I Need a Cargo Utility Vest

I was into baggy cargo pants in my teens in the 90's, safari cargo jackets in my 20's and 30's, and then into cargo bags when the 90's fashion came back in the 2020's. But what I really need right now is a sleeveless cargo vest! I've been focusing on my health predominately lately, and that means a lot more walking around and taking in fresh air during my free time. My uniform for walking outdoors mostly consists of a loose white tee, black yoga pants, and a pink baseball cap. I realized that even on a casual stroll around the neighborhood, I feel weird without all the essentials in my everyday purse...so I lug around my purse on every walk, which gets annoying as it weighs on my shoulder and flops around when darting from an angry wasp/bee. 

Therefore, I came up with the idea that I needed a lightweight vest with sturdy pockets to hold all my essentials like phone, keys, lip balm, tissues, wallet, etc...

But I would love the vest to look fashionable and not like I'm going fishing, thus the hunt for a fashionable cargo vest.  Unfortunately, I could not find any female fashionistas sporting a chic cargo vest on the web...and no recommendations of where to shop for one.  Although I am inspired by a couple of looks from these male fashions below:

I found the closest vest I had in mind on Amazon: Pesion Womens Packable Military Utility Vests Outerwear Waterproof Windbreaker Jacket Cargo Vest with Removable Hood ($44.99) .  It comes in so many color options! 

I decided to enlist ChatGPT to mock me images of how I might look with the different colors to make a decision. 

Honestly, I would totally wear all these colors, but AI kept telling me the olive green one was the best stylish option. Would you agree?  

Gosh, ChatGPT or any AI app has been a game-changer lately in helping me make styling decisions! So much fun to use them! Are you using them to help with outfits?

What I will be wearing in 2025

One of my most worn and favorite essential fashion item of all time is a white tee. It never ceases to inspire me with a new way to style it. 

I've been reveling in tennis-inspired outfits lately, which was all the rage in 2024, but the one style that I feel I can continue with in 2025 and beyond is the "sweater vest" over a white tee look. It not only looks fashionably edgy, but is super comfortable and makes sense when the weather is cool, but you don't want to commit to a full stuffy sweater. 

The inspiration from 2024:

The edgy way to wear it in 2025:

1. With button-details:

2. With an accent necklace as seen in this J. Crew ad:

3. Make it cool grandpa vibes: 

4. Make it colorful:

5. Make it simple:

Which style would you wear?

Keeping it Simple

Starting out as a quiet shrimpy kid with thin hair, thick glasses, and colorful unwanted hand-me-down fashions from the 80's since I was 5 years old....all those things combined put me in a class of aloneness throughout the majority of my childhood school days. 

In retrospect there were only two times in my entire life where popular kids actually talked to me in a nice way:

1. When my mom handmade me a pair of black pants and I wore it to school with a plain white fitted polo t-shirt. This was sixth grade. Surprisingly a popular girl in my class complimented that she liked my pants and that I looked "really cool today" instead of my usual mismatched hot pink and turquoise sweats. 

2. The time I got Lasix eye surgery over the summer of my sophomore year of college....wow that new school year without glasses was the first time boys ever flirted with me. Literally an eye-opener. So people tend to be friendlier to you when you don't wear thick glasses! 

In summary, the life lessons I learned from this is, if you want to make a good impression on people, wear the simplest outfit and ditch the glasses if you can. 

I love the look of this simple outfit:

This reminds me to keep things simple.

Purple and Sand Geode Tie-Dye

This sandy-khaki color with white and purple is so pretty for beachy weather! I saved these gorgeous looks from Pull&Bear summer catalog 2020 for future color palette ideas...

1, 2

What tie-dye color combo do you prefer?

Cowrie Shells Earrings for Summer

All that you need to look good this summer: white tee shirt and accessorize with cowrie shell earrings.

Images from ban.do (summer catalog 2020 1, 2)

Other inspirational cowrie shell jewelry sighting here and here. 

Tangerine, Olive, and Ivory Palette

My goal has been to shop online without having to return items, so I've been shopping quite a lot at Forever 21 lately for the "no-regret" prices and a great selection of styles that ruffles my feathers. Here is what's in my cart this month:

My shopping haul inspired by these summer hues...

Can you believe that these beautiful photos are from Forever 21?!

Almost thought these were taken out of Anthropologie catalog! 

Minimalist outfit I'm trying out

Isn't this a breathtaking photo?

From H&M: white top and calf-length skirt 

Also from Banana Republic:

top, undershirt, skirt, sandals

And this Forever 21 outfit styling is just perfect:

 white top, taupe skirt, suede slides. 

Here's how the Forever 21 skirt looks on me below:  

• Pleated A-Line Skirt in Deep Taupe size XS ($19.90) - relieved the cappuccino color is still pretty in person as in stock photos online; perfectly light and flowy! The elastic gathered waistband measuring 12" across fits just right at my natural waist.
• Boxy Slub Knit White Tee size Small ($8.90) -18" crop length great for loose effortless-don't-care style; I like that it is 100% cotton and just enough starchy texture to not be see-through.

I expected the length of the skirt to be longer on me compared to the tall model at Forever 21, but I'm actually thinking this awkward length is not bad, even with flat shoes on. Maybe it's the vertical lines created by the pleats that's helping.

Make that pink, white, and blue

     

1. H&M Ribbed Jersey Top ($12.95) - yes to white tee with wide open sleeves for the pits

2. H&M Knee-length Skirt in powder pink ($34.95) - always on the lookout for blush skirt

3. H&M Textured Weave Blouse ($24.95) - my thing for blue and white stripes

4. H&M Suede Shoes ($49.99) - intrigued by flats with a single strap over mid-foot