Or, why wearing belts for purposes other than to hold up pants is really really weird if you think about it.
This week's challenge is to wear a belt in a way other than on pants. Can you imagine if we wore suspenders with sweaters or dresses? Like, hooked the end of the suspenders to the waistband of a dress, not holding anything up, just adding visual interest to the outfit. I realized that's what we're doing with belts. Which doesn't keep me from wearing belts as such: this year I actually have, so far with cardigans over dresses.
I still feel a bit silly when it's a cardigan with buttons; though I can say the belt is keeping the cardigan closed, it's not like it's needed to do so, the cardigan already has a built-in option to do that itself. So in order to venture into the oh so extreme territory of belting a cardigan with pants (of all things!), I was glad to have recently picked up this flyaway style sweater for cheap at Old Navy. At least in this case, the belt truly is the only available method within the outfit to keep the sweater closed.
The other day a coworker was wearing a black sweater (not cardigan), slightly long-ish in length, with a self-belt at the natural waist. Combined with this week's challenge, got me started on the above thoughts about how arbitrary wearing belts in such a fashion is. Not that most of fashion isn't arbitrary, this seems to be extra arbitrary.
On the other hand, I did feel way more polished with this than I think I would have had I left the fly away cardigan and flying away. I got the coziness and even some flowiness of the fly away, but the polish and tailored feeling with a defined waist and a belt.
On a scale from 1 to 10, how weird to you think non-pants-holding-up belts are?
This week's challenge: wear something you haven't worn in 6+ months. I truly don't have much around that I don't wear on a regular basis. Though I do tend to purchase more than I should, I can't stand having unused things taking up space, so I routinely purge out and donate things that I haven't worn for a while.
One item that's stuck around, though, that I've been wanting to use, is this burgundy button-up shirt. It tends to be ignored when I have so many comfy knits around that [sometimes can] look just as polished, along with how hard it is to roll or push up the sleeves on a non-knit. But it seems like a good thing to mix into the wardrobe now and then in a professional setting. I suppose I ought to tuck it in to look even more polished, but I'm still conscious enough of my weight, and its fluctuations - I think all my pants are either a touch too big or too small - that that's unlikely to happen.
The necklace I have had for a very very long time - from my first or second year working. Actually, this whole outfit is reminiscent of what I wore then. Which means it's likely very untrendy, but that's also the time I cared about things like ironing the crease in my pants, so I don't think it's entirely a bad thing.
If you wear slacks/trousers on a regular basis, do you iron the creases? Actually, do you iron them at all? I may or may not have ceased doing even that...
This week's challenge: wear an outfit you pinned. I actually only recently started a "fashion" pinterest board, so, this was more thinking of a variation on outfits I've seen on blogs and such that I liked, and then finding a pin along those lines to make it a bit more concrete.
I've tended away from button-up shirts for business wear, primarily because I don't like having things on my lower arms; any long-sleeve knit gets pushed up for the majority of the day. And then a button-up under a sweater is just silly, because you're wasting the comfort of the sweater by putting a non-stretch fabric underneath it. Ridiculous! (Although I do love the aesthetic of sleeve cuffs popping out at the end of a sweater sleeve, I just can't handle the discomfort of it.)
However! In the last year or so I've acquired a couple sleeveless button-up shirts, and have started wearing them under v-neck sweaters. I'm not sure why I hadn't ever put it under a cardigan, since v-necks and cardigans really are the staples of my work wardrobe.
Sweater and collared shirt from JC Penny. Slacks from Target. Heels from DSW. Necklace and earrings from Etsy.
I know it's only a couple weeks, but I'm really enjoying the prompts and incentive to do more with my work attire. I even took some time Sunday night to plan out outfits for the whole week, so I could be a little creative without it being stressful each morning as I'm rushing out the door.
This week's challenge: wear a bright color. Um, beyond my fluorescent running clothes, I truly don't own anything "bright". All of my work clothes (and most of my casual clothes) are jewel tones (plus black and gray). As such I modified this challenge to wear "bold" color, especially in a way that puts it front and center (i.e., not hidden under a black blazer or cardigan). I ended up doing a couple outfits this week along those line:
Dress outfit: I bought this dress for Christmas - it was on sale, comfy, and fit perfectly. For Christmas, I wore it without a jacket or sweater (it's sleeveless, but we were indoors for all celebrations) and a thin belt on the waistline (it really does need something to break up the expanse of burgundy). I was hoping to get use out of it for work, too, which I thought would work well since it is definitely work-appropriate with its higher neckline and longer hem. However, it's such a "bright" color (in my world), I felt self-conscious wearing it - especially when I knew I'd add something else to the top, making it essentially a bold colored skirt, drawing attention to the area that I usually hide in plain black slacks.
