What's With Brown?

There's more to fall colour than red, you know. Take these gorgeous birch trees for example. Delicious golds, honey yellows, and soft browns.  

One might be persuaded that Michael Kors was power walking with Hubby and me when we passed this stand of birch trees on Thanksgiving Day morning. That he used these trees for inspiration for his cosy fall 2015 looks. I mean if one didn't know better.

Seriously, it's the brilliant red, and bright orange fall leaves that get all the attention. But I'm very partial to golds and browns myself. I remember a few years ago when somehow my predominantly black and grey winter wardrobe had morphed into brown. An outfit here, a new purchase there, a dark chocolate sweater and blouse, a gold hounds tooth jacket, a brown tweed skirt... pretty soon I was wearing brown most days. And I didn't notice the shift until one of my male colleagues pointed it out to me. "Uh, Sue?" he asked one day. "What's with brown?" "Dahling," I replied,  "Didn't you know that brown is the new black?" 

And, you know, I've hardly worn brown the past few years. Suddenly I was all about grey and black and charcoal. But now that I have my new brown Paul Green ankle boots, I can indulge my taste for brown again. Not shopping for new sweaters and pants, though. Just shopping my closet and hauling out a few things that I haven't worn in a while.

Like this brown J Crew sweater. I bought it last year, and only wore it a couple of times. But I like it with my black leather pants, my old Elie Tahari coat, and my brown boots. And I'm thinking I like black and brown together.

And I really like my new brown boots with my 7 For All Mankind boot-cut jeans. And this Elie Tahari brown and black animal print cardigan. Not sure if you can see here but the sweater has black lace appliqué down the front. I love this sweater and I've not worn it out the door since I retired. 

Ditto for this brown Judith and Charles silk shirt... not worn for a couple of years. Partly because I don't like the look of that shade of brown next to my face anymore. But with a white cami underneath, it might be okay. And maybe I could take it for a spin this season with my Paige high-rise skinny jeans, my brown ankle boots and this verrrry old Max Mara tweed blazer. I bought this jacket in 2000, when if you recall, tweed made a very big come-back. 

This shot, also from our Thanksgiving Day walk, reminded me that blue can be a fall colour, too. And blue looks much better next to my verging on sixty year old face. Blue and browns look lovely together, I think.  

This is my new blue Equipment shirt that I bought at the Nordstrom Anniversary sale in July. 

And I love the look of this oversized shirt with my brown boots and my boot-cut jeans. And my chocolate brown Akris leather jacket from four or five years ago.

     

And not to ignore reds altogether. Hubby and I took this shot when we were driving home from our hiking holiday last week. Fall really is a wonderful season, isn't it?  

Brown and gold and red can be lovely together, I think. This gold and brown Max Mara houndstooth check jacket is also from quite a few years ago. I love it with jeans and boots. And my vintage croc bag.  And maybe this red Gap tee? Or even something a bit brighter. Hmmm. Maybe I do need to go shopping after all.

     

 I should probably fuss with this combination a bit, make it edgier, more au courant. Less like what I've always been comfortable wearing... jeans, boots, blazer. Maybe a longer, loose sweater, and a big blanket scarf wrapped a couple of times. I could do that. And maybe I will. I'll get back to you on that. 

In the meantime. I'll need to dig in my closet for scarves. Dig really hard. Before I decide that I need to shop. Because the rationale for buying the brown boots was to be able to wear the brown stuff I already owned. Not so that I would then go out and buy new brown stuff to go with the old brown stuff and the brown boots. If you follow me.  That would be pretty poor planning. And if you've read this blog before, you'll know that I'm nothing if not anal about my planning. 

What about you... are you a brown lover? Or gold or chocolate or caramel or honey? 

Hmmm. Now I get why talking about fall fashion always makes me hungry:) 

   

Linking up this week with:Visible Monday at Not Dead Yet Style,  #IwillwearwhatIlike at Not Dressed as Lamb, What I Wore at The Pleated Poppy, Passion 4 Fashion at Rachel the Hat, Fun Fashion Friday at Fashion Should Be Fun, Friday Finds at Forage Fashion, Casual Friday at Two Thirty-Five Designs.