Birds Of Spring

After commenting in a recent post that I don’t have many outfits in green because I don’t really care for the color, I started to reassess my position. Turns out I have quite a bit of green in my wardrobe – kelly, lime, sage, drab and, my favorite, a deep, true emerald green. So I decided to change my attitude and embrace the color by making it my statement hue for today’s look.

I think green looks sharp against black, so I donned a pair of vintage, stretchy, black travel slacks from JCPenney that I purchased back when I worked for the department store in the 1970s and 1980s, and topped them with a cropped Glimmer by J.J. Basics sweater in saturated emerald from the Juniors department at Macy’s. Beneath the loose knit, I wore an emerald, ribbed-knit St John’s Bay tank from JCPenney, both more recent finds.

For interest, I took a look through my extensive scarf collection. There were several scarves with green in the mix, but when I saw my late grandmother’s bright green vintage scarf covered with colorful, hand-painted songbirds, I knew it was the perfect pick for today. It is spring, after all, and the air around my yard is filled with frantic chirping as avian mating season comes into full swing.

I have always thought this particular scarf was very beautiful. Funny thing is, now that I am a volunteer ranger for the Maryland Park Service, I can identify every bird depicted on the smooth fabric! The hand-rolled silk foulard, by Vanette Creations, has a label which boasts that the birds are an "authentic French reproduction". Wrapping it into a neckerchief, I pulled the echarpe through a gold- and silver-metal scarf tube adorned with a golden-hued agate which beautifully highlighted the yellows and golds of the birds.

Bright green earrings seemed like too much, so instead I chose subdued gold-metal earrings and a matching gold- and silver-metal bracelet watch from CountryDoor.com. For shoes, I wore my new Paolo platform loafers from JCPenney, which are sturdy and oh-so comfortable during my half-mile walk across subway station parking lots and through the underground tunnels at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

I must have chosen well on this gorgeous, balmy, early spring day. The security guard on the fifth floor of the Congressional Library said he was "happy to see someone with a real sense of style – usually everyone just wears black."  Indeed.

Cheers,

Lynell