Second chances - my Dr. Martens

I've had these shoes since my grade school days and I remember wanting them soooo badly. I wore them for a year and put them away. Since returning from university, I have debated many times to let these go but didn't have the heart to because I remember how happy I was to finally get them, and also they are in really, really good condition.

This year, I made a decision to wear them. I brought them to my own home (they were living at my parents' place) and began a Pinterest board of outfit ideas. On the weekends, I dabbled in some casual outfits, mostly consisting of jeans and a sweatshirt, but last week, I debuted them for the first time in an actual, thought-out outfit for work.

Using my Stylebook App, and inspirations from Pinterest, I put together this outfit:

Other outfits I plan to wear them with are:

You'll note another mustard yellow cardigan =) Bonus! They match the signature stitching of my Dr. Martens perfectly. 

I am SO happy that I decided to keep these and am over-joyed that I will finally be able to enjoy them fashionably, and not part of a school uniform.

I also have the boot version and am working on outfits for those too - stay-tuned.... =)

Edit: mustard yellow works for me!

I had previously posted that yellow was a color that did not work for me, but I would like to edit, and state: the majority of yellows don't work for me but I have found that mustard yellow does! While most yellows wash me out, this wonderful shade seems to complement my skin tone and is a great accent to my base colors. It goes really well with purple, navy, and gray.

While I had purged most of my yellow items, I had kept a cardigan in a dark mustard shade because: it didn't wash me out, I loved the details, and I was able to find outfit ideas on Pinterest that worked with existing items. I did note though, that the outfits I found used a slightly brighter yellow than what I owned.

Recently my mom got me several sweaters and cardigans and when I saw them, I got really excited since they were the actual shade I had been seeing on Pinterest. I immediately started putting together outfits. This is one of the cardigans in the only yellow shade that works for me:

I should have known that this shade worked for me because my 'second chances' scarf carries this shade, and one of my remaining 3 yellow items from my purge contain it as part of its pattern.

Here are 3 different outfits I used it in. 

For those interested, this cardigan is by Sparrow.

Second chances - Joe Fresh scarf

I used to have a habit of buying things because they were an amazing item and I had to have it, or it was a steal and had to have it. As I make a change in my lifestyle and wardrobe, I realize that neither are good reasons if I can't put the item to use. Over the years, I have collected a number of such items and in my purging, have re-discovered them and put them through a trial period before making a decision to keep it or to let it go.

This scarf for instance - I purchased this 2-3 years ago at Joe Fresh on heavy discount and wore it a handful of times without giving it much thought as to how it would complete my outfit. Needless to say, given my inability to work with accessories, I've actually ruined some perfectly good outfits. I put it away and called it a day.

 

I re-discovered this during my purging and was on the fence with it for quite some time. I didn't feel that the color or material was quite right for fall and winter and it was clearly too warm for spring and summer. I put it through a 2 week trial run and paid a bit more attention with what I was pairing it with and now I am happy to say that with the current items I own, it will be staying!

Using Pinterest, I found some outfit ideas with existing items I already owned and while yellow doesn't work with me in clothing, as a scarf, it's not too bad. I mostly pair it with shades of purple, white, and light blues..