075/ What I'm Wearing: December 2023
What I’m Wearing is a series where I share all of the outfits I’ve worn over a given week (or two), along with styling notes, links and related thoughts. If you see an outfit you like on my Instagram, you’ll find it here.
The frenetic energy of both sale and holiday season has meant a hectic month on both the work and home fronts, and I’m finally catching up on What I’m Wearing.
As I was sifting through Poshmark for kids winter boots, I came across a seller with a family of growing boys roughly three years ahead of mine.
After promptly bookmarking for future reference, and mentally noting to revisit the page every six months (kids age out of things so quickly!), I noticed a men’s rugby shirt on the seller’s page. The preppy staple wasn’t on my 2023 Bingo Card, but it ended up being a sleeper hit this month, not only making it into my casual jean and sweatpant outfits, but also unexpectedly into two party looks (per my holiday outfit newsletters here and here).
I’ve linked to the perennial Polo Ralph Lauren classic above, but I’m sure you can find many options on a convenient resale site near you. I saw quite a few from Queen’s (any Queen’s alma mater in the house?), and on that note, maybe you have a vintage one lying around your house?
On the topic of vintage, Vancouver-based consignment shop Mine & Yours recently opened an outpost in Toronto, which is where I picked up this beautiful, half-sequinned, printed Dries Van Noten skirt (also in my holiday edit, btw!).
As I was playing with styling options, the lever system went to work again: I was struck by the disparate directions a different shoe (and sock) took the same outfit. Naturally, I snapped some pics for you:
Note that none of the shoe/sock options are “right” or “wrong” — they all look good, in my opinion! They just feel different, and you might be inclined to wear one over the other, depending on the occasion.
Also, can I get a shout out for those Wallabees which have been sitting in my closet — unworn — for years? My New Years Eve plans are so low-key that the Wallabees could very well replace these white Rag & Bone flats:
This outfit feels like the perfect chill-yet-polished hosting outfit, which is timely because I’ll be spending NYE at a chalet “up north” with my oldest friend and her family. (For a Torontonian, “up north” is a bit of misnomer, and really just means cottage/ski country 1-3 hours north of the city).
My friend is back in Canada for a year after moving to Madrid 15 years ago when she married a Spaniard, so our NYE will have a Spanish twist. The boys are excited to partake in the nochevieja tradition of las doce uvas de la suerte (“the 12 lucky grapes”): popping one grape for each toll of the clock at midnight. If you eat all 12 grapes by the end of the 12th toll — fully swallowed! — it is said you will have good luck in el año nuevo. Wish us luck!
On to some higher-key festive looks…
When putting my newsletter together, I’m always considering the delicate balance between practical advice — i.e. what you actually and would wear in IRL — and offering up styling ideas you may not have previous considered.
When getting dressed everyday, I walk this line too: some days I want to push the envelope, while on others, I’m fine with keeping the styling minimal. For this holiday season, I leaned towards the latter.
For example, in my holiday newsletter, I paired this fringe skirt and crystal pumps with two unexpected options: a chunky fair isle ski sweater, and the aforementioned rugby shirt. I loved both looks; they felt fresh, original, and still very much me. Yet, for a cocktail party, I simplified, going with a pretty classic (predictable, even?) and, dare I say, minimal effort look. And I felt great.
Similarly, I featured this sequin fringe skirt in a handful of stylized looks in Part 2 of my holiday outfits, including — once more — with the rugby shirt. Yet again, for my first night out dancing in over a year (it felt so good and I need to do it more often!), I kept it simple with a front-knotted navy dress shirt and a rather predictable shoe option. Again, it felt right for my mood du jour.
And another simple outfit (with generous room at the waist) for dinner at a Lebanese restaurant:
This dinner outfit came straight out of Part 1 of my holiday outfit newsletter. I wrote that it’s the “perfect outfit for all occasions between September and April” and that “I felt so good (translation: 100% me)”. The tall/OTK boot is an effective and stylish tool to bring bermuda shorts, skirts and dresses into winter by providing leg coverage and taking the place of nylons.
The outfit on the right was also in the holiday newsletter, a variation of the more casual version I wore last month for a fundraising event.
And that’s it for what I wore in December. If you haven’t already, please share your favourite outfits of the year in this thread!
This will most likely be my last newsletter of 2023, but I’ll be around in the chat and comments because I love chatting with you on Substack :).
As for the year ahead, I wish for you the passion and resolve to pursue the interests of your heart and mind.
I wish for you courage when facing challenges, and also the softness and humility to learn from them.
I wish for you equanimity when you most need it, and also patience to endure the difficult times.
Above all, I wish that you are able to give love and kindness generously, and — and! — also receive it with equal enthusiasm, both from others and yourself.
May you find your place of peace in this world.
Love and gratitude,
Irene
I’m going to print this part out and hang it where I can read it daily. What a beautiful blessing to share. Happy New Year!!
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As for the year ahead, I wish for you the passion and resolve to pursue the interests of your heart and mind.
I wish for you courage when facing challenges, and also the softness and humility to learn from them.
I wish for you equanimity when you most need it, and also patience to endure the difficult times.
Above all, I wish that you are able to give love and kindness generously, and — and! — also receive it with equal enthusiasm, both from others and yourself.
May you find your place of peace in this world.
In a year full of a lot of tumult, where it was easy to get to a place of hopelessness, you became a friend and gave me the gift of joy on a regular basis. I’m incredibly grateful. 😘