As I described in my post about my 2025 clothing no buy year (shopping break), I have fallen behind on blogging about new wardrobe additions from 2024. I showed you my teal pants from 2023 in this post, and my magenta tunic and navy tile print pants in this post.
Today I have four new items from 2024 as demonstrated in three winter outfits of the day from this month.
For fun, I'm letting an AI describe what you're seeing in the photos (green inset text) for this post with my commentary (regular black text). Let's get to it!
Grey V-neck top and black geo-pattern pants on white background. Text details brand, prices, and dates for each item.
First, I have two "neutral items with interest" that entered my closet last December. The top was part of my birthday present from my mom; it's a nice heather grey top with a V neck and cute buttons along the cuffs that can function as that useful "t-shirt but nicer" in many outfits. The pants are my current go-to favorite style (like the teal and navy tile print ones shared earlier) in black with a tiny grey print that they call "micro geo" (for geometric, I assume). It has a textured, false plain look at a distance, but up close you can see the little print (as I'll show later).
Person poses confidently indoors, wearing glasses, gray top, patterned scarf, dark pants, and shiny shoes. Background: white paneled door.
I didn't realize my standard outfit photo stance was confident, but I like that characterization! It's definitely better than how I'd describe it: "poses awkwardly."
Black sneakers with white stripes viewed from above on a beige carpet. Person wearing patterned pants. Casual setting.
Here's the close-up of the print on the pants, which I think looks fabulous with the striped sneakers. Low key print mixing FTW.
Person in a gray shirt and patterned pants stands on a beige carpet. A white scarf with black illustrations and text is draped around their neck.
The text and illustrations are, of course, from the original Alice in Wonderland.
Multiple black and gold beaded bracelets on a wrist. Background includes text on paper; gray fabric visible. Elegant and stylish mood.
"Elegant and stylish"? I'll take it! I've mixed bracelets from my black-and-white paper bead set and from my snowflake obsidian set for a black, grey, and gold color palette. {stretch bracelet tutorial} {bicone paper bead tutorial} {tube paper bead tutorial}
Woman with glasses smiling, wearing a gray shirt and printed scarf. Close-up of black and white beaded earrings with key charms. Neutral background.
I made these bead soup charm earrings with keys specifically to coordinate with this scarf. My supply of gold-tone Alice charms is lacking so I chose some keys to invoke the similar key in the book and movie. Google's AI explains: "In Alice in Wonderland, "the key" refers to a tiny, golden key that Alice finds on a glass table, which is the key to a small door leading to a beautiful garden, a door that is too small for her to fit through unless she shrinks herself first; it's a significant plot element as it represents the possibility of accessing a hidden, magical world."Â
Floral top and purple cardigan with prices and brand info. Top: $9.68, cardigan: $11.99, both from CJ Banks, available 8/2024.
My final two pieces for today's post are a floral top and matching solid cardigan in CJ Banks' "Potent Purple" color that I am calling "purple-wine" in my wardrobe because it is a warm purple that veers into my "wine" color. (When I added this top to my wardrobe, I checked it against different colors in my closet and determined that it pairs with okay my established "wine" pants and cardigan in addition to the new "purple-wine" cardigan.) I've mentioned before that when I am going to add a new color to my closet, I like to check the retailer's website for other items in that color to see if I want to get any matching pieces to coordinate. It's the absolute easiest way to source the building blocks for creating color-formula-based outfits from your closet. These two pieces together make a nice print version of the "modern twin set."
A woman with glasses and a braid smiles confidently, wearing layered necklaces, a dark cardigan, gray top, and patterned pants in a room.
Now I'm smiling confidently (as well as posing confidently). I am not wearing the same grey top as above; in this outfit it's an old grey t-shirt (2017) that I've styled with a twisted knot tuck on the side to shorten it up (similar to method #3 here). This T is more fitted than my new top so I liked it as an underlayer for the cardigan. I rolled the sleeves of the T with the cardigan to create a contrasting cuff, which was a neat effect. (The lacy socks were not a styling choice; my feet just got cold suddenly so I put them on for warmth.)
Person wearing a purple sweater, gray top, and layered bead necklaces, standing on a beige carpet. Arm bent on hip, casual setting.
I created a 3 piece layered necklace by adding my new Midnight Lace crazy lace agate necklace (the short one) to the Silver Shadow necklaces that I shared before. Because I had already considered this layering option when I made the Silver Shadow set (I had the Annie's Beads kit for the Midnight Lace already but hadn't made it yet), I purposely made the top Silver Shadow necklace at 24" so it would sit between the Midnight Lace at 19" and the beaded chain at 36". I like how this turned out!
Beaded bracelets with gray, white, pink, and silver beads wrap around a wrist. A small butterfly charm hangs from one. Casual setting.
The angle of the silver flower charm confused the AI into seeing it as a butterfly - interesting! I made this paper bead bracelet set in wine, pink, grey, and silver because that's a common color combo for me to wear. {stretch bracelet tutorial} {bicone paper bead tutorial} {tube paper bead tutorial}
Collage of colorful shirts labeled with text, set on wood. Below, spools of multicolored thread on a green tray. Earthy and vibrant tones.
