Betties and Horses

It's been way, way too long since Mad Men was on TV. I can hardly wait until 2012 when it will finally premiere with a new season. You better believe I will be hosting some sort of viewing party for it, too. January is such a blah-party month otherwise - why not have a mid-1960's (or late? No one is quite sure what year this season will take place in...) themed party on a Sunday night!

For the frequent followers of this blog, you already know my addiction to the styles of that era. That newest Banana Republic line had me instantly re-envisioning my wardrobe, determining which staple pieces I already owned (black pencil skirt, hot pink puffy skirts, fitted sweaters) and which items I might need to scope out to make a few "new" outfits (fitted blouses, trench coats, more dresses).

One of the easiest updates I discovered I could make was with a simple accessory - the scarf.

Betty Draper, the dangerously-beautiful now-Betty Francis, is always dressed to the nines, and riding horses is no exception. I absolutely love her outfits from the riding episodes, and the one above is a classic. That coat, her hair (whose hair does that after being under a helmet?!) and that little dainty scarf peaking up. Ah ha! That scarf! That is what "made" that outfit for me.

A Tar-jay search turned up an inexpensive "equestrian" scarf, a look-alike (minus that it's cheap polyester) of the $300+ (yikes) Hermes silk versions. Even better, it was made perfectly for an outfit like Betty's. With the Fall weather playing hard-to-get, it wasn't long before I got to try out the scarf with a fallish-outfit for work.  First, I looked up how to tie the darn thing. It's not as intuitive as Betty would make it seem, but it turned out to be not hard at all. Brooks Brothers, of course, had some excellent examples to follow.

I chose the French Twist. I added the equestrian scarf to an outfit of dark skinny jeans, black riding boots and a dark brown turtleneck (way for me to get all these new pieces into one outfit, right? Ha). Voila!

What do you think? Am I living true to the Betty nature? Now only if I had ridden a horse less than 15 years ago ..... ;)