in their styles. For example they won't be afraid of wearing "fun" winter accessories, purposely miss-matched but warm and cozy attire, something obviously as practical as it is aesthetically pleasing, and yet with an air of "pulled together"ness, of class and style. Fancophones do to, but so often I see the same contrived looks on women in Gatineau: heels are a must, even in blizzards, coats must look a little tailored, cinched at the waist, hair is often in the same complicated, streaked, pointy, overstructured cut that is not foreign to - and probably descends from - the 80's ubiquitous mullet. Wow, it looks like I'm painting a sad picture of Gatineau, and I apologize if you live there, of course not every one is like this, I'm speaking more specifically of the Gatineau "corporate" francophone look. It's a different style, but let's also remember that Gatineau is economically not as well off as Ottawa.

OK enough on this. I agree that it is very interesting that although you and I, we seem like twins, really, on a style level, we are not! Even in the colouring. And I think it would be very fun to explore this more on another thread. But how to go about it?

I agree about the shoes: and how strange about the JS booties. It never even occurred to me that I liked them so much precisely because of the detailing. I'm learning something here. About the jacket: yes, agree 100%, I had not seen this, thank you for your piercing eye! I do have cropped jackets and will try them and re-post. Along with pics of outfit 3 tucked or with a pencil skirt. Thank you for your insights! Most useful!

Cinnamon Fern, you are right. I am completely out of my comfort zone trying this volume, but wondered how far I could go. I will try and re-post with shirt tucked in.

Angie, thank you. Eclectic Gamine! Genius. I'm adopting it. Wonder how it will translate.

Niefern, thank you. I appreciate your point of view. I too am hesitant about wearing these as is for teaching, unless I have one student and know that student to be very cool or casual.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Totally agree with you, actually, about Gatineau style!! It's pretty horrendous...not Montreal (which in my opinion is best in Canada...though there are some horrible examples there, too, as in every city.)

My guess is that Kibbe is really onto something when it comes to bone structure, height, and line. Your features are more delicate and less angular than mine, you have more roundness (eyes), you are that tiny bit shorter...and voila - it makes you a true gamine, whereas I am not.

To my mind, his "soft gamine" includes the eclectic, arty touches that suit you so well. It is all in the level and degree of detailing.

I am SO drawn (emotionally) to an arty eclectic style. Always wanted to wear it. But on me, if I try to do it through detailing, it becomes fussy. I need to do it through line and structure -- that is where my bit of "drama" needs to come in.

krishnidoux

Veteran

Suz, you have a very good sense of observation. I do fit the Soft Gamine profile. I guess this is why I was so astonished as a teenager to fit the Madonna and Cindy Lauper styles effortlessly. But it's funny how I never associated these looks with the word Gamine, nor "soft". For me eclectic, arty, was always something tougher, rougher... think end of Punk era. But come to think of it, Madonna and CL did well in this style because they too have some of the Soft Gamine traits (esp. CL).

I agree with you that if we compare our bone structures and lines, yours is more streamline, there is a very active, dynamic, sporty impression about you yet you ARE delicate and elfin face. But not in the same way, more triangular (beautiful almond eyes, pointier chin), where I am rounder (eyes, cheeks).

Our colourings seem to underline this too, IMO. Yours are crisper, cooler, while mine are either warmer or more infused with greys.

jayne

Veteran

Oh I loved these fun, daring, and colorful looks, all 3! I would love to have a teacher being original and wearing these outfits. Do tell what you eventually dare!

krishnidoux

Veteran

Jayne, thanks, that is such a nice thing to say! Yes I will do WIW, and not just "possible outfits" posts!

Beth Ann

Veteran

You are on a roll! So glad to see you exploring and creating new combinations. You look terrrific -- I want to see more. The only thing I'd suggest is styling the sweater in #3 with an otherwise simple silhouette -- let it shine as the star!