Wide Eyes, Tight Wallets: Holiday Concert Outfit

First, a quick heads up: what with the holidays coming up on top of an already-busy schedule, we're toning down Wide Eyes, Tight Wallets back to two posts a week for just a week or two. That means look for your weekend Deals and Steals a day early on Thursday!

Anyway, this weekend my girlfriend and I had tickets to see Dawes (one of our favorites) play the WXRT holiday show at the gorgeous Chicago Theater (along with The Head and the Heart). I of course took the opportunity to dress up a little bit, and since it's been so long since I've done a proper outfit post, well, here you go.

I wasn't sure of venue rules regarding cameras, so I left the camera at home and everything here was shot with my trusty iPhone. That in mind, I apologize if any pictures came out sub-par, but I'm sure you'll get over it.

Since this was the holiday concert, I wanted to dress at least a little festively, so I planned my outfit around incorporating some green and red. This turned out to be a perfect opportunity, because I just got this dark green wool blazer from Tailor4Less for an upcoming review (more details to come, but I'll say now I was actually pretty impressed).

With the green element underway, I had to add a touch of red as well, which came via my go-to dark red/burgundy knit tie by The Tie Bar. With the blazer and tie together, I had my green and red without being too garish or bold. The darker, muted tones, chosen over brighter alternatives, invoke images of a cozy fire-side drink rather than say, drunken TBOX revelry, which suited my tastes and the occasion just fine.

Framed.

The rest of the outfit came together easily. The specs I picked for the blazer nicely blend dressy and casual, with a definitely laid-back fabric, but sleek silhouette with the jetted pockets and peak lapels. I continued this through the rest of the look, holding down the dressier end of things with a white dress shirt and a silver tie clip, as well as my oxblood brogues.

Shined these bad boys up for the night.

However, I maintained the weekend-casual vibe by wearing jeans instead of dress pants, and picking an OCBD over a dressier cavalry twill option.

Of course, being in Chicago, in December, it was a chilly night, and I bundled up with my new awesome Gloverall duffle coat and a wool scarf from Frank & Oak. This coat is freakin' incredible, and goes just as well over a blazer as it does a crew-neck sweatshirt. And it's warm. Boom.