Haha, it interpreted my rolled paper beads as spools of thread. I mean, you almost assuredly could make a bead out of embroidery thread or something similar if you wrapped it enough times and glued it well, but this is the usual paper: a page from a Lands End catalog that I painted with silver acrylic paint to cover the background and text.
Silhouetted figures with guns, pink-lit screens; cut paper strips on a grid; rolled papers with pink, black, and white patterns on a tray.
This drawing from The Economist is pretty menacing with the guns but that's the kind of detail that is lost when rolling paper beads; I chose this page for the smoky charcoal grey and muted pink tones. I love that the softly pixelated visual texture of the drawing came through so well in the beads, adding interest to the stripes. I'm going to give the AI credit for "rolled papers" because that is exactly what these beads are.
Towels in pink shades hang; cut strips lie on a green grid; colorful rolled paper beads rest on a round tray, evoking creativity.
Third time's a charm for the AI correctly identifying them as rolled paper beads. This is another great example of visual texture coming through from the image (towels in a Lands End catalog) to the beads. They are so much more interesting than beads rolled from solid paper...though there is nothing wrong with that, of course! I can readily imagine times when a very uniformly-colored paper beads would be great in a piece of jewelry. But since I am mixing my paper bead bracelets in with glass, stone, and metal bead bracelets that often have that uniform color thing already, the visual texture of the paper beads is a plus.
Woman with glasses and braided hair wears black and white beaded jewelry. Earrings on the right are brown, clear, and black with sparkles.
I feel so validated that the AI interprets the wine color of the top beads in these bead soup stack earrings as brown! I sometimes have difficulty distinguishing certain purply colors from brown too. But in this case, the stack is (top to bottom): wine crystal, silver wavy spacer, clear crystal with half silver coating, silver wavy spacer, black-and-white/light grey marble style glass bead. The earrings were made to go with the paper bead bracelet set I'm wearing.
Smiling person in glasses wearing dark sweater and floral shirt, standing on beige carpet in front of white doors, exuding a confident vibe.
Confident vibe? Heck yeah. I am wearing purple and I will not be denied.
Brown shoes with bows on feet wearing dark jeans, standing on light carpet.
These thrifted Target ballet flats are technically purple, I think, but the AI has a point that they are a very brown purple; it is sometimes called a "toasted color" when you add brown to a hue. These toasted brownish-purple shoes actually work well with the "purple-wine" colors of my top and cardigan. There is also a bit of a caramel/tan color in the top's print, which makes a brownish-purple feel at home. But really, with the expanse of jeans visually separating the purple shoes from the purple top/cardigan, the purples can be pretty different and still look fine together.
Person in purple floral top, dark cardigan, and jeans standing on beige carpet. Wearing colorful beaded necklace and brown shoes.
My "colorful beaded necklace" is a two-piece layered necklace I made in purple, white, and silver based on beads from the Curated Bead Box (which I supplemented with beads from my stash). I actually created a little collection in these colors, including the two necklaces, two pairs of earrings, and a memory wire bracelet. I only wore the necklaces in this OOTD, but you'll see the rest of these jewelry pieces in future outfits.
A close-up of a wrist adorned with multiple beaded bracelets in brown, black, and silver, featuring a silver rabbit charm.
The AI falls for the purple/wine versus brown confusion again, though it did recognize the charm as a rabbit. The very dark beaded bracelet is very hard to identify but it's made from deep burgundy garnet stones. {stretch bracelet tutorial} {bicone paper bead tutorial} {tube paper bead tutorial}
Person wearing glasses and jewelry smiles, with a close-up of pink butterfly earrings on the side against a light background.
My DIY earrings feature Czech glass butterfly beads in purple-mauve with a pink wash that are so pretty...and color-wise, perfect with this blouse. I added them as dangles to stacks of purply-pink glass beads so that the butterflies would have more freedom of movement.
Snow-covered landscape with barren trees casting long shadows. The bright sunlight creates a serene winter atmosphere.
As I finish up this post, the last remaining snow in my neighborhood has melted away in the relatively balmy 50 F weather we are having today! (However, if that was the last of the snow for the season, I would be shocked and basically terrified for our planet since our last snow usually happens in April.) Here is a more typical February view from my balcony as seen last winter. And I think the AI did a really nice job describing this photograph!
However, I don't think I'm going to be outsourcing the writing of my style blog posts to AI. While I enjoyed discovering how "confident" I look in my outfit photos, and appreciate the "elegant" and "creative" vibes I create in the "casual setting" of my apartment, the AI is not yet ready to tackle the themes of visual texture, necklace layering, print mixing, color formulas, wardrobe color naming, etc., that are the mainstays of my posts.
Do you ever wear truly achromatic (black, grey, and white only) outfits? Do you distinguish different shades of purple well? Do you ever have difficulty telling purple from brown? Do you have a "modern twin set" of a print top + cardigan/jacket in the same/similar color?
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