the chunky knit scarf

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Nothing reads cozy like a chunky knit. Really pleased with this find from Monki, which is in a lovely washed out periwinkle shade I realize I have so little of and wonder why. This is the kind of sky color I like best, a pale, slightly ominous blue-grey. I like it despite its somewhat maddening tendency to curl up at the edges like all of its stockinette-stitched brethren. So many compliments on the street with this, which I like, too.

These leather mittens are another effective winter acquisition. So soft (lined with rabbit fur) and insulating. I haven’t had mittens in years so there is a childlike element to wearing them, the pleasant sensation of the fingers all together, keeping one another warm.

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Hot chocolate also key. 

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I would show you more of what I’m wearing but honestly it is so cold and dark out that a) I can’t be bothered and b) you aren’t missing much. I am either outside wearing a coat (this coat, usually) and muffled to the eyes or inside wearing a sweater. Like, one of three rotating sweaters. So many new things I want to show you, though. On the coldest days it cheers me to shop for another, warmer life.

Scarf from Monki (via asos), mittens from Pratt and Hart (truly wanted the red pair but they were sold out of XL…we’ll see if I forget but I may go for the red next year. Not that I don’t like brown. I do very much like brown.), golden akoya pearl earrings from Pearl Paradise, Old Navy sweater. On the lips: MAC Huggable lipcolor (their glossy new formula, on which more later) in Love Beam.

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belt it

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I like a herringbone pattern, especially in charcoal.  I got another faux fur collar as I wanted some contrast here (and generally find it difficult to resist white things).

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oxblood suede (♥!)

Yes, my coat has perfectly functional buttons, and I do like that boxy boyfriend look achieved by simply buttoning it as well as the casual look of not buttoning it at all, but why not add a belt? You know? Just why not?

I’ve been randomly adding a belt here and there where no belt is needed, and it opens whole new world of possibility. Many of my favorite uses of the belt are entirely cosmetic. I am coming around to investing in a really excellent belt (in any style, but with something a bit special about it), which belt can then carry the day, regardless of what it is in fact belting. I’ve observed that a nice dress with a supbar (cheap, plain, ragged, uninspired, etc.) belt yields a supbar effect, while a subpar dress with a luxe belt yields a luxe effect. I think the conclusion here is obvious.

Did I already talk about this? This feels familiar…but perhaps it was only in my mind. Perhaps I am building on the initial idea to invest in a belt and going on to say that I would then wear that belt in all manner of unconventional contexts. Belting a coat that has no need of a belt (or which already has a belt!), belting a scarf, belting a sweater or anything bulky, having a belt slung at the hips independent of any assigned loops, wearing multiple belts.  Much like the artful placement of a superfluous zipper (or like jewelry, which realm of decor a pointless belt approaches), a purely aesthetic belt can immediately up the style factor, especially one that is well chosen. Indeed, the more out of place it is, the better it will function as a feature of interest. It can also up the femininity factor, the waist being a definitive part of the female silhouette, and the highlighting or exaggeration of the waist a much-considered matter in the fashion and beauty industries (not to mention all of the feminist and body issues bound up in it and the zones above and below it by association, i.e. ratios). The waist is powerful, and so is the belt.

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Alorna herringbone coat (thrifted), faux fur collar (eBay), bon chon gloves, Old Navy sweater, Express leggings (I was skeptical about these at first but I think if I wear them and stare at them a bit more I’m going to like them), Cole Haan pumps, Michael Kors belt (thrifted). On the lips: MAC RiRiWoo. Oh, and here are the textured gold sphere earrings I was waiting for. They are heavy but they will do.

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 RiRiWoo (♥!) Like I said, the color is stunning, ultra saturated and ultra matte. 

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