Black & White: Part 1 (Daywear)

I have mulled over this post for quite a while, since the summer in fact! Precisely since I went to a cocktail party at the Milly boutique back in July to preview the first Fall collection ("Fall 1", for the insiders).
You probably know that I love Milly almost as much than JCrew and if I were a rich girl I would have the whole collection gift-wrapped and delivered to me (and I would sport opening the packages in an ad that would say "Yes, THAT rich"). Strangely, I like her Fall-Winter Collections more than the Summer ones, even if I am more of a summer clothes kind of girl.
Anyway, the Fall 1 collection was (is) a black and white colorblocking feast with pink-ish pop of color and at that cocktail party I fell hard for a few pieces but due to the prices (unfortunately I am not "THAT" rich) I had to think about them, make a wishlist and hope that they would go on sale and I would be able to snap some up. That didn't go exactly as I had hoped, when the collection came out (at the time of the party they only had samples at the store and some of them were available on pre-order) I was in Europe and they sold out in the blink of an eye. All the collection was completely swoon-worthy but in particular I had my heart set on this sweater:

Halas, when I had saved enough money to get it it was sold out everywhere. Boo! I religiously stalked various sites hoping that it would popback and one day in October it came back in stock at Milly.com. I am on the Milly VIP list and one of the perks of being a VIP is that I get 10% off all FP orders and free shipping so I pounced on it.
The leather collar and cuffs are completely detachable, so that's a plus. I have paired it with black and various colored bottoms (that I will show you in another post) and it looks smashing but I really wanted to give in the colorblocking concept and pair it with a white bottom.
Ideally, I would have loved to get the Delphine swirl skirt that Bloomingdales and other department stores also carry in a (sold-out) non-leather version, but that one is not going to pop back in my size, I think.
I tried it with my factory felted wool mini from a few season ago and while I certainly like the look, I don't feel like wearing this skirt outside anymore (I am not even sure that I actually wore it outside, ever). It is obscenely short and the only thing that comes to my mind now (for the Fifty fans out there) is the "demonstration" that Mr. Grey carried out to show Anastasia that hem of her dress was too short, aka too close to her panties. Enough said.

That's why I finally decided to order the Number 2 pencil skirt in double-serge wool in antique white, even if I am not much of a pencil skirt person anymore, if I ever was. This was to me a "cheaper" alternative to recreate the look of the Milly collection, especially with the 25% off. I vaguely thought about ordering the current version of the felted wool mini but in the end I thought that a few inches weren't going to make a big of a difference and I can still use my factory version indoors (strictly in presence of family members only!).
I ordered a 0 and right out of the package I was a bit disappointed. But I always receive my packages at the very end of the day when there is no natural light and sometimes I try things with pajama bottoms and slippers on, so I decided to reserve my judgement until the day after and a proper try-on.
I actually understood what I didn't like. I didn't like the fit with a shirt or a sweater tucked in because my waist is much smaller than my hips and the skirt is awkwardly tight on my hips and loose on my waist and it creates a visual "step" at the sides. This is probably due to my body type and not a flaw in the skirt but I think it isn't super-flattering.
However, the more I tried it with the Milly sweater untucked (it is a very fitted sweater that looks great both tucked in and untucked) the more I liked it:

It looks a bit serious in the pics above but I REALLY liked it with black tights. Plus, who am I kidding, it is already too cold to wear clear tights. That's the look I was going for:

And if these are ever going on sale they will be mine:

3.1 Phillip Lim Ava D'Orsay Pumps

I think this pencil is versatile enough for me to wear it with a number of tops and a little bit of extra fabric on my legs will be welcome since this winter is going to be a cold one apparently.

The other thing I was hoping it would work with this skirt is another Milly piece that was an old love of mine but I just bought. I have been obsessed with the Marzia bow jacket that came out in Fall 2011 but I missed on it when it went on sale and then it was gone, gone, gone. I kept checking the website for months and I also have a search set on ebay but it never popped back. So my heart literally stopped when I saw it at Saks two weeks ago during the F&F. Apparently they have brought it back (and with the 20% off to boot). I bought a 2 but because they had no size 0 in store to try and I really wanted it to work, I ordered the 0 as well on the website. I had a very hard time trying to figure out what size to keep but in the end I am going with the 2, even if it is a bit looser and longer than the 0. The 0 looks good per se and it looks probably better than the 2 with dresses (because shorter) but I can't wear it with a thick sweater under it (it gapes a bit when closed) and I don't want to feel uncomfortable. It surely looks great with jeans and pants:

The good news is that the color of the pencil skirt is an exact match of the ivory trim of the jacket. I don't know where I am going dressed like this but it is a more conservative option that is good to have:

This is the size 0 with the mini, if I dare:

But most likely I am going to wear it with pants. Look, it can also become part of my new uniform (under a puffer):

I wanted to show you more black/white combinations but my packages (with more white) has been delayed again, so you will have to wait until next week for the second part of this post (on evening black and white outfits). Stay tuned!

What do you think of white/black colorblocking? Are you in love with Milly? By the way, I haven't returned the Milly jacket yet. If you think I should keep the 0, please let me know (I have still a bit of hesitation because it is an expensive jacket that I plan to wear for years)!