Thought I’d show some things I tried even though not all are working.

Here is the VC blouson dress sized down, which I think fits better and now needs no alterations. So that’s a keeper.

I wanted to try topper colors in the pink-red family since I thought that would keep me from looking too blue for my coloring. found a lot of very hot pink and I think I knew they would be too bright and should have trusted my color judgement more.

#1—Halogen jacket; it’s almost fluorescent, so no go, but I like the somewhat cropped trim style with the dress. Could try it in indigo denim but then, more blue.

#2—VC raspberry denim jacket. Love this color. I don’t see this as my go-to topper for this dress, but will try the jacket with other outfits to see if it would be multi-use enough to keep. Despite the color I'm not sure I'm good in the jean-jacket look.

3#-- Mizrahi jacket—also still very “pank” and makes me realize while I like hot pink, it can be overwhelming. Jacket has a nice feel. Just a bit shoulder-pad intense.

I thought a pink jacket would be an easy fix, but now I'm not even sure to stay with that approach. Need to skew cooler and more subdued with the blue. ( Like the Zanella London jacket, haha). Still could just hunt down a cardigan in a good cut and length as there ought to be a lot of options in those.