As for the two styles, I wonder why I ordered the shorter version, as I usually like a longer line, too BBSTX. But I will say the one I have i loved on, as did the entire audience on whom I foisted a fashion show.

In re the longer jacket, I would usually wear a long jacket open, but ofc not this one. I will order it and try but I think it will read as less fitted on me and therefore be less flattering than the one I have, which has nice darts etc.

I also bought a cropped pink tweed jacket with pearl buttons for this event, cannot find a photo of it tho.

Nice purses. You always find the most interesting things, mtn.

Long top. I also love periwinkle and chicory colors.

For purse:

I find the white fish purse striking and lovely.

The starfish bow is also nice.

The organic fish at 5 o’clock is appealing if you want a playful beach-combing vibe (although I’m not sure it’s ’enough’).

Unaudited Tally below. The two HL in yellow were among my faves. Some of my other faves got not a single vote!

Had dinner w the girls last night, will share their votes/snide comments/new entrants in next post.

PS Glad y'all are having fun with this. It is very snowy today!

PS

@petalique: sorry I was tallying, while you posted. But every vote counts! I have updated it.

I find the white fish purse striking and lovely

One of my DDs loved that one. I like it too. Esp at an aquarium

Will you have stand up cocktails and nibbles? If so, you may need to consider something with a strap.

I'm sorry, were you discussing ... function?! 🤣

I think they all have straps; that has ususally been my experience. If not, I set it down somewhere

So we had dinner out w the girls and then we spent a few hours going over outfits (mine and theirs) for the wedding.

In re the Purse Vote:

• They nixed things they thought would “rest like a carbuncle” at the hip; the nautilus and the seahorse
• Direct quote: “is that parrot from Chico’s Mom?’
• The first place entry, the Scallop purse; “too blah, too pale, looks like a tortilla”
• Second place entry: “Not sophisticated…you bought me that in 8th grade.” And in fact i did, but hers has black grosgrain and a turtle on it. “Plus the blues would really need to match for this outfit”
• Mixed reviews on which top; they like the ruffle at the neck; the other style looks like "some sort of attendant.”
• They wanted something colorful, since my pants are plain white and my shoes will probably be fairly simple. So that dominated their top 4 picks. (here are their top 4)

• They generally thought a tote bag was too casual, but really like my idea of getting the beaded floral/bird bag at 4pm above with the brides initials, and giving it to her with a small gift inside at the end of the night. However, when they found out it was ~$400, they thought she’d much rather have the money (the bulk of our gift will be money).
• The loved the lime, as do I but, all else equal, maybe try to be on theme
• The pink sardine bag, unbeknownst to me, was a huge thing on social media. I guess some of that did manage to reach my retina, because I bought a sardine art print for my K, and a sardine grocery tote from TJ. Anyone who has travelled to Portugal lately has become sardine-obsessed. They told me the Staud sardine bag would make me “very cool!” I asked it they would want it afterwards but they felt it was overdone. The colors do seem to go very well. Since it was such a hot item, I may be able to find it “vintage"--- it’s not something you'd probably repeat a lot.
• One of their comments was that the blue gingham top would look great with red (yes red). Think “Dorothy.” But we could not find anything we liked. They suggested the plain bag below with a twilly to bring in red sea coral or even hot glueing red coral, or using bag charms, but could not find what they were envisioning.

• Their final choice was a Nantucket basket with scrimshaw depicting something ocean-y, eg whales. They felt that those colors were truer to me, and made sense because we are bringing in Maine’s definition of ocean-themed. Plus I can buy something vintage, always their first choice.

As far as earrings, they were against costume jewelry esp since i have so many nice pearl earrings

Coming in very late on this one. I LOVE the idea of a Nantucket basket. I spent many hours over the years oogling those baskets with my DD in Nantucket. She found one at a garage sale in the Boston area(where she lives now) for a real bargain price and gets compliments on it all the time.

Skipped down to say I'm curious about the bags you already have - did you shop your closet yet?

I'm curious about the bags you already have

Who invited my Mom to this convo.? LOL 😆

Fair question. No pics because they are trapped in the ATF house. There are four I can recall off the top of my head.

They run the gamut from the ridiculous to the sublime

One is very structured, box like straw and rectangular. I got it at a flea market for $7!

