Thank you all for your very sweet comments and well-wishes about Rex! He is a pure joy and has settled into our household so nicely. I do not know how I got so lucky, but I did, and I am so very grateful.
As I am sure all of you know by now, I am very interested in clothes and personal style, and as such, I follow a lot of fashion blogs and listen to a lot of podcasts on the subject. I have said before that I have a Very Strict Clothing Rule, and that is that I should always feel cute and comfortable in my clothes, whatever the activity. In my mind, if clothes don’t fit properly or don’t boost my mood, then they have no place in my life. Lately I have been hearing a lot about sustainable clothing, and have also come to terms with the fact that my own personal style does not at all reflect current trends. Regarding the first item, I believe that the most sustainable clothing are the items that last the longest, and hence, may or may not be particularly trendy. I have pieces dating from 2007-2008, when I was the mother of a toddler and a preschooler, which is very far from where I am now. That may relate to the second item, which is that my personal style is not at all close to what is hot and current.
Here’s the thing: once I hit a certain age I had a Saint Paul On The Road To Damascus epiphany that, although I will always be interested in clothing trends, I am no longer interested in actually wearing them. Probably the biggest driver in all of this is that I like my clothes, and current styles are do not suit me in the least. God bless those lovely young women sporting crop tops, ruffles, and wide-leg pants, but those are just not for me. Also, I think at age 47, I can gracefully yield that which is meant for the youth to the youth. As I mentioned recently, I want my round little tummy covered and I do not feel the need to add breadth to my shoulders via pads or ruffles or flounces of any kind. Also, wide-leg pants look like clown pants on my body, and “Homer going to clown school” is not the look I am trying to achieve.
All of which is to say we are in the depths of fall, and it’s time for A Week of Fall Outfits! It has been a very warm fall for us; we have had no snow and only a handful of frosty mornings. The air is crisp, and it’s close to freezing in the mornings, but the afternoons have been sunny and mild. You know what this means: layers!
I will say, for the record, that I had some doubts about writing this. None of my outfits are Fashion Blog Worthy, or even very creative. I’m not scouring thrift stores and finding incredible vintage wear, I’m not unpacking a “haul,” I’m not donning Fabulous Outfits to go to the grocery store or library. In fact, most of my clothes look like my Own Personal Uniform, the signature of which is Comfortable and Practical. I was almost paralyzed by a weird imposter syndrome, if you can believe it. Who am I to write about fashion? I am writing this wearing my running pants and a tee that says “Nerd Patrol.” But then I thought, I have a week of winter, spring, and summer outfits. If I don’t do fall as well, a disaster beyond our imaginations may occur. Also, cute, comfortable, practical outfits are what we all desire, don’t we, and as a bonus I thought I could probably get seven extra photos of Rex in. So, here we go!
Monday
Monday was Rex Day! Here we are getting ready for our very first walk, and I was coincidentally coordinated with him. I don’t wear this outfit frequently as white and I don’t mix – I’m always spilling something! I have had that sweater since 2012, but the striped top is fairly new, purchased some time during the pandemic. Those jeans are new within the last year; my old jeans were not fitting well and these ones are super comfortable.
Tuesday
Tuesday was mammogram day, so comfortable and easy-to-remove clothing was the order of the day. I have talked about these pants before; they may just be my favourite pants. They have a button and zipper, and pockets, just like regular pants, but they feel like yoga pants. I added a sweater and a tank top, because layers, and both of those items date back to 2017 or 2018.
Wednesday
Wednesday is normally just Grocery Day, but I have been subbing an evening class for the past two Wednesdays. 2016-2019 Nicole taught ten classes a week, often back-to-back, any day or time. 2022 Nicole is exhausted at the thought of going to teach at a time when she normally has her jammies on. Anyway, to teach I always have a very lightweight top over a yoga tank, with leggings, of course. The community centre I teach at is always quite cold, so I chose a long sleeve white top over a bright pink tank. For warmth, I added this light sweater, that I have had so long I don’t even remember when I bought it.
