Yesterday, my husband and I returned from a whirlwind weekend of Christmas traveling. Over five days we traveled through three states, saw my entire extended family, and spent a little over 15 hours in the car – whew! Our second big event after the Tacky Holiday Party was our annual Christmas Eve dinner at the house of my Great Aunt & Uncle. This gathering is a family tradition that pre-dates me by a long shot. It was my favorite thing to dress up for when I was a kid, and I always planned my outfit far in advance. In the early to mid nineties, you probably would see me in some variation of a thrifted velvet dress with a big lace collar. For 2011, I wanted to go a more sophisticated route.
This year, rather than buying a new dress for the occasion, I decided to remix some items already in my closet to create my holiday outfit. I tried to imitate a classic LBD by pairing a black sequin top with a black pencil skirt. My forest green tights and a gold belt were my “holiday” accents.
I also managed to incorporate three kinds of animal print into this outfit (leopard cardigan, peacock necklace, and snakeskin shoes).
The only “new to me” aspect of this outfit are the shoes, which I found for a mere $3.99 at Salvation Army two weeks ago! They are sturdily built, which makes walking in these heels a cinch.
My Outfit:
Shirt – Kohl’s
Cardigan – secondhand via a blog sale (buttons replaced by me)
Skirt – H&M
Tights – Target
Shoes – thrifted (Bass)
Necklace – Urban Outfitters
Belt – Charlotte Russe
Nails – OPI, Mrs. O’Leary’s BBQ
My mom even let me raid her closet to help her pick out an outfit for the evening as well. It was fun to play closet consultant for a while and think up outfit combinations from a closet other than my own. My Mom is a self declared “tomboy”, and generally leans toward a more casual wardrobe. I dug up a nice thrifted blazer from her closet, which she had yet to wear, and helped create a classic, festive holiday outfit for her. She never wears necklaces, but I somehow convinced her to try wearing one of mine. I think statement necklaces really suit her – doesn’t her outfit look great? :)
Mom’s Outfit:
Blazer – thrifted
Shirt – thrifted
Skirt – Ann Taylor
Boots – thrifted
Necklace – borrowed from me (Lia Sophia)
Love that leopard cardi! And you can never go wrong with black and red :)
Annie
The Other Side of Gray
Thanks! :)
I second Annie…I REALLY love your leopard cardi and have been searching high and low for a few months now. By any chance it may still have a tag on it? BTW – thank you for sharing your wardrobe and inspire us to change it up! =)
Thank you Lana! The tag on the cardigan says Lapis – I haven’t been able to find much online about it. Good luck on your cardi hunt! :)