Faux fur Fourth of July from Nordstrom

Over the 4th of July weekend, I decided to trek up to North County to spend the holiday with friends who were visiting from out of town. In a not-so-surprising turn of events, we ended up ditching the crowded beach to check out a new nearby wine tasting room and enjoy some live music instead.

As we sipped on the special-of-the-day, a strawberry-infused sangria, I eyed a young woman wearing an oversized faux fur jacket with subtle sparkle detail. I admired her style of choice for celebrating Independence Day and wanted to know more about her flashy fashion.

I learned that Megan, 24, worked as a tasting room attendant for Coomber Craft Wines in Oceanside, the very place where we stood. She draped her cream-colored shaggy jacket (Nordstrom, around $80) over a bright red ribbed-knit crop top, and dressed it with boyfriend-style hemless jeans (Reformation brand from Nordstrom, $100) and tan leather sandals (PONS Avarcas, $85).

Looking down at her shoes, Megan raved, “They’re the best. They’re made in Spain, they’re leather...they’re just the best shoes ever.” She went on to name Reformation as her favorite brand of jeans, “They do good things. Every pair of jeans you buy, they clean X amount of gallons of water. They’re great!”

Megan wore a couple of red and blue costume beads, several bracelets, and two fists full of rings. “I’ve had all these rings forever!” She told me about each one, starting with her beautiful abalone and blue stone rings, “This one’s from New Zealand, this one’s from Peru...” She then pointed to an all-silver one, “My mom bought me this little bee ring, because I’m a beekeeper.”

It seemed that Megan had a story to tell about all the pieces she wore. As she twirled one of her bracelets (4ocean, around $20), she shared “The plastic that this is made from is collected from the ocean and repurposed.”

When I asked what inspired her outfit that day, she pulled at her coat and concluded, “It’s sparkly and fluffy and it maybe will get cool enough that I actually need it, but — it looks cool.” She smiled breezily, “Just my favorite jeans, a cute top, and a fun jacket!” ■