Inspiration from J.Jill

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Although they do ship to Canada, I’ve never made a purchase from American womenswear retailer, J.Jill. When I saw this ad, however, my mind immediately went to items in my own closet.

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When that happens, whether I see something in print, online, or on another woman, I don’t try to replicate the look exactly. Instead, I simply take inspiration from what I see. In this case, though I can’t imagine why, it had never occurred to me to style the denim military jacket that I bought in September with the aqua top that has been a favourite in my wardrobe for the past three years. Once I saw the J.Jill ad, however, the combination seemed like a no-brainer. 

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The first scarf that I tried worked very well with the colours in this outfit, but it was too bulky. I didn’t care for that look, so I went back to my scarf collection to see what else might work. I received this one as a thank you gift for taking part in a very special event while I was teaching in China more than ten years ago. I tied it loosely to fit the V neck of the top and cover its short zipper. When the tails hung too long, I decided to knot them. A pair of hand painted earrings, a gift from dear friends who live in Mexico, completed the look. 

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Styling a denim military jacket

logo-by-samThe last thing that the very helpful saleswoman at Cleo said to me as she packaged up my latest purchase was that she hoped I’d have fun styling it with different items from my closet and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. As soon as I saw the Denim Military Jacket, I knew that it would be a fun and versatile addition to my wardrobe; one that I could combine with old favourites to create many new looks, both dressy and casual.

Here’s how I wore it to celebrate hubby’s 50 year grad reunion at the University of Alberta last week. I’ve had the dress for many years and it’s appeared on the blog before, but the jacket seemed to give it new life.

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The denim is soft and not too heavy with lots of stretch which makes the jacket very comfortable. Here I’m wearing it with another dress that I’ve had for a long time. In fact, I haven’t worn this one in so long that I was delighted to find that it still fit!

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While the jacket looks great over dresses, it can also be worn more casually. Since we’ve been enjoying lots of lovely warm weather lately, I haven’t done my seasonal closet switch yet, but I dug into storage to try the jacket with my button front skinny cords. I think this combination might look better with tall winter boots, but I’m not bringing those out yet. I try to put winter off for as long as possible!

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Then, of course, there’s this season’s denim on denim trend. For the next photo, I changed out the cords for my favourite jeans. The key to looking good in double denim is to wear a top in a bright contrasting colour. I don’t have many of those in my closet, but I think this one works.

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These are just a few of the ways that I’ll be styling my new Denim Military Jacket this season, so don’t be surprised if it shows up on the blog again!