recreating a street style look

& what I thrifted to make it mine

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I’m constantly taking screenshots of garments and looks that inspire me — I have hundreds in my phone, and they live rent free in my mental moodboard, always at the ready to inspire thrifting / vintage / sourcing excursions. The miracle of fashion is that it’s cyclical, and when there’s something that catches my eye [often high fashion, read: out of range] that I won’t be buying new, there’s always the ability for those pieces to inform my eye during a thrifting trip, inspiring my keywords on etsy and ebay, and even giving me a new lens for viewing existing pieces in my own closet.

A while back I snapped a screenshot of a woman who was walking in the background of someone else’s photo on IG. You can really only see two main features of her outfit, and the rest I had to intuit. But the star performers are a peplum leather jacket, and adidas track pants. That’s it, that’s all.

There’s a low profile shoe (looks like a sneaker) and black sunglasses just out of sight. The only accessory is an iPhone dangling from ringed fingers.

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why this look?

In a look where there are so many other contrasting elements, this is coded chic by the refrain of color variance.

Fit, fabric, and feel of the main pieces could not be more different. The jacket looks designer, with the structured waist abruptly fanning into a perfect peplum. Details like the snaps at back and cuff, plus a contrasting collar (maybe it’s suede?) are subtle yet noticeable (and elevated) accents.

What the jacket brings in subdued sophistication, the pants and shoes counter in casual charisma. We barely even see a shoe — its cream colored toe peeks slightly from the puddled cuffs of recognizable-anywhere adidas track pants. I am really loving the overly long sportswear pants look in my own day-to-day dressing, so it’s no surprise I’m fawning over it here.*

At it’s most elemental, this outfit has a brilliantly executed loose vs. structured schema. More need not be said.

*Especially fun seeing the influence appear in high design such as the Phoebe Philo Wave Trouser — where the nod to pooling athletic pants seems so evident.

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making it mine

With a good muse, anything is possible. I had already been keeping an eye out for adidas track pants in my various second-hand travels, and the street style photo only fueled my interest in finding a pair. When I finally did, this outfit inspo was calling.

What I shopped for this look:

leather blazer w/ front pockets — a well fitting, versatile leather jacket is always a good add to the closet, so when I found this vintage jacket last month it was a no brainer to pick it up. The jacket is about one size larger than I would normally take, but it’s a petite cut which makes the waist and sleeve lengths hit where they should. The extra room in the body gives me space to layer a sweater underneath which I really love. For a totally tailored look I would use a different jacket, but then again, I probably wouldn’t wear leather in a totally tailored look anyway. So there, problem solved.

I always remain an optimist when trying something even if it’s not my usual size. It’s a roll of the dice on how it will fit, but the unexpected versatility in a non-standard fit can be what make something a special addition to the closet.

adidas pants — before finding these track pants I had turned to the vintagenet where I discovered an aptly named etsy shop, vintagejoggers, which sells exclusively this type of pants. I was eyeing a few pairs from the shop, but one thing I’ll say about track pants is that they really are worth a try-on before buying. The waist and length really need to be dialed, otherwise they can be a total miss. For this reason I held off purchasing from the UK based shop, and waited for the right pair to present themselves IRL.

1984 LA olympics tee — and so the vintage tee collection continues growing. I didn’t intend to pick up yet another t-shirt but this one was too cool to pass up. I have a total soft spot for the faded fabric and ringer collars of old tees, and this one was no exception. It was really long through the torso so I ended up cutting it off, at which point the bottom edge immediately rolled up the tiniest amount and is now even more charming.

What I shopped from my closet:

Cashmere crop sweater — my NAADAM sweater has been a uniform piece since I picked it up a couple of years ago. It’s super lightweight, which makes it an ideal overshirt (it was in the low 60s, overcast, and foggy the day I wore this outfit) as well as a choice under-jacket layer, since it has no bulk whatsoever.

Leather crossover sandals — another closet staple, these Everlane slides never let me down when I need a polished but casual shoe.

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Here are some great secondhand statement jackets from the world wide web —

top to bottom: FRAME studded lamb leather jacket ($204), Vintage Wilson’s belted peplum jacket ($140), Michael Kors fringe jacket ($165), and my favorite one of the bunch: Paolo Santini leather with fur trim — not such a summer jacket, but a statement jacket nonetheless ($100)

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All this to say, if you see something you love, let it live on your mental moodboard until it manifests in real life. Could be food, art, style — a phrase, a gesture, an expression. Whatever it may be, inspiration is the lifeblood of a creative spirit!

As always, thanks for being here. xo —

Georgia

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Find me on IG @geo.styled!