Astrid recently did a lovely post filled with outfit photos to figure out a style descriptor. I love Astrid's style & all of that inspiration in one easily accessible place was too much for me to resist! So I did an outfit inspired by her.

I started with the wool plaid skirt; it's pleated, unlike Astrid's, but it felt similar. It was quite cold that morning, so I wanted wool on top too; this charcoal wool sweater went well and kind of subdued the plaid a bit. Astrid has tons of fab tights; I sadly don't have many patterned or sheer options so I chose my teal pair because they have a bit of lace & are more interesting than my grey ones. One of the things I find really neat is when she mixes cool coloured clothes with warmer accessories, so I dug out my cognac belt. It's actually a bit big for my waist now but luckily this skirt stays up on its own, and hopefully the belt doesn't look too awkward! I was tempted to add a scarf for indoor wear, as Astrid often rocks her scarves, but I was cooking quite a bit that day & didn't want to risk it. So owl brooch it was!

For my walk, it had warmed up a bit, and I felt well insulated with my wool, so I added my cognac oxfords to match the belt and my corduroy blazer, in a festive burgundy. Astrid pairs blazers/jackets with skirts so well! And of course I added a scarf & matching hat in case of wind (I'm prone to ear infections). The shoes are my secret closet shame; they're Frye & I bought them from Amazon two and a half years ago during a really good sale (I think $60) but they were still very pricey for me, especially that time. I ordered 6.5 because I vary between that and 7, wore them around the house for a few hours, and decided they were a bit too small. But then I discovered I'd accidentally scuffed the leather soles just walking on the wood floor! So I was stuck with them. Eventually I've gotten them to stretch enough to work barefoot or with thin tights, but unfortunately the heels need a bit of breaking in, which is so much easier with socks. I think I need to take them to the cobbler to get them professionally stretched, but it's embarrassing that I've gone this long without doing so!

Back to the outfit; I felt very old school collegiate in this, which is a good thing in my book! I'll be taking more inspiration from Astrid in the future. Does the blazer work with the skirt? I don't usually get a lot of waist definition with my blazers, so I'm never sure if adding them to a full skirt just makes one giant rectangle or not. When I'm wearing a blazer as outerwear I don't worry so much, but I'm trying to transition into wearing blazers as a regular part of an indoor outfit, and in that case it seems to be more important.

Thanks in advance for comments/suggestions/etc.