Dark Charcoal, Dark Slate and Heather Carbon

Ladies, I'm really sorry but my post on the wedding outfit is being delayed. Not by laziness or lack of enthusiasm on my part but because Blogger screwed up when I was almost at the end of the post yesterday night and I lost half of it (and it was a very long post!) You know how it is when you have lost something that you have just written and you try to remember the exact words and re-type it as if nothing happened: it always feels like it was better before, so I have decided to let it rest another day until the inspiration is back. Thank you for your patience!

In the meanwhile, I have a lot to blog about and I'm going to start with a recent acquisition in one of my favorite colors, dark charcoal (or one of its variant, heather carbon). And yes, Dinagedeon, I have voted for dark charcoal as my favorite Jcrew color!
What can I say? I just think that this is a great color on me. And it's not black, which makes it a better color for the day. I don't like walking around in black in the daylight: wearing total black during the day is very assertive and I always feel like a fashion victim who's trying too hard or, inversely, some kind of poet or existentialist (or existentialist poet) who doesn't care about fashion trends and wears black because we are all going to die anyway (this happens in particular when I'm not wearing makeup).
But I can wear "total dark charcoal" to do errands or go to the park and feel good about it.

I have recently purchased a few items in dark slate (the Frances and the beaded medallion tee, on sale) but the one that inspired me to write this post is the Whirling ruffle cardigan.
I had totally missed this cardigan when it came out. I was on vacation or not paying attention. Then, when I started to notice it (on other blogs) it was already sold out everywhere in the dark charcoal (which is technically called heather carbon in this sweater). For the first time ever I have purchased it on ebay for a higher price than the original FP (knowing that it was on Final Sale) just because I had to have it, like, right away (it popped back on the website a few times but in the other color and I just couldn't wait for this one. The trigger, I think, was that I had vaguely considered pairing it with the dress of Option #3 for the wedding because it looked elegant enough).
But I took a risk because I had never tried it on (nor seen it IRL for that matter), so I went with a XS, which is my regular size in V-neck cardigans (while I'm more of a S in crewnecks).

When it arrived and I took it out of the plastic bag (that BTW was the original Jcrew plastic bag marked with "Final Sale"), my first reaction was "Love it!" but my second reaction was "I should probably have bought a S" because at first it looked a little bit small. But it turned out to be a false alert because the XS, even if a little bit snug in the sleeves, fits me really well and the S would have been a mistake.

So here are a couple of outfits with this sweater. Soon enough it will be too cold to wear it because as you probably know is a tee cotton sweater, so I'm probably going to wear one of them this week.

Here is worn with the "dogggies" tee (you have probably seen this pairing on a Polyvore set by FFM, I have totally copied it) and skinny jeans for a casual look:




I have added the second pic just to show off my new haircut while is still fresh (thank you Gigi for noticing in my previous post!)

Here is with the Frances, which is technically dark slate (but can you tell the difference?):



I'm more and more in love with the Frances, the ruffles are really beautiful. And while you can find ruffles elsewhere, you will probably find them in black and not dark charcoal (OK, slate).

This is the last outfit, with Minnie pants (coal!), Nine West boots (they come across dark brown in the pic but they are a "light black") and the white (Maisy?) shirt (with ruffled collar that you can't see) from last year:



I really love this outfit, it's crisp and elegant (and it looks even better IRL).
BTW I did try it also with the grey dress and it looks beautiful, just not for a wedding.

I'm very pleased with this purchase, even if I ended up paying more than FP (not to mention FS). I think that it's a beautiful piece and it looks much more expensive than its original price. If only Jcrew could make more of these original, well-made and well-priced items!

Do you have this cardigan? Would you have paid FP (or plus) for it? In case you want to purchase one on ebay, they were available in all the sizes.