What I Wore | The Winners and Losers of Shopping My Closet

Hey everyone! This is the last time this week that I’ll welcome you to a new weekly series – Friday outfit roundups! Now you know the whole deal: Monday essays, Wednesday reviews, and Friday outfits. I’m really looking forward to this new, slightly more organized iteration of Goblin Shark.

Missed my earlier posts this week? Click here for an essay on what I think about Afterpay and here for a review of the Everlane Day Heel.

The theme of this week’s outfit post is shopping my own closet. I like to put items that I’ve been feeling on the fence about away for a few months so that when I dig them up later, I’ll be looking at them with fresh eyes. Sometimes I’m into it, sometimes I’m not. Either way, I’m usually ready to make a decision. I did some closet editing this week and found a couple of things that will have a renewed place in my wardrobe, and one thing that I finally had to let go of.

OUTFIT ONE

Wearing Kotn Mockneck Dress, Black ($55, wearing size M), Everlane Day Heel, Pecan Stacked ($160, wearing size 6, gifted)

Alright, so not all of the shopping I did last week was in my own closet. After agonizing over it for months, I finally caved and bought the Kotn Mockneck Dress. I made the decision after I picked up my dog from surgery and learned in the same 30 seconds that not only was she fine (they were removing and investigating a large lump on her chest) but the surgery also cost less than half of what we expected it to. The dress purchase was kind of an exhalation of relief after so much pent up stress. I don’t recommend shopping emotionally like this, but hey, I’m only human.

Regardless of the circumstances, I’m so, so glad I bought this dress. Kotn is a brand that I’ve had my eye on for a long time. Their cotton is ethically sourced from Egypt, and they provide fair wages and educational opportunities for the people who live in the communities they operate in. They work specifically to improve literacy among young women.

Of course, they also make really nice clothes, and the prices are super reasonable compared to many ethical fashion brands. This dress only set me back $55. I plan to write a full review of the Mockneck Dress later in March, but I do just want to put it out there that if you’re considering buying something from Kotn, size up. I’m wearing a size M in this dress when I would typically be an XS at most retailers. Their pieces are stretchy but form fitting, so just keep that in mind when you’re deciding how sexy you want to look (I went for moderately sexy – I need to wear this to work!).

OUTFIT TWO

Wearing Everlane Silk Tee Dress (thrifted, no longer available, similar here), LOFT cardigan (old, similar here), Everlane Day Boots, Black ($225, wearing size 6, gifted).

One of the winners from my closet shopping was this stone colored cardigan, which I’ve had for years but had demoted to loungewear after a season or so of keeping it in my capsule wardrobe. I pulled it back out to experiment with last week and realized that it feels totally different with my blonde hair than it did with my brown hair. I really like it paired with an all-black look like this one. It’s a wool/acrylic mix, so it’s held its shape pretty well over the years. I have to say that of all my old fast fashion clothes, my LOFT pieces have held up the best.

OUTFIT THREE

Wearing Tradlands Sawyer Henley, Sienna, ($79, wearing size XS, gifted), Everlane ReNew Puffer, Surplus ($175, wearing size XS), Everlane High Rise Skinny Ankle Jean, Mid Blue ($68, wearing size 26, thrifted), Floral Booties (old)

This outfit was my last ditch effort to make this Tradlands Sawyer Henley work, but sadly, I’m just not feelin’ it. I adored this top when I first got it, but since dyeing my hair, the color just isn’t doing it for me. I feel like I don’t have the right shoes to pair it with, but I can’t even envision what those shoes would look like. It pains me to part with it because it’s so comfortable and well-made, but realistically, I’m not going to wear it anymore. I thought about putting it in my loungewear basket, but I’ve been trying to keep that part of my wardrobe equally as curated as my capsule wardrobe and not just treat it like a dumping ground for clothes I can’t figure out what to do with.

This top is currently up for sale on my Poshmark. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention that Tradlands is having an absurdly good sample sale right now, and it’ll last until Sunday night at midnight or as long as stock lasts. There are button-downs for $30, t-shirts for $15, shirtdresses for $35, and even my beloved Finch Flannel, regularly $167, is available for $39.99. That’s basically unheard of for Tradlands, and many of these styles will be discontinued following this sale, so I’d check it out if you’ve been curious about the brand.

OUTFIT FOUR

Wearing Madewell Silk Pocket Blouse (thrifted, similar here), Everlane High Rise Skinny Ankle Jeans, Black ($68, wearing size 26), Cole Haan Riding Boots (old, similar here), Everlane Day Square Tote, black ($165, gifted)

“Are riding boots out in 2019?” is a thing I googled recently. Ankle boots have been reigning supreme for several seasons now, and so these riding boots of mine, one of the few actually nice things I purchased while still in my fast-fashion days, have gone entirely unworn. I actually had them marked to sell but was dragging my feet putting them up on Poshmark. I consulted a few of my fashion blogger friends, and every single one of them said I should keep the boots.

I thought about it, and I decided that I agreed with them. The riding boot is a classic style – it’s bound to come back “in” any day now – and further, there’s definitely a way that I can style them where I look less like Han Solo with a PSL and more like a modern day Katharine Hepburn. I like this look a lot, and I found that I really appreciated having a tall, flat boot with a rubber sole when it was icy out earlier this week. These are definitely rejoining my wardrobe, and I’m looking forward to experimenting with new ways to style them.

I also got a chance to try the new Everlane Day Square Tote, which is a slightly smaller, more symmetrical version of their popular Day Market Tote, and I’m liking it a lot. It wasn’t supposed to be out until the first week of March, but Everlane quietly released it earlier this week and it’s available for purchase now. Full review to come!

I obviously wore a lot of other stuff between the last time I posted outfits and now, but I’ve been so bad about photographing my outfits at work, so I don’t have every single outfit to show you. I hope to get better about that in future outfit roundups!

Thanks for reading, everyone. Have a great weekend!

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