Thursday
Thursday is a teaching day, so yoga pants, tank, and lightweight top underneath a sweater. Again, all pieces I have had for years. The necklace is one my son bought for me on his school trip to Quebec, back in 2017.
Friday
I always try to arrange for a little treat for myself on Fridays. Sometimes it’s a bowl or three of popcorn, sometimes it’s a glass or three of red wine, but this Friday I scheduled a pedicure (and also had popcorn and wine). This meant that I needed very stretchy pants, in order to pull them up to accommodate the foot bath. These pants always feel new, even though my mother gave them to me for my birthday in 2019. I added a long tank and sweater underneath, and it was perfect for the crisp, windy fall day.
Saturday
Here’s a new fashion accessory that has been life-changing – a waist leash! Rex is a good walker but he is very strong and weighs almost as much as I do, and so having a waist leash controls him so much better. Especially when squirrels are everywhere, just waiting to be chased. I love this sweater but it is extremely, shall we say, loosey-goosey, so it requires a tank underneath, so as to not psychologically scar my children every time I bend over. Jeans and comfy Skechers complete the outfit. Is that a mummy next to me? Yes! My husband and son were decorating the front yard for Halloween, updates to come.
Sunday
Sadly, my husband and I had a memorial service to attend, for the spouse of his colleague. This dress is a decade old at least, and I love it. It’s comfortable and the perfect weight for a fall day. Note: those expensive Sheertex pantyhose are still going strong! This is the fourth wearing and they do not even have so much as a snag. The colleague mentioned that we should all feel free to wear our favourite colours to the service, but I have literally no appropriate clothes that are not black. Hashtag: the New York Rainbow.
No matter how comfy a dress is, I’m not making dinner in one. This isn’t 1960 and I am not Betty Draper. Wait, did she ever make dinner? Or was it always just cigarettes and scotch? Anyhow, I switched to jeans and a long sleeve tee.
Weekly Reading
Consent. This was probably the best novel I have read all year. It is incredible. It’s the kind of book where you sit down for a moment and get up hours later, disoriented and fuzzy. It is quite dark and unsettling, complex and moving. I am going to put trigger warnings all over the place, though, it is definitely not for everyone. It follows two sets of sisters and a man who links their stories, and that is all I am going to tell you.
Where You End and I Begin. Sometimes I read a memoir and wonder how the author became a functioning member of society. I used to read her column in the G&M back in the early 2000s; she’s exactly my age. Whoa. She had a very dysfunctional upbringing with an emotionally incestuous mother. They had and have a super close bond. Her mother’s own childhood trauma informed her own and her daughters’ lives, but – unlike what you might hear from her mother’s essays – the author does not exploit this story and writes about her mother with incredible compassion and love. This is astonishing to read in its emotional complexity.
It looks like it is shaping up to be another beautiful week. What a fall we have had! There is a birthday in the house this week, which means cake. Life is good! xo
This post makes me realize I have no idea when I bought most of my clothes, but I have a pair of pale blue socks I’ve had since 1987 or maybe longer. I know because they still have my laundry # from the dorm where I lived for a semester in Spain written on the toe in laundry pen. The dorm was quite deluxe and had maid and laundry service. I generally wear holes into my socks pretty quickly, but they spent many years pushed to the back of my sock drawer, unnoticed and unworn. I started wearing them again recently.
Wow, that is something! I wear my socks out so frequently too.
p.s. I like the picture of you and Rex smiling next to the mummy.
Well, I’m glad you overcame your imposter syndrome and wrote this post! When you come to my house to help my daughter with her hair, maybe we can also go through my closet and you can tell me what to wear. I was just telling my sister the other day that at the age of 56, I still can’t figure out what looks good on me. SIGH!
I love the color coordinated pic of you and Rex on his first walk! I’m so glad you got him and that it’s working out so well.
Both those books sound good, and that’s quite a recommendation for Consent! I’ll look for it at the library.
All right, will do *heads for the airport*
Just a double-warning – Consent has some VERY upsetting themes! Just so you know! But it was so well done and I just couldn’t put it down.
Color coordinating with Rex is always in style.
