OOTW: inspired by emerald

The weather is weird today. It’s not cold but not hot; it’s not sunny but also not dark and gloomy like one of the many rainy days that I guess worked as intro to this annoyingly belated summer.
It’s overcast, and there’s a breeze. It’s kind of blah. Watch out for that, it’s contagious: a blah day and before you know it you are uninspired, and bored, and just reaching for the first thing you set your eyes on. The best cure for the blahs? Something bright. Not annoyingly so, not fluorescent bright, unless you want to reenact Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” video. Just a touch of bright.

Green is a color I hardly ever wear, because it’s so hard for me to find a flattering shade. When you have olive skin, wearing green can easily bring out your undertones and make you look yellow. It’s just really unattractive.
But once in a while, I run into a shade of green that has enough blue for it to be flattering, but not so much that it makes the color too cool for my complexion. Truth be told, the shades of green that look best on me are the same shades I know from growing up in Sardinia, the shades that remind me of the gorgeous water there: rich teals and blue-greens.

There is a stretch of coast in Sardinia, called Costa Smeralda, Emerald Coast. It’s full of cliffs that dive right into the gorgeous blue-green water.

Emerald is, however, a color I never wore until recently. But I guess that since I love jewel tones, it was just a matter of time before I did. A couple of months ago I found an emerald green tunic at Dorothy Perkins, and I just popped it in my cart.

Tunics (in a cut that’s flattering to your body shape) are a great buy, because when you pair them with leggings or skinny jeans you have a cute, no-fuss outfit that you can go back to again and again, just switching accessories depending on the day.

I only wore that tunic once, while in Sardinia last month, on an unusually chilly and sort of drizzly evening:

I was going out, so I paired it with skinny pants, which are a little more dressy than leggings; I also opted for my black peep-toe booties, a woven black belt with a gold buckle on my hips (to break up the green), and my favorite clutch, from the 2008 L.A.M.B. “Music” collection (the best Gwen ever designed, IMO) – and of course I added my beloved trench, to keep warm and dry. I got lots of compliments that day. I love the way a simple outfit can change when you add the right accessories!

Today I decided on a comfortable take on that same outfit, since all I had on my to-do list was a few errands and a walk in the park, so I went for my fave pair of treggings , which are stretchier, softer and generally lower-maintenance than skinny pants:

Treggings are a hybrid of trousers and leggings: slightly more structured than leggings, often with a zipper instead of an elastic waist, sometimes with pockets and often in a slightly heavier fabric. They are as comfortable but a little more put-together than leggings.

The bag is a satchel from the Loeffler Randall for Target line, which I tend to use mostly in summer because of its shiny gold-tone accents and lining, and the fact that it doesn’t have a zipper – it only has a magnetic snap button in the middle. It’s a cute bag, very relaxed and kind of fun, but not extremely practical if you want to carry a lot of stuff (because you might easily spill it) or if it’s raining (because the bag is almost completely open so everything will get wet). Because of the shape and woven pattern it reminds me of a straw or wicker tote, which is probably why it feels like a summer bag.

The rest of the outfit is simple: flat gladiators (Pacha by Boutique 9), a simple necklace.

This is probably my favorite comfortable outfit ever. Soft fabrics, low shoes, but still some fun details. Nothing too long or too short, no cleavage, no pulling or tugging. Comfortable and cute. What else could you possibly want in an outfit?