About a month ago, Ms. S&C declared that the goal of her fall wardrobe was to dress boldly. In her original blog post, she highlighted a few trends that were catching her eye. Did she follow-through on her own advice? Yes, sort-of.
Below are some of her recent purchases. Obviously, there’s not a lot of bold color and flashy prints in this selection – with the exception of the bright cobalt clutch. She likes this sweet, satin bow clutch because it can brighten up a lot of outfits. She’ll take it out when she’s in distressed denim (or her new black denim), and when wearing the all-occasion black dress.
Biker chic accessories are a popular fall trend. Ms. S&C picked up this studded belt, which she’ll wear high-waisted over her numerous black and gray cardigans, to make them much more exciting.
As for shoes – Ms. S&C recently tossed a pair of black, peep-toe pumps from Nine West. She’d had them for at least five years, probably longer, and they showed their years. Replacing them was a necessity. She spotted these Nine West platforms when researching suede shoes for a reader, and she loves them. Her first day wearing them — a lady stopped her in Starbucks to comment.
Ms. S&C has been toying with buying a pair of booties for awhile now. She didn’t want anything too flashy, as she plans to wear them with shorter-length skirts/dresses and colorful tights. And, she didn’t want to spend a lot of money. She thinks she satisfied both requirements with these Report Dylan ankle boots.
While Ms. S&C likes trends, she prefers classic items with a long shelf-life. Not purposely, this mentality has transferred over to cocktail preferences of late. The drink in her hand on Friday’s, after work? It was a Tom Collins over the summer. For the early fall, it’s been the classic martini — or more specifically, the original-pre-Prohibition martini, which is currently called the Fifty-Fifty Martini. Confused? It’s the martini with equal parts gin and equal parts vermouth. Why the extra vermouth? Read Jason Wilson’s, WaPo columnist, article “Stirrings of a Better Martini,” or this article from NYT’ Shaken and Stirred column. Vermouth is good in cocktails,people. Use it.
Since there are so many variations of the martini, I find it’s easiest just to tell the bartender what I want in it, and how I want it prepared. For example, tonight, I’ll simply say, “Martini with equal parts gin and vermouth, up, with a twist. And, a dash of orange bitters, if you got ’em.” Please.
posted by Ms. S&C
Shoes & Cocktails 
Love the studded belt! I almost snatched one at Forever 21 and thought, nah, this is a bit too much. Darnit! For those with smalllll budgets for fashion, and who sometimes can’t stomach the thought of spending a lot of money on accessories, I bought 3 different color belts from Old Navy recently. While not guaranteed to last forever or probably made quite cheap, for $10 a belt, I’m quite ok with getting 6 months to a year out of it!
@Kathy, thanks for the tip on the Old Navy belts! There’s no reason to spend a lot of $ on trends, esp b/c you’ll never know if you’ll like them again next year .
I actually thought about putting a disclaimer in this post, stating that I did *not* pay full price for any of the above items :-)
Ms. S&C, we must be two peas in a pod. I just recently bought a very similar studded belt at the BR outlets in Williamsburg!
Love the shoe picks.
Thanks to you Ms S & C, I went out and dared to be bold and bought that studded belt for myself! I hesitated when I first saw it, and then, when someone as fabulous as you goes out and gets it, I’m like, I want to try :-) I’m slowly trying to update my fall wardrobe, we’ll see where this fits in :-) the $10 belts from Old Navy BTW are great :-)