I was a bit of a bookworm growing up, and Little House on the Prairie was one of my favourite series. I don’t know what it was, but reading about the life of a girl who lived on the Prairies was a nice reprieve from all of the Babysitters’ Club and Nancy Drew novels that everybody else seemed to be into.
Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed my Dracula and Dorian Grey, but there was something wholesome about a girl and her family living on the Prairies that really got to me. It was to the point where I wanted to dress up as Laura for halloween, and even desperately wanted to legally change my name to her’s as well.
Clearly, I never did, nor did I ever get a chance to dress up as Laura Ingalls Wilder either. Let’s just say that Halloween costume options are limited in Canada when you have to account for snow.
Years later though, I still think back fondly on the great many hours I spent sitting in bed next to my window devouring those novels. Looking back now, those books were probably the best ones that I read in comparison to what I like to read nowadays.
I wanted to recreate a modern day outfit in homage to my childhood memories of the series, and felt that this bell-sleeved blouse would be the perfect representation of Prairie life in the city. No petticoats and pinafores for me though!
You know me, I like keeping things simple and monochromatic. With the bell-sleeves being the showstopper of the outfit, it only felt right for everything else to be supporting figures as opposed to competing opponents.
I went for my most comfortable J Brand jeggings and these sleek ankle-grazing booties that have slight detailing on the heel. The outfit did look a little bare, so I pulled it together with my grey felt hat and a matching grey clutch the complete the whole look.
I was also spared the necessity of adding any jewelry to the outfit thanks to the delicate gold zipper on the back of the shirt. Coupled together with the silver hardware of the clutch (surprise, surprise! I almost never mix metals!), I felt that there was enough hardware to go around.
Luckily for me, I even had grey/taupe painted nails to pull everything together, but I doubt that that was really a concern for Laura back in her time. Let’s just say that this is my 21st century interpretation of the Prairie girl’s look.
Top – c/o Little Mistress | Jeggings – J Brand | Fedora – Lovely Luciano | Shoes – ZARA | Bag – Danielle Nicole
