The Victoria Shirt Goes to a Concert (Saturday Outfit)

My husband just left (again!) for a business trip and I have an hour and a half to kill before the season finale of Mad Men (so excited but also sad that another season is coming to an end), so I thought I would post a few pics of the outfits that I wore on Saturday and that feature the Victoria long-sleeved shirt.

I haven't worn it in a while (more than a year, I think) but I still love it and I tend to wear it especially in the fall. I am very fond of this shirt because it was the first thing that I bought at the Collection store on Madison Avenue when they opened exactly two years ago. I still remember that the first time that I saw it in the store I thought that it was the most beautiful white shirt that I had ever seen and, as Caroline Herrera will tell you, a good white shirt can take you everywhere. We have seen a lot of similar ruffled shirts since then and we tend to forget how unexpected and unusual this shirt was when it first came out. I think that it really is an iconic piece.

Because it is a little bit dramatic with all those pleats and ruffles around the collar, I have always associated it with theater and I love to wear it to a theatrical performance, especially a concert or a opera (where sadly I don't get to go as often as I would like to). In this case I was taking my daughter to a "Lollipop Concert" (a classical music concert geared towards 3-5 years old) organized by the nursery school (that was fun and instructive, even if my daughter was a little bit too young).
I paired it with matchstick cords from 2008 (I tend to wear something casual as a bottom with this shirt to play it down), a BR merino open cardigan from the same year and my Glanbrae boots (now that I think about it the entire outfit is from 2008):



It was FREEZING cold on Saturday morning so I topped everything with a Zara coat that I bought while I was in Italy. This coat is everything that I wanted a coat to be this season. First, it is camel (if you have to buy a coat this season, make it camel); second it is very minimalist and it looks like a Celine (swoon) and third it's inexpensive (because who knows what I will like next year). I would say that it is the perfect coat if it weren't for the fact that is open, like in "you can't button it because it has no buttons." My mom (who was a tailor) solved momentarily the problem by sewing a hook on the inside but it is kind of visible (it's intended for fur coats so a little bit massive) and I will need to replace it at some point. Anyway at least I can wear it without freezing (even if admittedly I wouldn't wear it during the coldest months when I typically switch to my puffer coats anyway):






In the afternoon the weather warmed up a little bit and I swapped the merino cardigan for the cashmere zip cardigan (and I went out without a coat). I just wanted to show you that you can easily wear a shirt under this cardigan (I am wearing a XS). I love the cuffs of the Victoria peeking out:



We had invited friends for dinner. I have to say that I rarely cook when we have friends coming over as I don't like to cook (only bake) and my husband is a very good cook but every year at this time of the year I love to prepare a pumpkin soup (a cream, actually) as an appetizer and I love to serve it in the emptied pumpkin itself. It is very easy (cutting the pulp of the pumpkin is the hardest part) and scenographic and the guests always appreciate the effort (plus the day after you can have fun with the kids and carve a Jack-o-Lantern for Halloween). I wished I had taken a picture of the soup but because I poured it into the pumpkin just before serving it I couldn't do it. Instead, I took a very rare pic of myself wearing an apron (this is a silly one and describes the recipe for a "elephant stew"):



Because I had basically spent the day in my Victoria and even cooked in it I wanted to change myself before our friends arrived but my husband asked me not to because he thought that the shirt was very pretty. I always like a spontaneous compliment from my husband so my Victoria stayed for dinner too.

Do you still wear it your Victoria shirt, if you own one?

Enjoy the last episode of Mad Men, those who watch the show!