Western-Inspired

All the fall vibes for today’s Western-inspired outfit! I’m teaming up with the other seven bloggers of the Magnificent Eight again to showcase that you can’t put an age on style. Western was the perfect theme for October because you could take it as costume-y (think cowgirl) or as casual as you liked! I think with the right makeup my outfit is giving scarecrow vibes. Remember when cutesy scarecrows were all the rage for Halloween a few years back?

To be honest, I really struggled with this theme… It doesn’t help that I completely forgot about the collaboration until Monday afternoon (I keep a blog post planning spreadsheet in Excel, but y’all know I haven’t been very consistent with my posts recently). So already, I kind of screwed myself on the creativity side of things.

When I think of Western style, I imagine fringe jackets, felt hats, cowgirl boots… All of which are things I do not have in my closet (although I did finally ask for boots for Christmas!). So what did that leave me with? Well, my only truly western item is this red patterned shirt from Wrangler that is a hand-me-down from my mom (you can see the full shirt in this post). It’s got those pearly snaps, which is how you know it’s authentic… obviously.

The top is short sleeve though, which posed an issue now that temps have dropped in Denver. I had this vision in my head of layering it under my cropped beige sweater, with the red popping out at the bottom, and wearing my wide leg jeans from Express. I also pictured it with my panama hat (because what western outfit is complete without a hat?), cut I wasn’t convinced the summery straw accessory would look good with the rest of the outfit.

Once I tried everything on together, I thought the outfit was good enough… until I tried to take photos Monday after work. The cropped sweater with the shirt hanging out of the bottom and the looser fitting jeans was making me look very wide… And I wasn’t sold on the hat with my hair in a side braid. It was all just bleh, and to top it off, the lighting was terrible for a photoshoot. I accepted defeat and figured I would try to get shots the next day instead.

Yesterday after work, I tried again, walking to a few different locations to find decent lighting on such an overcast afternoon… I realized I had to tuck in the rest of the shirt underneath my sweater to make it a little more flattering—the other look just wasn’t working.

I also decided the hat was a no-go (I would wear the outfit otherwise, but the hat? I wasn’t sure about it), so I started taking pictures with my hair in a bun instead. Not a particularly Western outfit, with only my sad red collar peeping out, but it was the best my procrastinating self could do.

Near the end of my photoshoot, I decided it would be worth taking a few pics with the hat anyway, just to show you what the outfit looked like with and without it. For whatever reason, when I took my hair down from the bun and threw the hat on, I loved the look so much more! I’m not sure what changed between Monday and Tuesday afternoons (perhaps the braided hairstyle under the hat wasn’t the move?), but I’m much more convinced that this is a cute outfit now. I think it would be fun for a pumpkin patch or apple picking if you haven’t been yet!

I finished the look with my thrifted straw purse. I associate this bag much more with summer than with fall, but I thought it might help to tie the hat in with the rest of the outfit.

I was disappointed in myself for throwing together such a last-minute, bleh outfit, but in the end, I think this look and the very autumn-themed photos actually turned out. What do you think??

Be sure to check out how my blogger friends styled their western outfits at the links below!

Let me introduce the other seven ladies of The Magnificent 8.

Mica of Away from the Blue   //   Roxanne of Glass of Glam   //   Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge   //   Rena of Fine Whatever   //   Eugenia of Age of Grace   //   Lesley of Jodie’s Touch of Style   //   Charlotte of Jodie’s Touch of Style

We are showing that you can’t put a number on style!

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As always, thanks for stopping by the blog today. Let me know your thoughts on this outfit in the comments, and have a great rest of your Wednesday.

Miles of smiles,

Grace

Red Patterned Shirt: Hand-me-down | Beige Cropped Sweater: Nordstrom Rack, $18 ($0.39 per wear), last worn here | Straight Leg Jeans: Express, $15 ($5.00 per wear), last worn here | Brown Booties: DSW, $35 ($0.28 per wear), last worn here | Panama Hat: Nordstrom Rack, $21 ($1.50 per wear), last worn here | Sunglasses: Sungait, gifted for a collaboration, last worn here | Straw Purse: Thrifted, $5 ($1.00 per wear), last worn here