what would krissie wear

wwkw has had visitors from 116 countries!!!!

I think this is absolutely the coolest thing ever.

Top 10 visiting countries:

1. United States
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. Ireland
5. Finland
6. Germany
7. Australia
8. Mexico
9. Spain
10. Brazil

Thank you everyone from everywhere for reading!

2pm

sometimes, it feels good to go simple

I had a small shopping accident while in Charlottesville last weekend.  Small because I spent under $100, but accident because I really wasn’t planning on buying anything new.  However, both pieces are fabulous and I got them for great prices.  The first of them is this awesome teal colored wool jacket, which was 30% off and $45! 

Because of the bold teal color, I really wanted everything else about my outfit to be simple: black pants, black shoes and just a touch of jewelry.  It’s like making a recipe for the first time, do it exactly as the recipe calls for… only play around with the measurements or add new flavors the next time.  So next time I wear this, I may go a bit color crazy.  Watch out for it!

9am

revitalize: mix and match

One major way to expand your wardrobe is to mix and match pieces from different suit sets or even a jacket from a suit from a stand alone skirt, etc.  The more combinations you can make, the more outfits you’ll have to wear!

Here I’m wearing the tweed blazer from a Banana suit paired with a wool pinstripe standalone skirt.  I really like the way the tweed and stripes play off of each other, especially since they incorporate the same shades of browns. 

This is the first time I’m wearing this funky paisley ruffle shirt under the tweed and like that it’s fun under such a traditionally old school look.  The tights are a bit matchy with the blouse, but to be honest they’re not quite as red in real life as the photo is making them out to be; I’d say they’re a bit more subtle of a burgundy.  Interestingly, I paired this whole outfit with BLACK shoes instead of brown, which is a huge leap for me and took some effort.  But, I felt the style of the shoes here was more important than the color and the style of the black matched the look of my outfit much more than my pointy toed brown pumps.

tweed jacket - Banana, on sale - $50ish
pinstripe skirt - Banana, on sale - $40ish
paisley blouse - Mandee - $25
burgundy tights - H&M ages ago I think in some sort of 3pack
shoes - Aerosoles, 20% off sale - $60ish

6pm

wwkw: weekend edition

I haven’t done one of these in a while, aside from my New Year’s post I guess.  This (long) weekend, Jay and I drove down to Charlottesville, VA to visit my very good friend from college and her husband.  We spent the weekend visiting several breweries, tasting beer, hangin in their hottub, and BOWLING!!!  Here are some photos I thought you’d enjoy:

I’m REALLY excited for this flight of beer.

The hottub was a few minutes walk from their apartment and it wasn’t exactly warm out. This is how we made the trek.

My best outfit of the weekend definitely involved a half-and-half look: party on top, sporty on bottom.  I mean come on, you have to love the ski socks and bowling shoes look, right?

6pm

playing with color and texture

Colors are fun! So are textures.  When you play around with both, you can come up with some pretty funky stuff. 

These tights had been hiding from me for a while, probably because they have a hole in the lower thigh so I can only wear them with skirts that are below the knee (shhh, don’t tell!)  But they’re a great color and they’ve got that J. Crew sweatery texture thing going on.  I love how they turned out paired with the purple pumps, which in and of themselves have several shades of purple and layers of texture (suede, snakeskin, metal studs).  The fuschia wool jacket is a tad big so I cinched in the back with a cool brooch so it wouldn’t look baggy (love this method of keeping semi-ill fitting clothing around for more wears!)

This outfit was a cheap one.  Check it:
fuschia wool jacket - FREE giveaway from a friend
grey wool skirt - HousingWorks - $15ish
tights - SO OLD (like high school old) so they don’t count
purple pumps - HousingWorks - $10!!!
white ruffled tank - Hoboken boutique - $25
brooch - vintage, on sale - $10ish (I think my memory for these things is starting to go…)

8pm

the one item switch

I feel super chill in this outfit.  This was my (business casual) Friday outfit and I had a tough time that morning because I wanted to wear something that if I switched out only one item, it could easily turn into Friday night bar-outingwear.  Well, I didn’t make it to the bar, but I COULD HAVE changed into my black jeans and boots to caz this up even further (which I did lug around all day).

I tried belting the vest before adding the necklace as my accessory.  Does anyone know how to belt a vest so that it looks good? It looked weird to me.

