From childhood, I’ve enjoyed the blooming of irises. My appreciation goes back to my mother who grew irises in her garden. On trips to my grandparents in Oklahoma, Mom would divide my grandma’s irises and take roots back with our family to Missouri. When Michael and I made the move to our home, Mom shared her iris bounty with us. A favorite for me of these heirloom irises now gracing our garden, is the color combination of purple and brown.
The “styling like an iris” inspiration came during on my last trip to Joplin’s Goodwill. My best luck comes at thrift stores when I go in with an clear heart and just see what I like. That day, the general feeling of “Spring’s coming!” was floating around in my head.
Two items that I scored were a oblong chiffon leopard scarf and a never worn cotton/rayon/nylon purple turtleneck with its tag cut out. What does that mean? This is not the first time I’ve brought new looking things home without tags. I don’t know for sure, maybe an alert reader does, but I wonder if the donating brand just didn’t want buyers from thrift stores to know.
Checking out: I threw the scarf on the turtleneck and loved the combo. Got home and pulled out my silk/linen brown Charter Club pants that I found over six years ago from eBay. Adding my Steve Madden Leopard flats…a new outfit is created!
One detail that I like on these pants is a side split (see below). I now find myself designing side splits frequently into pants I make.
Do you like heelless flats? These are the first I’ve owned in a while. For me, it makes them a two-season show, Spring and Fall.
The pin (below), Mr. Leopard, had been quietly hiding in my drawer for a long time. In the ’80’s, I would get pins from museum shops. I believe this guy came from The Metropolitan Museum of art.
I think my new MCK Leopard cuff (below) is pretty chic. Using negative spaces for the spots is ingenious. Georgina Hererra of MCK makes a point to have jewelry lines at all price ranges.
Does anyone else love Rebecca Minkoff’s Love Bags? For me, they give off a Chanel vibe without that hefty price tag. The straps can change from a cross-body look to a shoulder bag look. Love’s come in so many finishes and styles, you can find one to go for about any occasion.
I have gone all out for gold tones today. Purple loves gold. I’m happy that gold is finally showing up more. During the 90’s it seemed to be passé but I kept every piece of gold jewelry I had and am always happy to add to my collection.
Have you ever thought about wearing purple and brown together? Lilac would be another great color to pair with brown and you might see that from me later in the summer.
A Few Links for Today
MCK Jewelry
Rebecca Minkoff Love Bags
A lot of Leopard from Steve Madden (mine are sold out).
Thank you for stopping by. I’ll have another blog bit next week. You are certainly welcome to leave a comment or two or three. I love to hear from you.
Husband Michael gets credit for the photos of me and does a bit of editing from time to time.
Again, thanks for stopping by. Take care……..
I link up with some great blogs every week. To see who they are go HERE.
Time for my usual link-up blurb!
It’s time for the March 2nd Loved 1st Friday Linkup which stays open until March.
Any post on a blog, Instagram, Facebook or the like can linkup to this style celebration. If you can copy and paste the URL in the Linky box, you are good to go!
One item is quite OK—a hat, skirt, pants, shoes, purse, or a piece of jewelry. That item (or items) can be from a thrift shop, eBay, consignment shop, vintage boutique, one of the online consignment shops such as The RealReal–or even something a friend gave you because they didn’t want it anymore.
When you do post, I would appreciate a description about your 2nd Loved item (or items), what type of shop you found it and what drew you to it. Tell as much or as little as you want. To be featured in my collage, which I will put on Instagram along with your links, you have to say what item is second loved. That is a “have to”.
If you have never participated in a linkup before, no fear. Go to Linkup 101 guide that is found on my 2 nd Loved 1st Friday linkup page (also found at the top in the tab section).
Just click the frog below to link up and join the fun!
Wonderful combinations here, Terri. I adore the leopard brooch from the museum! You’ve inspired me to add brooches to my scarves. Thanks for linking up, xo
-Patti
http://notdeadyetstyle.com
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Thank you Patti, I’ve collected a few pins and I keep trying ways to use them. Berets were one way but I think I need to work on the scarf avenue too. Thanks for having such a great linkup.
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love the leopard on the leopard 🙂
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Thank you-I really need to let my Leopard to get out and play more…
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I know in my head that leopard is a neutral, but there are certain colors I tend to pair with it more than others. Like red and gold. Rarely purple, yet I love this SO much!! Guess I’ll have to try it!!
Thanks for the wonderful inspiration, Terri!!
XOXO
Jodie
http://www.jtouchofstyle.com
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Yes, i agree; it is a neutral but a patterned one and I don’t know what that has to really do with anything LOL. Traditionally animals prints are just paired with black. But I just like the way it looked against that purple top and it did have the right shade of brown to be able to use it with the brown pants. I have some other Leopard prints that the brown would be all wrong. These three particular shades do work together for this one thought. I see you linked up, thanks Jodie-I appreciate it.
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I’m not usually a big leopard fan but I do love this combination. Looks like the purple is the Pantone color of the year – Ultraviolet. What a great find.
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You have a good eye. i thought the same think when I saw it at Goodwill and why it went into my cart!
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Purple and brown look great together but what I really love is how you raised the energy of your outfit with the touches of leopard and especially the way you extended the theme with your bracelet. It’s a thoughtful and very chic combination. You look great. xxx
Ps I love those irises too!
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Thanks Sally, I think it would be hard not to love irises, but you never know-some may not. There are so many beautiful combinations out there but the purple standards with the brownish falls will always be my favorite.
Ever since I decided that Leopard was not a trend but a classic, I started looking out for different pieces. I didn’t even know Georgina had that bracelet until she had a 60% off sale.
Take care, and have a good week xox
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Love your nature collage, superb! I love when my iris start coming through, and their colour and detail brings me joy, but oh how clever of you to mix them all up together! Hugs, m’dear x
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Thanks Mary. When i saw that Leopard with those purple eyes, I knew a collage had to happen. I’m surprised that I never thought of the purple/brown combo before, but, quite honestly, I’ve only just started getting into purple and lavender last summer. That’s probably why it never dawned on me. I would imagine that “dressing like an iris” is something we usually would even think about!
Take care and have a wonderful week xox
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I would never have thought to pair purple and brown together Terri but it works beautifully. I love the turtleneck. The irises are stunning. 🌼
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Thank you. Brigid, I wear a lot of brown and this year, I’ve just tried to find different ways to interpret it to make things more interesting. I like baby blue and brown together too, but haven’t really done anything on the blog with it. There are so many different varieties of irises these days, but the purple ones are still the dearest to me. Around here, they grow wild.
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I love this colour combination, I recently styled green with leopard which worked well, but I think I prefer you combination better. I do hope you’ll stop over and link on my #chicandstylish linkup party. x Jacqui Mummabstylish
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I remember seeing that as i was about to publish this one-we were on the same wave length this week.
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I now wish I would have kept my brown pants and tried this combination out. Looks good on you.
bosbodaciousblog.blogspot.ca
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I had three pairs of brown pants when I retired-all are gone but this one.
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Your lipstick looks smashing with this outfit and your beautiful smile. Love this color combination.
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Thank you-I almost mentioned my lipstick 💄 in the post but didn’t-It’s Milani 34-Violet Volt. I just got it this spring and have been wearing it a lot.
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