One is a gucci clutch with python trim. I bought it at Heathrow because I forgot to convert pounds to dollars (cannot believe I did that... it must have been willful) and it didn't seem so bad. DD1 wants to borrow it. Would not work w my top anyway.

I also have a Calypso St Barts straw clutch with a geode clasp. hard to explain the geode is hollowed and looks kinda like a buckle. I like it but the geode seems too sparkly for this top

Then I have a medium straw tote that is structured and sort of see thru with a black cotton lining.

That's what I recall at least.

I love Nantucket baskets but feel like you could have more fun with something more colorful like the sardine bag

I hope you’re happy. All this chatter about bags for weddings made me think I might ”need” one for the wedding I’m attending, and now I am eyeballing the cute Fiona beaded purses at Anthro.

Below are from anthro site but poshmark has a bunch, too.

The pink one might match my famous pink shoes.

That does look like your pink shoes!

Not beachy, but this is pretty: https://macjacllc.com/collections/purses/products/flax-flowers-purse

Some of these things they label as purses are really more like a cosmetic case. It is pretty tho

RTR the Sardine purse…and more!

Wirecutter did a comparison of Nuuly vs. RTR. I was poking around looking at the accessories one could rent and look what I found!

The also have the Slim Aarons-ish bag

LOL, thanks BBSTX

Beat you to it:

It's my backup while I continue to look for just the right Nantucket bag. I want scrimshaw, and I want it to depict a whale. For under $500. So far I think I need to add a zero to that!

HA! I never think to look at RTR!

Hope you get that Nantucket bag! Have you checked 1st Dibs and Chairish? 😂

Thanks for satisfying my curiosity 🙂

I like the simple seashell bag in the OP best - kind of sweet, IMO

Here are a few more:

This one might be too big

And there are evidently more colors

All from Etsy

P.S. Now I see the search seems to have ended...?

Yes, I have, not exhaustively. It appears there is a fair amount to learn.

@palimpsest I assume not everyone has been to a fancy beach resort. My best guess is they want a certain vibe for the setting but want to communicate to dress up. These thing are fraught in part because there are so many demographics showing up at a wedding.

Caro, the macrame (?) nautilus backpack is sooo cute!

Well, I'm bummed we're not moving on to jewelry or even exhausting the bag search a little more... ;)

@mtnrdredux_gw

“I assume not everyone has been to a fancy beach resort.”

Well this statement solves the mystery of why I see some women (and a few men) dressing like they do in Santa Monica portion of the boardwalk and hotel / restaurant areas. (Much rarer to see in Venice.) My thought is usually who are they trying to impress; this is a SoCal beach town, not a fashion show. We really do not care as long as the naughty bits are (mostly) covered.

I consider myself reasonably savvy surfing the web but I am always blown away by the finds that are shared here. I'm simply outdone.

I was tickled that for this example, one of my preferences was the cheapest option.. Lol and I caught that it was clearly that.

I see nothing wrong with that one as an option.

@nancy_in_venice_ca

Well this statement solves the mystery of why I see some women (and a few men) dressing like they do in Santa Monica portion of the boardwalk and hotel / restaurant areas. (Much rarer to see in Venice.) My thought is usually who are they trying to impress; this is a SoCal beach town, not a fashion show.

Not sure I follow; are you saying people are overdressing and that is an issue?

I missed the early voting. I like the sardines one the best of the finalists because I think the outfit needs a pop of pink, orange or god forbid red. It sounds like you are going in a different direction, though. Whatever you choose will look fabulous.

PS You are a bad influence. This bag is now mine.

Good for you Texanjana. I didn't vote in time but that was my favorite too..

I can see that with a wide variety of outfits Txjana, with the purse playing the role of Most Fabulous Accessory!

I have my mom's Nantucket bag with an ivory whale on the top. It has her name on scrimshaw plaque inside. She saved the original bill of sale and canceled check from 1961. The check was for $101...a fortune back then. If I still lived in MA I'd lend it to you!

@jmck_nc, Yes; that is ~$1000 in today's dollars. Fancy! And i'd borrow it!

@Texanjana, I have rented the Sardine purse while my search continues. I want something very specific in a Nantucket Bag and I want for less than its probably worth so it might be hard to find LOL.

