Fall is glorious in our neck of the woods. It's my favourite season. Not just because of Hubby's return to his rightful place in the kitchen, our very own version of "Return of the King," without the hobbits. Ha. But also because of the glorious fall colours, on the trees, as well as in my closet.
Like the colour of my new (new-ish, now) Uniqlo light down vest. I love this piece. I love the rich burgundy, the weightlessness, the fact that it's not too tight but not too bulky, the length which covers just enough of what needs to be covered, and the added warmth it provides.
I wore this vest a lot in Italy, with jeans, sneakers (d'uh), a striped cotton sweater from Massimo Dutti, and my Burberry scarf. I chose the colour of the vest to go with my Max Mara tweed fall coat, and hopefully with my burgundy Akris turtleneck from last year. It works beautifully with both. And I've worn it pretty much constantly since we came home.
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| Heading out to meet my "To Hell with the Bell" lunch group last week |
To lunch with former colleagues the other day, I wore the Uniqlo vest, dark-washed Paige high-rise jeans, my navy, red, and grey Burberry scarf, my new Paul Green loafers, and my burgundy Akris sweater. You know, this vest could have been made for my Akris sweater. The colours work perfectly, and I like the longer length of the sweater under the vest. I elongates my torso... and keeps the vest from looking too puffy.
Not the most scenic spot for photos, is it? You can see, just by my left foot, our black hose pipe needed to accommodate the sump pump which has to be drained away from the house in the winter. And in the shot below, our neighbour's similar black hose pipe behind me. Plus their step-ladder, and their garden shed. You might even be able to make out the upended wheel barrow. One never noticed these things until one started taking shots for a blog. Why can't I have a lovely, scenic brick wall in my backyard?
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| Love this burgundy and khaki green combination |
For a shopping and errand-running trip earlier this week, I changed up the Paige jeans for my khaki Massimo Dutti skinny jeans, and this green and pink wool scarf that I bought at Chatsworth last fall. The green in the scarf looks great with my jeans, I think, and the pink works with the burgundy.
I love this double-faced scarf. Partly for the colours (it's a beautiful teal on the other side) but mostly because it's from Chatsworth. It must be a pattern that's used throughout the Chatsworth Estate because, after I bought it and carried it back to the Devonshire Arms, I noticed it exactly matched the woolen blankets at the foot of the beds in our room. I wore it to dinner that night in the pub and wondered if the wait-staff thought I might have been wearing the blanket off my bed. Ha.
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| Giving Hubby a sidelong glance. |
Thanks to Liz for finding these burgundy loafers, and for making me try them on when I met her at Nordstrom for coffee in September. This is the conversation that ensued.
Liz: Thought you might like these loafers. They're a great deal. Me... looking askance: I don't need another pair of shoes. Liz: Just try them. Me: But I already have red loafers. Liz: Those are red with white soles, for spring and summer. You can't wear them in the fall. Just try them. Me: I know, I know. Okay, I'll just try them. Me: Oh. Me: Sigh. Me: I love them. Me again: How much? Me... finally: You're right. I totally need these.
And you know, I did need them. They update a ton of things in my fall closet. They fill a niche in my wardrobe; all my other fall shoes are black. And they WERE a great deal. Marked way down because they'd come in for the Anniversary Sale and, now that the new Paul Green fall shoes were coming in, they had to go. So they were "Anniversary Sale" price with further discounts. Win, win, win for me. Sigh. What am I going to do when Liz decides to retire?
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| Love my new burgundy loafers. The thick soles are super comfortable and those studs are very cool. |
So with these burgundy loafers, my new-ish Uniqlo vest, and some of my other fall pieces, like my Akris sweater, and my Max Mara tweed coat I really do have a fall colour rhapsody in my closet. I'd totally forgotten that there is something called Fall Rhapsody here in Ottawa, until Suz from Vancouver mentioned it in a comment a couple of posts ago. Gatineau Park, across the river from Parliament Hill in Ottawa, is glorious in the fall, the wooded hills brilliant with oranges and reds and golds. I'm sorry we missed it this year.
The shots for this post were taken on one of the rare sunny days we've had since we've been home, when the river was like glass, and the temperatures perfect for a woolly sweater and jeans. Now sadly, it's all rain, and more rain. With a few snow flurries thrown in. But I count us lucky that we're not still in Italy which has had a rough week weather-wise. Poor Venice.
Mother nature sure is acting up these days, isn't she? Someone marvelled on an IG post about Venice, a day or so ago, that there are those who still deny that climate change is a thing. Hard to swallow that, I think, naysayers saying nay in the face of so much evidence. But don't get me started on that.
What about you, my friends? Any fall colours in your closet? Do tell us all about them.