Truly Toasty

For the next several days I'll be featuring the outerwear that I've been pairing with my outfits, since the weather has gotten really chilly here and coats and jackets have been much more of a necessity than normal. Today it's this beautiful vintage coat, which I've actually shown before. It was really cold that day, so I wrapped myself in layers of cashmere, tulle, wool, and fur for a truly toasty ensemble.

This outfit was something I had been wanting to try: a winter white look. Now, I don't have the sort of complexion that looks good surrounded by lots of washed out colors; I have olive undertones in my skin and pale colors tend to make me look, well, dead. So I modified the look somewhat and added this light brown scarf around my neck; the color is soft enough that it doesn't ruin the harmony of the rest of the outfit, but at the same time it frames my face with a warmer color that gives it a little life.

The beautiful leather half vest was custom made for me by one of my favorite designers, Tiina from Attila Design. I knew it would make a great starting point for my winter white look , especially since the contrast topstitching was a perfect way to tie in the richer brown color that I knew I'd need. The vest also helps bring shape to this bulky cashmere sweater, which otherwise tends to hide my waist. In the end, none of the colors was really white at all, and no two colors matched; I thought this was a more interesting way to approach the washed out winter look.

Dress: Lady Language
Sweater: Anne Taylor
Vest: Attila Design
Tulle skirt: Noa Noa
Shoes: Tsubo; a gift from Sal
Coat: vintage (via eBay)