6pm

How do you feel about magazines featuring "large-sized" women? Read this NYTimes article.

 I’ll tell you how I feel: 

1. Considering the average American woman wears a size 14, these “large” women are actually average-sized. Many of the comments after the article noted that these “larger” models looked healthy and confident.
2. Many (please note, I’m not saying all) traditional-sized models do not appear healthy; they’re underweight, have no muscle mass and bad posture, have eating disorders and drug problems and yet these are the women that we see on billboards and magazines, wearing the clothes that we are supposed to buy and wear, acting as the body ideals for which we strive or yearn for.  What I’d actually like to see is models who look healthy and active, who excercise on a regular basis and eat well, who have muscle tone.  We have a serious health issue in this country; wouldn’t it be great if models actually modelled how we might and could look if we ate and excercised properly?  Women of all heights, bone structures and body types, wearing a whole range of clothing sizes, healthy, empowered and confident (check out this Jezebel article which touches on this).  Imagine being surrounded by achievable body/beauty ideals? If only.
3. Point is, do I want to see “large-sized” women?  Yes… but just as many skinny models aren’t healthy, I’m quite sure many of the larger models aren’t healthy either.  What I really want to see is healthy women.  Where can I see those?

10am

H&M responds to NYTimes article re: slashed clothes on 34th street

Main points:

• H&M stated that this is not their normal policy and that their are often clothes that are damaged (returns, mannequin placement, etc.) beyond use or donation.
• They usually donate to Gifts in Kind International, UNHCR, Caritas, The Red Cross, and The Helping Hands.
• They are “reevaluating what we categorize as damage goods and how we discard what we are not able to donate.”

Check out the original NYTimes article here.

6pm

Lands' End and L.L. Bean are re-branding to target younger customers. Would you buy their new styles? Check out this WSJ article.

Ok so the last thing I bought at L.L. Bean was my reversible down vest, which I still wear all the effing time.  But in terms of pants, shirts, dresses… I dunno.  I checked out the sites and they do have some good sales going on right now (and L.L. Bean has free shipping) and while there is a lot of soccer mom looking clothes and outerwear, I guess there’s some cuteness in the mix.  Maybe they’ll feature more of their new stuff in the catalog?  Or maybe it’ll take a bit for them to get it right because they are trying to attract a new customer base without alienating their current customers (which if you read the WSJ comments, may already be happening)… and that can be quite the challenge. 

What would you buy, if anything, from Lands’ End or L.L. Bean?

5pm

sometimes when you do a good deed

You get rewarded with a really big bag of awesome clothes!!!  I helped my dear friends pack up their apartment for their 6-month move to Paris and low and behold, Tania had a boatload of clothes she needed to get rid of (I swear that’s not why I volunteered to help!)  Anyway, this simple, black, go-with-everything Banana Republic button down dress was in the mix and it fit great.  Thanks Tans!

And look at my new shoes from Aerosoles!  They’re total Granny shoes but I love love them and they’re comfy AND they were 20% off! I kinda look like the the Wicked Witch of the West, no?

black dress - another person’s trash (sorta) was my treasure, Banana Republic
lime tights - gift
shoes - Aerosoles, 20% off - $60ish
pearls - mom’s!

6pm

Seriously, H&M... slashing unsold clothing? How about donating it? Check out this NYTimes article.

Apparently the 33rd street H&M takes unsold clothing, slashes it up so that it’s unwearable and then throws it for trash pick up on the street.  Kind of the perfect image for overconsumption and waste in our culture, huh?  Coats, socks gloves all slashed and ruined during the coldest weeks of the year rather than donated to those who could really use them.  So sad.  Let’s hope the negative press turns this practice on its head.

6pm

all suited up for the new year

Monday, first day back at the office after the bestest weekend ever, and I thought I would go super corporate just to feel like I was back in the swing of things.  I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday and this is my first work post of the week!  I’m thinking it’s going to be a crazy busy year…

Check out how the shoes and layered necklaces fun-up the otherwise super businessy (and kinda boring) suit:

tweed suit - Banana Republic, on sale as separates - $40 for the pants and $75 for the the jacket or something along those lines
cranberry cami - LOFT - $15ish?
pumps - Bandolino, on sale - $30
necklaces - 3 layered together

5pm

what would you wear to a weekend outdoors?