I love your bag! I was going to "pretend" it was waves but its not really on theme and also a different blue I think. It is so darn cute though, and a good price! When I was learning about sardine mania I came across this video --- these bags are more generous than id imagined. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chWXAJweja8 .(go to the 2 min mark)

What’s up with this?

https://poshmark.com/listing/AnthropologieThe-Fiona-Beaded-Bag-Winter-Icon-Edition-678e564eeba4c4d6f3c0630d

I think that these bags go in and out of stock when a certain designs become popular, and "speculators" list opportunistically when that happens.

For example, on a smaller scale, why would I pay this when Staud sells them for $295? I imagine this person is banking on them going out of stock as the weather warms up.

I did order the pink one from the actual Anthro store for a wedding but I was also looking at PM out of curiosity thinking I might get a more ”fun” one for our FL trip next month. (Not the one with skis!) All are either higher than orig price, or around the same as the orig price.

Okay now I have bought this one on PM, a gift for the friend we’re visiting in FL. They have a golf cart that came with the house they bought last year. (Not used for golfing; they can take it downtown!)

I *love* that bag!!! I also love using golf carts for transport. We have one and DH has a sneaky way to drive it to the golf course without being on a "main" road. Big thrill. Legally you can only drive it here on roads (or cross over roads) that are posted @35mph or less.

By whale scrimshaw, I’m assuming you are looking for the incised sort, not bas relief. Nevertheless, I thought I’d throw this out there. $559 OBO

https://www.ebay.com/itm/256722215725?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ePQTX-IrTGG&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=_YX3P1KvREO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Yes, and thank you for teaching me the terms. I love the black etching on scrimshaw; partly because at one point my Dad collected it.

All these beaded purses have triggered a memory: in early 2000’s we went to San Francisco. Before going, I bought a purse with a Golden Gate bridge design, and one side had beading outlining the design. It was so weird and I loved it. That week, I recieved so many positive comments, and some seemed genuine 😆. I got rid of the bag shortly after we returned home, it wasn’t a useful size for my everyday life. And the quirky factor had diminished. Now that I’m remembering it, I (a little bit) wish I still had it. But I released it for someone else to enjoy.

Thanks for reminding me about that purse and that trip.

@Jilly, Such detail!!! And what a nice reminder of your grandfather. ❤️

Thanks, bb. :)

Jilly, I love anything equestrian. Took English riding lessons as an adult in my 40s and loved everything about it. Your artwork grouping looks lovely!

Sue, your friend will love the golf cart purse. So cute!

Thank you, Arapaho. :)

Jilly, love your scrimshaw piece.

I had the funniest coincidence the other day. A friend of mine remarried a widower. She moved into his home and, years later, is still living with much of the deceased wife's decor and even some personal items! It is very ticklish because of the children involved. Anyway, she sometimes gripes about it and was telling me that she still had unused purses and shoes she was trying to get rid of. Then she said "she collected these Nantucket purses, you know?" She has "7 or 8" of them and would be happy to lend me one.

That's crazy. Meanwhile I rented the Staud one for $24 LOL! And I am keeping an eye out for a Nantucket one just the same.

Wouldn’t that be a terrific coincidence if she had a style you could use!

Oops, one more of those Fiona bags fell into my poshmark cart.

OK, I am done. We have a FL/GA trip next month and a NC trip in May, and I think this purse will be cute for nights out.

If the pink one I ordered from the regular store doesn’t match my shoes, I’ll return it.

Thank you, Mtn. :)

I went looking at my shoe inventory. Among my dressier choices I have tan patent Tory Burch platform sandals, and these suede ones by Stewart Weitzman. They are too casual but made think about blue.

Anyone know of this brand? Too Smurfy?

https://www.nordstrom.com/s/yasmin-sandal-women/8064668

Can we see the TB tan patent platforms?

Omg I cannot post a pic today!?!

A link to the same shoes

https://poshmark.com/listing/Tory-Burch-patti-sand-slides-platform-wedges-mules-6726db07ce7065989132bd83?utm_source=gdm&utm_campaign=21905714107&campaign_id=21905714107&ad_partner=google&gskid=pla-2400171139594&gcid=721068824095&ggid=173375561707&gdid=c&g_network=g&enable_guest_buy_flow=true&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAh6y9BhBREiwApBLHCwvNAOzoPmrDhtdemrblgDjJ5zS_vSkkTxwiwEYaOSVleBgemThfmhoCr58QAvD_BwE