My aha fashion moment was thanks to my past life as someone who installed factory equipment. I had to wear steel toes shoes for work (aka sneakers), which was the gateway to never wearing uncomfortable shoes again. And then the transition to only wearing clothes that fit. The next frontier will be purging my wardrobe so that I only OWN clothes that fit. It’s radical stuff.
YES. I just recently cleared out my closet of things I didn’t totally love or that didn’t fit in a comfortable way. I do wear uncomfortable heels for special occasions, but it’s rare. Much more often I’m in cushy flats or boots.
I’ve never thought about having a Very Strict Clothing Rule and I like yours. May I adopt it as my very own? All your outfits are cute, but I like Wednesday best. The neckline is pretty on you, a little different but not weird. Also, Rex is going to steal this blog. He’s so photogenic.
Ally, I would be honoured if you adopted my Very Strict Clothing Rule! It’s a good one, I think. I’m glad you like that sweater! I do too and it’s SO old that I know I could never replace it. I’ve never found a neckline quite like it, together with that length.
You do look cute in all your outfits & I’m sure they are comfy. I also decided years back (I’m 20 years older than you) to wear only what I like & feel comfortable in, but I do wear a lot of bright colours. I cannot stand anything that’s too tight around the waist. I wear lots of layers for sure as my internal thermostat just broke somewhere during menopause and I’m constantly taking off or putting on a layer. I read & loved Consent and I have Leah McLaren’s book on hold – I heard her on the Women of Ill Repute podcast recently — can’t wait to read it!
Thanks Pat! I am the same about things that are tight around the waist. I didn’t always feel that way but with perimenopause, I surely do now. And I hear you on the layers!
I love the blue sweater on Wednesday. I chuckled at not knowing what might happen if you did not include a fall chapter of clothes you wear. You are a hoot.
I feel like I have two kinds of clothes, well 3 . . . workout clothes. Clothes to babysit in. Then ‘real’ clothes that are cute and comfy but that are more suited to leave the house as an adult without toddlers smearing food and snot on my outfits.
Everytime you mention the pants with the zipper that feel like yoga pants, I think that I must find me a pair. Maybe I will do that this week.
Love Red. This was an excellent excuse to include photos of him. He seems to be a willing and happy participant.
Thanks Ernie! Those pants are from lululemon and although pricey, I think they were worth every penny!
You and Rex are both very photogenic. He’s the perfect dog for you!
I’m not usually a fan of fiction, but Consent sounds intriguing, so I’m adding it to my list.
Cake week is always a good week. ❤️
Thanks Kari! Just a double warning – the themes in Consent are pretty upsetting, so just so you’re going in with open eyes!
I think that soon you will stop posting about anything other than Rex because he’s so handsome and seems to enjoy being in front of the camera!
I take good care of my clothes and even have a couple of pieces from high school. I think if you can get a decade or two out of an item of clothing, it’s really done its service!
High school! Well, that sure isn’t the case for me, but I am very impressed with you!!
Rex is adorable and clearly suited to being a subject of many, many photos.
I’m not much for fashion but love when comfort meets cute and you hit the nail on the head with every outfit! I have to laugh when you talk so much about layering, though, which is something I NEVER do. I own ONE tank top. That’s it.
I enjoyed your fashion show! You look classy in every outfit! And I think an adorable dog is the ultimate accessory!
Thanks so much Michelle!
*love Rex. . . not red. I mean I have no issues with red. I’m typing on my phone because my internet is down for some reason. As I typed this correction, I initially subbed in the letter S for the R in your dog’s name. It is too early here for me to be drinking but I am very tired and I am potty training 2.5 yr old twins . . . so I think I am in need of a nap. 😉 * drafted this HOURS ago and never posted it apparently. I am a hot mess today.
Hahaha, Ernie, you definitely need a nap! I knew what you meant when it said “red” 🙂
I think you have nailed the comfy and cute – but I think all of your outfits are classic so they’ll never go out of style. And Rex is the perfect accessory to all your outfits.
Thanks Gigi! I think he’s great!