I spent the entire New Year’s weekend in leggings!  Because really for a weekend of complete relaxation and lots of outdoors time, there is nothing better.  I spent New Years at my company’s house a few hours upstate with 8 of my closest friends.  Check it:

Summed up, I spent the weekend… IN THE SNOWWWWWW!!!

Yes, I was very excited about the snow…. I mean, we went sledding.  How cool is that?

Indoors, this was my getup.  Hot right? (I do hope you all know that’s my sarcastic tone at this point…) We played Charades… this was me trying to act something out (unsuccessfully).

11pm

My Finnish Christmas explained

We always dress up for Christmas Eve dinner.  Always.  Even when I’m sick and coughy and congested and my nose is running all over the dinner table (ok, I prevented that with tissues).  Knowing I was not feeling my best this year, I chose something simple and easy to wear and added the red scarf to make it a bit Christmasy.  Check out how I wrapped the gold necklace around the scarf for some added jewelry and notice how I’m makeup free; it was all gonna come off with the nose-blowing anyways!

Oh - the tree is actually small… I’m not a giant.

Close up on the scarf, and on one of my favorite Finnish foods, the Karelia pastry topped with egg butter (kind of like egg salad but made with butter instead of mayo… it sounds weird but it is SOOOO good).

We always eat lox (not pictured), the Karelia pastries (just off to the left) and rutabaga, carrot and potato casseroles usually with turkey, or this year, cooked salmon.  Finnish stars for dessert along with opening of the gifts… all on CHRISTMAS EVE!!!

How cute are my parents?

It was a short but sweet weekend with lots of outdoor activities and family time and now I’m back in New York at work, real worlding it up.  Thank goodness it’s a short week!  Did you all have a nice holiday?  What’s everyone doing for New Year’s Eve?!?!

3pm

Is it sometimes worth it to sacrifice a bit of personal style for a great quality, well-priced item?

For example, you’ve been looking for a thick, dark-colored 100% cashmere cowl-neck sweater but can’t seem to find one.  You come across a grey version of the sweater you’re looking for: it’s the highest quality for a great price, it fits well but you’ve always said grey isn’t really your color.  Do you get it knowing that because it’s (almost) everything you hoped for, it’ll become a staple in your closet this winter?  Or… do you hold out for the right item knowing it may never come along?  Or, do you settle for something in the right color and style but maybe a lesser quality cashmere for the same price and pretend you don’t care?

My friend Tania posed this question to me a few weeks ago after I complimented her on a cashmere sweater dress she was wearing.  It was a bit baggier of a look than I was used to seeing her in, but I liked it and it looked SOOO comfy.  That’s when she told me that she had been looking for something exactly like it and when she found it for a fantastic price, even though she knew it was going to fit a bit bigger than she would have liked, she was going to make it a winter staple anyway.  She’s done the same for high quality/usually really expensive tights that she’s gotten at great prices; purchased patterns she may normally not have chosen because she knew they would last several seasons and the price she was getting them at couldn’t be beat. 

I’m only starting to understand quality vs. quantity when it comes to having a great wardrobe.  I’m not sure I’d choose the grey better quality cashmere over the black of a lower quality because I know grey just ISN’T my color (and to be honest, I’m not even sure I could tell run-of-the-mill cashmere over really high quality cashmere although when I did a search, this article was very helpful).  I think what this all comes down to is being able to distinguish the high quality stuff from the low quality stuff, which can be very hard to do, and requires research and experience.

We all tend to judge clothes by their labels; Chanel is high quality, Forever 21 is low quality, Theory is somewhere in between, but we often forget that just because something has a label attached to it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to last forever.  And so we have to research… and research continuously to know what we’re spending our money on.

If you’re looking for a the highest quality cashmere sweater, research who sells them and then see if you can find one on EBay or Filene’s Basement or TJMaxx discounted.  If you’re looking for a pair of wellies to last the next 5 years, ask around to see what manufacturers have a warranties or what stores have refund policies if they start leaking.  

It all comes down to being an educated consumer.  Tania knows she’s getting a great deal on the cashmere dress or the wool tights because she’s done the research and so she’s willing to sacrifice a bit of color or style for the higher quality in the hopes that it will keep her warmer or last longer, etc.  I haven’t yet done the research but… 2010 is just around the corner, and there’s no better time than now to start.

11am