Before continuing into Part I of my look into what I’d wear while vacationing on a royal European honeymoon in Northern Italy, check out my short re-introduction on what’s been going on with my life over the past 5 months. After finishing Part I, check out my feature on attempting my own Harry Styles (outfit) cover.

Three days after their marriage, everybody knows who the newly crowned Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are. Everybody has seen the rankings of the best (Hint: it’s always David and Victoria Beckham) and worst (Alexis Ohanian) dressed. However, not everybody knows what comes next –  the royal honeymoon of course. Supposedly, the two are off to somewhere in Africa for their first vacation together, inspired by their third date in Botswana. According to “someone in South Africa” who spoke with “royal expert” Katie Nicholl, Zimbabwe is the front-runner for the two. Clearly this fellow from South Africa must be in on something.

Nevertheless, the honeymoon has been delayed because the both partners have work to do; in that time I’ve used my imagination to imagine where I might want to go if I married a royal princess and what I would wear after the wedding. Inspired by prior travels, half of an Oscar nominated movie I once saw, and my favorite style icon, there could only be one location.

The following makes up part I of II on outfit inspiration for a European summer. Part I is inspired by Timothee Urbana Champaign in Call Me By Your Name.

Below I have linked a small album of pictures I have from my trip to Italy from summer 2016. The pleasant, rolling-hills are the perfect backdrop for our modern take on Call Me By Your Name’s relaxed, summer-y aesthetic of the 1980s.

 

 

 

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Call Me By Your Name takes place in a small, Northern Italian town sometime in the 1980s. Teenage Timothée Charlemagne meets and falls for a graduate student (Armie Hammer) who is spending the summer at their residence, researching with Timothée’s father – a classics professor. That’s honestly all I can tell you about the movie because I fell asleep while watching it. If you’re into Oscar worthy dramas, you might better appreciate it than me.

In a very 80’s fashion, Timothée’s wearing a double denim jacket and jeans combo with a light pink OCBD underneath. Each piece is extremely loose and billowy which I think is supposed to reflect his personality. Not visible below are his white sneakers.

Either of the couple’s outfits would not look out of place if we moved them into 2018. Light wash denim is definitely en vogue – since at least last spring/summer – arguably looser fits are creeping into the mainstream as well. Double denim jackets/jeans is still a fashion statement, but it’s slowly losing the “Canadian tuxedo” connotation JT/Britney popularized in their infamous awards show photo.

My interpretation of his outfit is much tighter. As I mentioned in December’s post, I love how Acne’s skinny fit jeans are actually skinny fit. My dark wash skinny jeans from Gap have ended up stretching 1-1.5 in. since I bought them 18 months ago which has caused them to lose some of the tightness they once had. In practice, there isn’t much of a visible difference, but aesthetic-wise it definitely matters. On the other hand, these jeans haven’t loosened up and hopefully never will. They’re made out of 100% cotton which many people claim retains its shape better than stretch jeans (my Gap jeans are 99% cotton, 1% spandex).

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The high contrast between the candy pink OCBD and the indigo jacket provide for a visually striking upper half. As long time readers of OO will know, contrast and fit are the two most important considerations of outfits I wear. This one features high contrast between the light/dark color scheme in the upper and bottom halves. The light pink OCBD/dark blue jacket and light blue jeans/dark blue jacket contrasts while the light pink/light blue/white sneakers form a central column of complementary tones.

I’ve owned this OCBD (from American Eagle) since February 2014 (!), and it’s tough to find many complaints about it. This isone of the only remaining pieces of “high school brands” holy trinity that I own, entirely because of its lack of logo-ing. Periodically, I skim through those brands (you guys know exactly which 3 I’m talking about) and they’ve all done a great job killing the styles that made them famous in the early 2000s in favor of a more subdued look. Back in 2014, American Eagle was the first mall brand to revitalize their sales with this new look and it paid off with the others’ following in step. Even so, the shirt’s quality materials have also helped it stand the test of time.

My one complaint about this shirt (and why I don’t wear it as often as I could) is the poor construction on the collar. You’ll probably notice on 3/4 of the shots either the button-down collar cannot stand upright or it falls over (likely due to being unable to support its weight), revealing my undershirt. Peeping undershirts is my biggest pet peeve in fashion and because of it, I can hardly wear this OCBD. Maybe I just bought a faulty item, but it’s egregious enough to keep me away from buying more from AE.

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Gap’s denim jacket has an interesting fit compared to the other jackets I own. The shoulder seams hit perfectly at the intersection of my biceps and shoulder blade, but the sleeves are tighter than usual and the length is cropped to end at my waist rather than hips. Most brands favor a looser cut for jackets as they assume the user will have at least one layer underneath; jackets ending at the hip rather than waist makes utilitarian sense as longer length gives greater coverage/warmth. But what would life’s rules exist for if not to for breaking? Sometimes fashion trumps function and that’s when we can start having fun wearing the clothes that we do.

You can tell how snug something fits by the amount of wrinkling at flex points – prominently at elbows, hips, and knees. High wrinkling = very tight

The “fun” part of cropped jackets is that their short length allows for the full length of your pants to show – assuming a tucked in or cropped tee shirt – which changing your visual proportions. Additionally, it allows me to show off my belt in a non-gaudy manner.

 

The more of your leg you show, the taller you appear. It’s a nice visual trick which can be aided by wearing similar colored tops and bottoms. 

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My white sneakers are honestly so trashed after 3 years of near daily use, I can only wear them for short periods of time nowadays (running to grab food and occasionally shooting usually). There is a hole on the right side of the right shoe which reveals whatever sock I’m wearing while the left pair has the sole disconnecting from the upper.My mother has threatened to throw them out while I’m out of the house one day, and she has actually followed through on that threat so I am a little worried my most historic sneakers will be gone one morning. Regardless, I’m starting to transition away from white sneakers as my go-to spring/summer sneaker in favor of some red ASICS I bought last October.

I might end up purchasing an upgrade on my Stan Smiths however so if you guys have any suggestions feel free to let me know!

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This wraps up Part I of my Euro-moon outfit inspirations. Today’s post was inspired by an outfit worn by Timotee Champaign in 2017’s Call Me By Your Name, who’s outfits from the 1980s can easily be re-worn and re-interpreted with a more palatable, 21st century design.

Part II should be up tomorrow and features an outfit inspired by one of my biggest style icons – someone who we’ll likely see pop up again for inspiration this summer.

EDIT: After working on Part II, I’ve actually decided to make this into a one off piece and make Part II into its own feature. 

I hope you enjoyed reading and skimming through the pictures, thank you to all of you – especially the monthly return visitors who kept refreshing Optimal Outfits despite no monthly updates!

Keep it fresh,

Sid