I am on the same page with clothing – at some point, many years ago, I figured out what works for me, and I have no interest in screwing with that to follow the latest trends (although I do enjoy helping my daughter when she wants to). I have had a tendency to over-buy, because for so long it wasn’t easy to find plus or borderline plus cute clothes, but it’s much easier now and I should probably calm the heck down.
I love Annabel Lyon and will be reading this book forthwith. Leah McLaren has occasionally pissed me off mightily in her columns, but I am now willing to give her some grace. I didn’t love her novel, and I just finished another memoir about an emotionally incestuous and abusive mother, so will have to take a space before looking for another.
I have to say I haven’t read a column by McLaren in probably 20 years, or if I did, I didn’t remember it. So obviously I don’t even remember what she used to write about! But this memoir was…wow. Some people have really shitty upbringings.
Love this post! I have been having a bit of a weird time lately with clothing. I feel like no “real pants” fit me comfortably anymore, and I can’t figure out if it’s just that I’ve worn leggings while WFH during the pandemic, etc. that I just can’t stand normal pants anymore?! Or is my body just a little different now? Weight wise I feel like I’m about the same…. I’d love to hear what comfy jeans you found, because I swear, none of them seem to fit me right- which then totally confuses me, because I feel like on the surface my body “should” be relatively easy to dress?! I’m at a very normal weight, albeit on the taller side, so pants tend to run short. But I just feel like ALL pants that aren’t leggings are uncomfortable in the waist. I’ll take any links or tips you want to share! (Although you’re in Canada so maybe we don’t have the same options exactly? Not sure where you buy your clothes.) I have ordered a ridiculous number of jeans lately (and returned them all!!) It’s driving me quite insane, frankly.
I also feel confused by all of the varying trends. There is definitely something to be said for finally being closer to 40 and maybe just being able to say, Eh, I don’t need to “follow the trends”. I think in my early to mid 30s I felt a bit more stuck in that limbo zone, where I still felt like I should try to look young, but yet I wasn’t truly young young anymore, either (like, not in high school! Or college…Or my 20s…. ). I feel like I’m at the point where I can officially say things like, “Well, I look pretty good, for almost 40!” 😆 That little disclaimer is kind of life changing. LOL.
Hi Kae! I definitely think there’s a big shift when you get close to 40, and beyond, about clothing. 30s are a confusing time to get dressed! In terms of jeans, I shop at Bootlegger and I buy Silver brand jeans. I find them the most comfortable and with a good amount of stretch – but not too much, so that they get all stretched out during the day. For me it’s all about where the waistline hits. I don’t know if you have those options in the States but that’s my favourite brand.
Oh! And I forgot- I wanted to say, that I want to smooch your dog’s ADORABLE face. That’s all.
OMG REEEEEEX. I love him so much already. He’s just the cutest and a ham for the camera!
I love your clothing philosophies! I have definitely adopted a “if I don’t feel good in it, it’s time to donate it” method for my clothes. I only want to wear stuff that makes me feel good! I’ve never really been someone that follows fashion trends so I usually don’t even know WHAT is in fashion (but, ugh, the tucked-in shirt look is just not it for me). I just wear what I like and I’m happy with that!
I don’t like tucked-in shirts either! It doesn’t suit me at all. I’m all for wearing what we like!
I love Rex so much. Never enough Rex photos!
Also, you are my style icon. I love your fashion philosophy and you always look fabulous.
Suzanne, you are the sweetest! Thank you. xoxo
Nicole, I can’t wait for Barkley’s groomer to meet Rex! (She has been living in my head for a while via her mantra). And your NewYork Rainbow palette means you and Rex will always look so coordinated together. 🤗
Your fashion philosophy has inspired me to take another look at my closet. It looks like you will be visiting lots of commentators to help them, can I put myself on that list? 😃
(I won’t have time to do a proper cull until Christmas break, but in the meantime, I’m pulling out two or three things every day to pass on. I just hold onto things since everything technically fits and trends go around in cycles, etc. but they’re not ideal for me in terms of look or comfort.)
