February is my least favorite month. Somehow, the shortest month of the year manages to stretch on far beyond it’s welcome. It’s cold, but with a couple warmish days that remind us that glorious spring is approaching. It’s dark, but the daylight hours last slightly longer each day, giving we northern hemisphere dwellers a glimmer of the long summer days ahead. And this year, we have the good pleasure of enduring the tease of winter’s best mistress, February, for an extra day – today! Thank you, Leap Year. And just for good measure, thanks for snowing today too! I think the weather gods saved this extra bit of winter just for today…….grumble.

For the most part, I think chromotherapy is a bunch of new-age mumbo jumbo, but I will admit that on the day I wore this gloriously vibrant outfit, my attitude noticeably improved. I spent the majority of the day dressed in a scrubby brown cotton skirt and black t-shirt, tromping around the Rose Room setting up for Story Story Night, and I was battling a serious case of the cranky monster. But then, with another sell-out event nearly upon us, I snuck away to the bathroom and quickly changed into this lovely color show. And poof! cranky monster at bay (much to the relief of our happy story-goers, to be sure…….)

About the Outfit: This getup was inspired in large part by two of my fellow blogettes – Bethany, with her eye for color, consistently amazes me with her glorious palette work, and Kelly, who found for me this beautiful blue and black hounds tooth wool skirt languishing in a thrift store (made in England for Nordstrom) and also gave me this fuchsia silk top by Chaus after I discovered it in her closet and shamelessly fondled it for a borderline uncomfortably long time. The necklace is a one of a kind piece of incredible artistry, made by the incomparable Hazel Cox, and the scarf-as-belt is a swoonworthy vintage silk piece that once belonged to my manfriend’s grandmother. The suede duster is one hell of a stunner, and was purchased by my mother in the early ‘70’s, and my boots are, of course, by Frye.

So the moral of this color story is: When the longest/shortest month of the year does us the nasty disservice of lasting an extra day, combat those doldrums with a combination of the brightest colors in one’s closet (and bonus points for using the finest clothing staples – wool, silk, and leather.) Thanks so much yet again to Bethany for the photos!