Leopard Learning

This wild thing has been sitting in my closet for a while...

Dillard's blouse $6 VV Boutique

This photo is from Oct 10 and YES that is a good covering of snow on the trees.

Even though I love the blouse, purchased on Fashion's Night Out at the advice of my fashionable friends, I have been having a hard time styling it.  The shiny fabric felt too dressy for work most days, too expected to pair with plain old dress pants (in fact, I felt compelled to call them "slacks" when I tried them on together...).  It is not a contemporary cut, probably been around for a while - which is not necessarily a bad thing, since it demonstrates the good quality of the piece and that animal print is a timeless neutral.  I finally tried them with my skinny cargos and was satisfied (though not wowed):

Ann Taylor cargos $6 VV Boutique

Black pointy flats $6 VV Boutique

Purple cardi ~$19 Joe circa 2009

Black Flatter Me Belt $40 C'est Sera

Initially I put a black cardi and scarf with the ensemble, but fresh from some schoolin' from my stylish friends, I thought better and added colour!  Purple is the colour of royalty, so I thought it a good aesthetic fit with the leopard print and sheen of the blouse. 

I like the square scarf shape and the light pink/purple ties in nicely!

Some pretty accessories finished it off, including an inexpensive bracelet from my closet and

these gorgeous earrings ($14 from Plaid Giraffe) from my turn in Splurge Sorority!

I was comfortable all day at work throughout the chilly snowy fall day!  But looking back on the photos, the pants are a bit ... "happy".  You know, that look when they "smile" at you from the crotchular area?  It was the end of the day, so they may have stretched out a bit, but that was the case too the last time I wore them and I didn't notice the happy.  This morning it dawned on me - the last time I wore them was about half way into Whole 30 and I think I'm just a smidge slimmer now.  I am sharing this to make an important point: skinnier isn't always better when it comes to clothes!  Fit is what counts!  These pants look better with a bit more booty to fill them!  Luckily, we have a high-cake weekend approaching so I'm sure that will be taken care of, and if not, I may just throw them in the dryer for a bit, and/or style them differently - maybe even with this leopard-print blouse in a different way!  I'm learning about style... slowly but surely...and the process is a lot easier with VV Boutique there to provide these inexpensive pieces!