Holiday Cheer Series 2019 with Mustang Sally and Women Within

Happy almost Christmas blogger fam! How are all my amazing peeps doing? Are you done all your shopping and wrapping? Or are you like me and its come down to the wire, lol. I am waiting on some last minute shopping that I did to arrive tomorrow so pray for me that it actually arrives on time. I honestly am sitting here in disbelief that it is Christmas Even tomorrow. This month has gone by so fast.

But lucky for you the 30 Days of Holiday Cheer are not done yet and will take you all the way to 2020 and the next decade. Its the end of an era and I am looking forward to what it has in store for all of us.

And for today’s look, it’s time for another instalment in my collaboration with Woman Within and I have to say I am really excited about this one! So yes this post is sponsored but all opinions are my own, as always, xoxo.

I am sure you can guess from the photos that the reason I am excited is that Mom is making another guest appearance. It was a much asked request from all of you so thankfully my friends at Woman Within also thought it was a great idea. I love how much love you show my Mom and thankfully she doesn’t mind going in front of the camera with me and putting up with all my crazy ideas along the way.

As my business grows it has been harder and harder for me to find the time for both my career and the effort I want to but into all of this. I have had a lot less sleep in 2019 and I have also been dealing with a lot of constant aches and pains from my lipedema. So honestly my Mom has been a lifesaver. I don’t know if I could keep up this pace without her. And I don’t know if she fully recognized what she was signing up for when she agreed to become my assistant but thankfully she has been a trooper.

I love working with my Mom because we get to share our love of fashion and she is a great sounding board when I am trying to make decisions on anything from locations to styling. And let me tell you she is the best accessory shopper on a budget! She always scores me the best pieces at a great price. She is even learning how to get behind the iPhone and take my pictures if needed. And she is a Samsung user that may or may not yell at my phone every once in awhile lol.

This time around I let Mom choose her look first and then I built both our looks from there. It was actually quite funny because she sent me her favourite piece and it was a sweater dress which I had chosen and put in my cart already. It is truly scary how much we think alike sometimes. You don’t want to watch a movie or TV show with us because we always figure out the plot line. I was thinking we should write our own show, what do you think? Because you know I totally have the time for that!

Sweater dresses are one of those trends I remember well from the 90’s. I was in high school and university in the 90’s and I was so uncomfortable in my body and I was totally obsessed with being thin. So let’s just say I never embraced this trend the first time around. I would have been too self conscious and afraid it would make me look fatter or that they would be too short and I couldn’t show that much leg.

Thankfully for me the trends always come back as time passes and this time I have been able to fully embrace this trend. Bring on the chunky cable knit, the bold colours and the shorter lengths because I love them all. They also look great with a pair of tights or leggings if you want some more coverage.

My Mom decided to go with a lightweight fine knit fit and flare shape for her sweater dress. She is still working on fulling embracing her visibly belly line and felt more comfortable with this more forgiving shape. This classic shade of cherry red was perfect for a festive look but could also easily been worn the rest of the winter. She is wearing the size 22/24 and the fit was generous. She is petite at about 5’1 so she liked that the length was slightly longer on her. For me at 5’6 this would probably hit me just below the knee. She also loved the shape of the dress and how it nipped her in at the waist. The fabric is soft to the touch and the perfect weight.

I went in the opposite direction and chose this chunky cable knit dress with a more curve hugging cut and heavier fabric weight. I love the texture of a good cable knit sweater and this rich vibrant raspberry colour was right up my ally. I love mixing pink and red together so I thought our two dresses really complimented each other. I am wearing the size 30/32 and I was really happy with the fit compared to some other Woman Within pieces I have got recently. The cut was more generous and gave me that over sized look that I wanted without having to size up another size.

To coordinate our looks we decided to play with some animal print and metallic accessories. And I mean aren’t these booties fabulous? My Mom has quite the obsession with boots and booties these days and we both really loved these leopard spot booties she is wearing. They are a different colour palette than most of your traditional animal prints and they really make a statement. Mom wears a size 8W in Comfort View and these fit true to size.

I decided that I wanted to spice my look up with these silver booties. They are shiny and fun and not something you typically see in an extra wide width. I am wearing a size 9WW which is my normal Comfort View size and these fit true to size. I love the low stable heel that is easy for me to walk in. My only complaint is that I wish they would make the ankle opening a little larger and more in proportion to an extra wide width. It does have a stretch panel but it is still just a little snug on my left foot which is my wider foot. Do you have one foot that is wider than the other? Man does it make things difficult!

I have had this suede fringe shoulder bag since last fall and it is also from Woman Within. My Mom has been coveting it for months so since fringe is also in I thought it would look great with her dress and play off of the pattern in her booties. She is wearing a black statement earring with a hint of pearls to pull everything together. And doesn’t she look amazing? I really really love how this look turned out, way to go Mom.

For me I decided to bring the animal print into my outfit through my bag. This little corduroy bucket bag with wood handles adds a little bit of texture and fun to this look. And it doesn’t compete with the silver booties. I then wore some hematite stone earrings to keep to a more neutral metallic. I love how it all came together and with my newly minted golden platinum hair, the colours really popped.

So there you have it folks, Mom and I are ready to hit the town in our sweater dresses. We are going to spend a few days in Niagara Falls over the break and I think we might need to bring these outfits along. Should we do it? I hope that by showcasing looks with my Mom, that it serves as a reminder that not only is style sizeless but ageless too!