I don't completely love this outfit (I think partly because the hemline actually feels too long, at least if I don't wear heels with it, I might shorten it by an inch or so), but I did get a couple compliments! It's ridiculous comfortable too, as both the dress and blazer are knits.
Dress, blazer, and tights from Target. Boots from Fred Meyer. Necklace from Etsy.
Pants outfit: I planned out this top with a skirt and heeled boots for today, but when I realized today was the last of the week without rain so I could wear flats (without my feet getting wet), I switched it to slacks.
I would normally wear this green shirt as an undershirt, not the prominent piece - under a more neutral blazer or cardigan. I also don't think I've ever worn a collared shirt underneath something other than a v-neck sweater, so utilizing the scoop-neck tee as a topper in that way was also branching out in a fun way.
Top from H&M. Collared sleeveless shirt from Goodwill (originally JC Penney). Slacks from Target. Shoes from Payless. Necklace from Etsy.
Yes, this is technically a "fashion" post on this blog. Don't worry, I'll wait for you to stop laughing. I have no delusions that I'm fashionable or breaking barriers here. I have, lately, been trying to make my work outfits both more fashionable (in a classic sense, not in a trendy way) and more professional (the "dress for the job you want" concept), although left to my own devices under stress, I revert to a more minimalist, "uniform" style of dress. This post may seem contradictory, and that's because it is; my goals for this area of life (trivial though it may be - though maybe not entirely) are contradictory at the moment.
On the one hand, I really like the idea - in theory, at least - of a uniform. Even in business, it is possible to garner respect in such a simplistic wardrobe. For most of the past few years I've tended, semi-intentionally, towards a uniform of sorts: black slacks, black heels or flats, v-neck sweater, silver necklace. That can also get a bit boring, and though I don't think it will hurt my chances of continuing to move up the ladder at work, I would imagine that dressing in a manner that appears more intentional and thoughtful might be helpful.
I've been putting more creativity in my clothes for the last month or so, but it will be harder to devote energy and thought into that as stress and anxiety from busy season builds up. Enter: the Putting Me Together style challenge. I'm by no means planning to overhaul or expand my wardrobe* to participate in this; I just want to find more creative ways to mix my clothes, and also feel more comfortable wearing outfits that feel a bit "out there" to me.
*My wardrobe is currently probably closer to a minimalist or capsule wardrobe than the average person. I might not be quite down to 33 items (for work; I keep work and casual wardrobes separate for the most part), but I would be shocked if it's more than 50, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's closer to 40. Basically I own:
- 2 pairs of slacks
- 2 skirts
- 2 - 3 dresses (depending on how I style it, one is iffy on work-appropriateness)
- 2 blazers
- 3 - 4 cardigans
- 3 - 4 v-neck sweaters
- 2 - 3 blouses
- 6 - 8 tops/tanks that are worn under other things
- 5 silver necklaces
- 1 pair of flats (I buy cheap flats that wear out quickly, during the summer I own more)
- 1 pair of heels
- 3 pairs of boots
I'm not 100% positive on the tops count, but I guess that is pretty close to 33. Honestly, that is plenty of mix and match and come up with different variations. I used to have about this number of items, but almost entirely sweaters for the tops, which I got tired of. I'm not necessarily trying to change the basic formula, but have more variety within the formula.
Background on my work environment: Officially the dress code is "business attire" (except for Fridays, which is business casual and allows jeans); though suits are often expected when meeting with clients, most people don't wear suits on a regular basis. Men are usually in slacks, button-ups, plus likely either a tie, jacket, and/or sweater. Women's attire is more varied; generally slacks, skirts, button-ups, sweaters, blouses, etc. Some seem to cross the line, in my opinion, with leggings and other more trendy items, which I think need to be included very carefully to be appropriate!
This week's challenge is to wear a dress. The idea being that many women wear dresses during the summer and put them away in the winter; actually I've never been big on dresses, especially for work. I think dresses are easier to make professional in the winter - though bare legs and short sleeves aren't entirely inappropriate in my office, they're definitely borderline, depending on the weather and the rest of the outfit.
I've only this year started coming around to the idea of tights or leggings with dresses (I used to think tights were ridiculously uncomfortable, but I'm now realizing that probably had to do with not sizing up appropriately while at a higher weight). But have gradually been coming around the idea, and wearing dresses occasionally lately. This is an outfit I've worn a few times to work now, and feel pretty comfortable in it (although the whole "belt over sweater" thing was also something I felt self-conscious about at first).
All but the boots and necklace are from Target. The boots are from Payless and the necklace is from H&M.
I almost always wear a simple-yet-interesting sillver necklace, but have a hard time picking on to wear with this, as the pattern is already so busy. The necklace I'm wearing is a newer one, and has a shorter hook option than most of my others, so I can keep it above the neckline, rather than competing with the pattern by overlaying on the dress itself.
Where you do lean on the uniform to trendy spectrum? Is it possible to have a minimalist wardrobe without being boring?
