Ages ago BethAnn challenged me to dress as grown up Lucy, when she's a queen in Narnia. I loved the idea, and scurried to my books to discover there isn't really any description of her clothes (she's generally described as cheerful & youthful & all of the princes/kings want to marry her, but the only actual outfit Lewis mentions is armour before a battle). As I'm pretty sure Lewis' vision of their rule in Narnia is out of a medieval chivalric tale, that meant I took general inspiration from the time period instead. When I think of the Middle Ages, especially the earlier periods (those of King Arthur, for instance), I think of women in quite a-line shaped dresses, with everything falling from the bust & widening as it goes. Of course, as royalty Lucy would have access to the finest silks and dyes, and two of my silk blouses that have a kind of empire/a-line shape to them immediately sprung to mind. However, my wardrobe is very weak on dressy bottoms, either trousers or skirts, so I was stumped as to what to pair them with. A couple of weeks ago I got lucky in the thrift store and came across a pair of velvet navy trousers (they're a lighter & softer navy than the photos are showing, but I couldn't manage to get it to photograph correctly). They fit very well in my waist & hips, and I was debating whether to leave them straight leg or taper them a bit (as Angie has said looser fits are on the way in), but after looking at these photos and reading Angie's post this morning, I wonder if it'd be better to narrow them? Fit is not my forte. Feel free to let me know what you think I should do.

Anyway, this morning I pulled on my trousers & chose this medium blue silk blouse, as Lucy is described as a blue-eyed blonde, and probably gravitated to blue. The fine fabric and lace detailing felt a bit royal to me. I left it untucked to keep the a-line silhouette, even though of course a true medieval woman would have worn a dress & covered her arms. Luckily, I don't have to be literal. For jewelry, I chose my more delicate pearl necklace, as the heavier one seemed more like a Susan choice. Delicate silver rings & bracelet complimented the necklace, and then I added a silver headband for something vaguely crown-like & did an updo around it. It's quite warm here (high of 80/27), so for most of my day at home, I just wore it as was without any extra layers. For errands, I prefer to wear sleeves for sun protection (and a/c protection), I added my grey velvet jacket, although it's far too tailored to be really medieval. But the chance to wear two velvet items at once proved irresistible. Plus it's lined in silk, so it feels like a treat to wear even in this weather. I kept my shoes simple with navy ballet flats, as I imagine Lucy running about the castle in little slippers. I also suspect that as a tomboy, she'd have been thrilled to be in trousers rather than a skirt.

I felt excellent in this outfit, and when my mom saw me she said, with no prompting from me, 'you look like a medieval princess.' So I succeeded with one person at least! I don't feel it photographed as well as it looks in real life, as the blouse is remarkably fluid & drapey, so kind of collapses back on my curves (vs the boxy effect in the photos) and as I already mentioned, the trousers aren't as dark. But at least the general idea is there!

As always, all comments & suggestions are welcome re: trouser width or anything else that might strike you. Usually, I try to include a 3rd piece to complete my outfits (a topper or belt or scarf), so I'm not sure if just the blouse & trousers work on their own or not. It was quite nice not to overheat though. I had so much fun putting this together, so thanks BethAnn for the suggestion!