I decided to participate in torontogirl’s no jeans challenge this week, when I realized I’d already not worn jeans on Monday and Tuesday. Here are my thoughts on these outfits.

1. This is today. These are the magic Halogen cropped pants. The seam split a bit on the crotch, and I didn’t notice until I got to work. They look okay with a safety pin, plus I’ve got fleece leggings underneath anyway. I’m not happy, as I got these during NAS and they’ve been lightly worn.

2. Love this skirt. But it’s too tight. I was bloated that day, and had to unzip it a little to be comfortable. It looked just fine that way, since the top of the zipper was covered by the sweater. I’m starting to try to lose weight, so I don’t have to pass it on yet. I’ll try it again in a month or so.

3 & 4 are versions of leggings and a tunic sweater. 4 was a bit less dressy than I’d like to be most days at work from now on, but it was so comfy.

5-7. These new Loft pants are great for laying fleece tights underneath. So they turned out to be a winter winner, though I was unsure about them at first. I’m wearing them with low heeled booties and wondering if I should hem them a bit. I won’t be using higher heeled shoes with them, most likely. They do skim the ground, but don’t touch it. I'm not an expert on pant lengths anymore, if I ever was, but I'm unsure if the break looks right.

Overall, I realized that if I’m to have pants options other than jeans in winter, they need to stretch or fit fluidly enough to layer underneath. Pants that fit me in a very tailored way won’t work when it’s colder than 30 F, unless they are wool or lined (I have a hard time finding both). Tailored pants also tend to be tight when I sit down, which is why I don’t reach for them a lot. This makes me wonder if I should return some tailored lighter blue trousers I got recently, but I will see how I feel at the end of the return window.

I wanted to wear a dress this week, but I was too cold each morning to pull the trigger, even though I’d planned to layer below and on top of it. The skirt was worn on one of the warmer days and is a light wool.