I am so in love with Rex!! I love that he’s just casually sitting/laying/standing by you like the most adorable accessory ever.
You are the most SUSTAINABLE fashion icon I know. You really do have nice items that not only last a long time, but they are timeless pieces. That to me is what really matters….nothing trendy for me either, just some nice pieces that I feel comfortable in.
I literally laughed at your Betty Draper comment. I don’t think she cooked…she was always half baked herself. 🙂
I need to look into this waist leash system. My 14lb Lillie can almost take me down when she sees a squirrel….I can’t imagine dealing with a big boy like Rex.
Thanks so much for your sweet words, Suz!
The waist leash has been a game changer! It just hooks onto their regular harness/ collar!
Oooh, a birthday week! So fun! I love birthdays!! Our celebrations are very low key around here but I really get excited for everyone’s birthday!
I love all of your outfits! I’d rather see a post like this than a really curated post of current trends. Because like you, the current trends are not for me. I’m skinny jeans for life! I, too, would feel/look like a clown in wide leg pants. Some people can pull that off – not me! I have a pretty similar style to yours. And I wear things that are sooo old. Like over a decade for sure. A lot of my clothes came from Banana Republic and have held up incredibly well. The sweater I am wearing today is surely 10+ years old. Give me a sweater that lasts a long time over fast fashion! All that said, fashion does not come naturally to me and it’s not something I am drawn to. But in my 30s I came to accept that I have my own look and it will differ from what is in style. I like solid colors, stripes, fitted/skinny jeans/pants, and more tailored looks. I can not pull off ruffles or a bolero (sp?). I also barely wear any jewelry – usually just a necklace and really there are only 2 that I like and wear often. Years ago a running club friend said she wanted to go shopping with me so I could help her pick out clothes since she thought I looked so put together. That blew my mind because anyone who knows me well knows that I am NOT great at fashion. But it showed me that sticking to what works for me was working out and made people think I knew what I was doing. I used to go shopping with one of my best friends who is very fashionable but understood how I dressed. We would power shop and be out of the mall in like 90 minutes. I do need to fill some gaps in my wardrobe as some of my pre-kid outfits are just not going to fit as my body has changed so much, but I keep putting it off because I really loathe shopping!
Sticking with what works is key! I think your style is great. It’s all about finding what looks good on our bodies and what we are comfortable in (SKINNY JEANS FOREVER YESSS). I’m all about the power shop, I hate browsing over things. I just like to get in and get out!
I love your style, Nicole. You always look very nice and very comfy — something I aspire to…but most of the time, I am just either very comfy and not nice or nice and not very comfy! LOL
I’ve been meaning to clean out my closets and now I have even better reason to. I want to live by that rule — that everything in there should be something comfy and look nice on me. Others will be given away.
Looks like Rex also enjoyed being photographed! What a cute and smart dog!
Thanks M! Have you read The Curated Closet? It’s all about just having things in there that you love and that reflect your own personal style. I really enjoyed it and it helped me do a really good closet purge.
I love that dress!
Thanks Colleen!
I definitely have a lot of “old” clothes in my closet, which tells you that a) I am not fashionable and b) reminds me that hey, at least, I can still wear clothes from 15 years ago LOL
I think I’ve mentioned before that your style is totally my style. I could probably dress myself with stuff from your closet and nobody would know that they aren’t my clothes 🙂 I love layers and cute, comfy pants!
Also, the black dress is very cute!
We could share wardrobes, double the fun!
I could never dress like you do, Nicole. I suspect I am about half your height, for starters. And, I just don’t have your innate sense of style. I have more of an innate sense of comfort, and inability to put together outfits that look, well, put together. I go for clothed, and figure if I am wearing pants or something resembling pants, then I am generally good to go. 😉
I envy you your fashion sense! I love that you embrace it and that you go for what works for you. Also, what is UP with the wide leg pants?? Yikes. (Interesting to see the split between clown pants and leggings in my school… the undergrads seem about evenly divided, still.)
Oh, thank you so much for your very sweet words, Anne!
I had “palazzo pants” back in the 90s and it was NOT A GOOD LOOK.