First, sorry I haven’t blogged in a while. I was busy enjoying the holidays with loved ones.
For today’s post, I’ve decided to go a little bit out of my comfort zone. Selfies aren’t really my thing… except for on Snapchat. 🙂 Anyway, I’ve been thinking lately about how styles and trends change over time and where people draw their inspiration from. I’m not very creative and I definitely wouldn’t describe myself as a fashionista, but I am pretty great at copying other people.
A lot of my outfit ideas come from Pinterest. I feel like this is cliche… but hey! Aren’t ideas and copying what Pinterest is for?!
This is a look I found on Pinterest that I would have never put together.. but I LOVE it!
Another source of inspiration that I unexpectedly stumbled upon one day is Karla Reed’s instagram (karlareed). She posts a lot of outfits that she wears, along with some personal things of course. Someone I follow on insta liked one of her pics and I happened to see it and think it was cute. Naturally, I proceeded to creep through her pictures and decided she was worth the follow! She also has an additional insta account, chicthrifty, where she sells a lot of awesome things that she finds at thrift stores. Turns out, there is a whole little community of instagram stores! I have yet to buy anything from any of them, but they have some pretty awesome deals.
This is one of Karla’s looks from Instagram. Isn’t she cute?!
As a twenty-something who hasn’t been in the working world very long, I’m definitely not “rollin’ in the dough.” Most of my clothing and accessory purchases are from the sale section. The thought of buying something full price pretty much makes my stomach turn. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good name brand piece, but I just try to stay away from the name brand prices. (The exception is if it’s from a store like Forever 21 or TJ Maxx.) I wish I had time to thrift more, but it never seems to work out and when I do get around to it, I never find anything great. I guess I’ll leave that to Karla.
My other trick to dressing cute on a budget, is wearing older pieces. Everyone has those clothes that get pushed to the back of your closet and you just don’t seem to wear them as often anymore, if ever. With the help of Pinterest as some inspiration, you can learn how to style those pieces differently, which will give you so many more outfit options!
All this leads me to what I wore this week. As my first “What I wore” post, I’ve decided to share what I wore to work. I love dressing up for work, but sometimes it can have its fair share of challenges, for example, when the wind chill is in the single digits. Luckily, it wasn’t that cold this week! The dress code at my office is business casual. To me, this is challenging because people have very different ideas of what business casual is. I work at a non-profit, so our business casual is a little more casual than say, if you work at a bank or law firm.
Finally, here are the selfies! Ignore the mess behind me that is my bedroom.
Disclaimer: I tried to remember where I got all of the pieces, but sometimes that can be a little challenging. The links are to the specific piece if it is still available, or something similar, or just the store in general if I couldn’t find something similar.
Monday
Monday I went with one of my go-to looks: button up and sweater.
Shirt: Ralph Lauren from TJ Maxx (Great find! I wear it all the time!)
Cardigan: J. Crew (Sale rack)
Skirt: Ann Taylor Loft
Shoes: Lauren by Ralph Lauren from TJ Maxx
Necklace: Francesca’s (Bought years ago… I’m pretty sure I was still in high school.)
Watch: Michael Kors from Nordstrom (Birthday present a few years ago)
Bracelets: Ann Taylor Loft and Francesca’s
Tuesday
Wednesday
Wednesday it was slightly colder, so I had to wear pants. I hate wearing dress pants because I can never seem to find cute ones that fit well. I wish there were skinny work pants, but the best options I’ve found thus far are straight leg (pictured) or cropped. These will have to do for the time being.
Blouse: Ann Taylor (Sale rack)
Pants: Ann Taylor (Worth the splurge!)
Shoes: Jessica Simpson from Dillards (My go-to black pumps.)
Belt: Target (On sale for $5!!!)
Necklace: Francesca’s (Currently buy one get one 50% off!)
Watch: Michael Kors from Nordstrom (Christmas gift)
Thursday
Thursday’s outfit is, again, one of my “go to” outfits. It’s cute, and super easy to throw together when you’ve pushed snooze a few too many times. Anytime you wear a sweater over a button up, you can wear it tucked in or untucked. I alternate, but Thursday I went with tucked.
Shirt: J. Crew (A gingham button up is a necessity.)
Sweater: J. Crew Factory (Christmas gift)
Skirt: Ann Taylor Loft (Additional 60% off sale right now!)
Tights: Assets from Target
Boots: Sam Edelman (Christmas gift from the boyfriend, but I know you can get them at Nordstrom or maybe Dillard’s. A good pair of boots is definitely worth the money. I wear mine at least twice a week in the fall and winter months.)
Necklace: Francesca’s
Watch: Michael Kors from Nordstrom
Friday
warmest wishes, J 