It's All About the Hood - the Workhorse Coat

You all clearly know I've been majorly slacking in blog-world - reading, commenting, posting, replying to comments. I'm getting back there, I swear.... Thanks for sticking with me.(And thanks for the reality check at the bus stop, snaphappy.)

So in contrast to Monday's post on the lovely, luscious Winnie coat, I'm going to talk about my workhorse coat. Last month, Stylestance had an interesting post on choosing your top 3 coats in the closet. I remember thinking that there was really only 1 that I needed to get me through 90% of my days. Or at least the days that require a coat.

No Polyvore of the coat to speak of, since it is 10 years old. From Larry Levine, purchased at Bloomingdales while shopping with my sister. I'll readily admit that there is major sentiment attached to this coat as I purchased it when I was, ahem, with child. Yep, prego with my darling M. And when you are going to be in that condition in the winter (not mega, but still getting thick in the middle), you want something with a little room in the middle. Which is why I got in a...get this...size 14. (I think dina is scowling at me online now.)

So it's an A-line hooded charcoal gray wool coat. It does not get more basic, or perfect than this. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

1 - Color - charcoal - goes with everything and doesn't show lint. Plus it's a great backdrop for bright scarves...or any scarf for that matter.

2 - A-line to offer a little room to the expanding middle *but* fits bulky sweaters underneath as well.

3 - And can we get to the Hood part? It has a hood! Yes indeed. You know those icky fall/winter/spring days where it's chilly and just kinda spittin' or lightly snowing outside and you don't really want to bring an umbrella and you don't want to wear a full-on parka? This is the perfect coat for those days. And hood = no hat = no hat head. (Trust me, that equation works, I was a math major, after all.)

4 - First baby sentiment? Don't even go there. Don't even try.

If the coat does have a downside (other than that it's not bright screaming yellow like my Winnie), it's the the sleeves are a little short. But that just means that I wear my fabbie opera length leather gloves with it - and it's got a little of that mod 60's vibe. If you need something similar, Target had a great pair of long black (soft) leather gloves for $17.99 in store - I highly recommend. I think this is that pair, which is out of stock online, but check the store - and really, they had a great selection of fantastic gloves.

The sad part is that this coat is kinda on its last legs and I will soon be looking a replacement.

(moment of silence for my coat)

Back to blogging...

And the rest of the outfit from yesterday? Sweater dress from Banana (HO 2007) that I couldn't really fit into last year and yay, it fits now. Plus footless tights, black flats, and my new constellation necklace. Necklace scored for $9.99 at my local B&M last week. So if you happen to be in your store and see one, snatch it up. Mine is the antiqued one, not the shiny one, but I think the antiqued is nice for a change.

Back to the footless tights...what do you think? Do they look ok? I'll be honest - they looked worse in person. I had to tug down on the tights & the dress to get a decent picture. Otherwise, the hemline of the dress combined with the visual cut off at the ankle - dang, I was looking awfully thick in the legs. Does that mean I'm ditching the dress or the footless tights? Nope. Next time I wear the dress, I'll go with full-on tights and flat boots, and it will be fine. Next time I feel the yen to go with footless tights (which truthfully aren't very "me" to begin with), I'll go with a different sweater dress or skirt. Lesson learned. And this is what I love about the daily outfit pic. Always educational for me.

Polyvore from yesterday:

11/17/09 by HeidiGblog featuring Lucky Brand

Items in this set:
Lucky Brand dress, $119
Target.com flats, $20
J Crew tote bag, $150
Vivre.com earrings, $180
Dorothy Perkins tights, 5 GBP