I can’t remember the last time I wrote a good ol’ fashioned outfit post, the kind where I write a simple blurb about the look and nothing else. Back in my early days of blogging, in junior and senior years of high school, I religiously shared three outfit posts a week. Most of the time it was just whatever outfit I wore to school that day that I would photograph at a park on the drive home.

Looking back, I wonder how I managed posting so frequently. It’s clear to me that there has been a huge improvement in the quality of my content—I had much lower standards back then and would shoot in any lighting, anywhere, and post any results, no matter how heinous. While the content left a lot to be desired, there was something so freeing and fun about those early days of blogging. At some point I became an obsessive perfectionist and, well, things became less fun, but I’m going back to my roots today and doing what I love the most—just casually chatting about an outfit.

Today’s post is another collaboration with the Magnificent 8, a group of eight fashion bloggers from different generations proving that you can be stylish at any age. The prompt for this quarter’s post was restyling an item you’ve worn in a previous Magnificent 8 post. Well, since my entire brand is about cost per wear and shopping my closet, it wasn’t hard for me to find a piece I could style in a new way.

Enter: This peachy cardigan from April’s Magnificent 8 post. Originally I envisioned a very different outfit featuring this sweater, but after playing around in my closet I somehow landed on this fall outfit instead—made entirely of pieces that have been in my closet for at least three years (I believe the sweater was a gift when I was in middle school… a decade ago).

I paired the sweater with a white ribbed crop top (a combo I wore on my recent trip) and rediscovered this embroidered suede skirt in the bottom of a drawer. I can’t believe I haven’t worn it more often because it’s so cute. As I mentioned in my last monthly recap, a trendy look again this fall is the oversized sweater layered over a mini skirt with knee boots (gone are the days of ankle booties—at least for now). I loved my last closet-shopped look in this style and wanted to see if I could recreate it again with this sweater.

It’s not quite the same, since the sweater is tucked rather than hanging over the skirt. While taking and editing these photos I thought the outfit gave a similar vibe to today’s trendy looks, but now I’m wondering if it actually looks dated… Surely it would have been instantly more trendy with a chic shoulder bag, but I had to work with what I’ve got! When I first tried this outfit on in the mirror, I left the sweater untucked—I didn’t love it at the time but maybe that’s what this outfit is missing to make it just a *little* more current. I also wonder if I could pull off wearing the cardigan backwards… These are the things one thinks about when shopping her closet.

Be sure to check out how the other ladies of the Magnificent 8 restyled their items at the links below.

Let me introduce the other seven ladies of The Magnificent 8.

Mica of Away from the Blue   //   Roxanne of Glass of Glam   //   Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge   //   Rena of Fine Whatever   //   Eugenia of Age of Grace   //   Lesley of Jodie’s Touch of Style   //   Charlotte of Jodie’s Touch of Style

We are showing that you can’t put a number on style!

. . . . .

Let me know what you think about this outfit—I’ve worked myself up and am now pretty sure I don’t like it, ha. Funny how that happens! I generally speaking don’t care if my outfits look dated BUT if I want to show people how to shop their closets, I want to prove you can do it while still looking trendy(ish). I feel less confident that this outfit does that now… I’m dying to try it back on with the sweater untucked to see if that fixes the problem!

 

Miles of smiles,
Grace

 

White Crop Top: American Eagle, $8 ($0.89 per wear), last worn here | Cardigan: Gift, last worn here | Skirt: Francesca’s, $25 ($6.25 per wear), last worn here | Boots: Clarks via DSW, $100 ($0.75 per wear), last worn here | Socks: Gift, $15 ($0.75 per wear), last worn here | Purse: Nordstrom Rack, $50 ($2.00 per wear), last worn here