Casual Tuesday

I never, and I mean NEVER, get to dress down for work.  Our office usually offers a jeans on Friday deal in exchange for a monetary donation to a charity, but I'm not able to take advantage of it for a number of reasons.  Today though, our team has an off site meeting all afternoon and we decided to offer a casual dress day.  As a result, jeans for all!

Rather than look super stylish, I decided to go for comfort and warmth.  The temperature is in the single digits here and with the wind chill, it's like 20 below or something.  I'm wearing a turtleneck sweater that I purchased during a trip to Whistler many years ago, last year's Hudson jeans, striped knee socks and my slightly odd Kork Ease mary janes.  The sweater has a cute kangaroo pocket, which I really love.  I hate the feel of wearing a belt with jeans, so I have a camisole on to help provide some extra coverage in the backside...just in case my jeans slide down a bit.
Yay for a comfy day at work!

My Own Office Fashion Show

At the beginning of the week, I saw this post on Liberating WM about Working with Style.  This is a regular topic for the LWM ladies, but in this post the author is a fellow HR professional, so of course I decided to check out her duds.  I was impressed by - and jealous of - her style.  My look tends to be a little different, so after mentally comparing the two, I decided to take a few of my own snapshots this week.  The lighting isn't very good, but you'll get the general idea.  It's my first week back in the office after the holidays and I was forced to give up my at home uniform of sweatshirt, yoga pants, Uggs and this super hawt hairstyle.

As a side note, there's no way that I would have taken fashion shots a year ago.  When I was heavier, I hid behind my clothes.  I wore lots of bulky suit jackets and roomy dresses with empire waists that in no way showed my silhouette.  Things are different now.  I feel more confident and I like buying clothes.

The challenge for my closet is that I work for a large corporation and the dress code is pretty conservative.  I don't mind the expected attire, but it does limit the fun I can have with fashion.  We're pretty much a suit and tie office M-Th and Friday is a sort of dress down day.  I get around this (to a certain extent) by wearing dresses.

I love dresses with a slight sixties flare and am having great luck finding peices in a few places.  The first is Boden.  I have to buy everything online because there's not a shop in my area, but it's worthwhile.  Their stuff ships super fast and is always great quality.  Best of all, they have almost everything in tall sizes.  Since I'm 5'8", I can't get away with regular length pants and dresses.  Boden has some great options for me.
* Above: Dress: Boden; navy blue tights and silver belt: Target; silver heels: J.Crew (circa 2006)

* Below: Dress: London Times from Macys; watch: vintage (my grandfather's); black tights: Target; shoes: Franco Sarto from Nordstrom (circa 2010)

The accessories I'm comfortable pushing the dress code limits with are shoes.  In my opinion, the higher the heel, the better.  For example, these heels are five inches, but really comfortable because of the platform.  I wouldn't run any marathons or carry my child in them, but for the office, they work. 

* Below: dress: Kohls; earrings: Target; necklace: Ann Taylor Loft; shoes: Nine West

Although I like my heels to be sky-high, I also look for more conservative options that are comfortable.  These red mary janes aren't really my style, but I decided to take a chance on them (thanks, Twitter feedback) and I think they're a win.

* Below: dress: Land's End (yay for clearance!); sweater tights: TJ Maxx; shoes: Kork Ease from Zappos; bag to drag my crap to/from work: Brighton (gift from my bestie)

As much as I love to wear dresses, there are days when I just can't pull that off.  Case in point, yesterday.  I had an interview with a reporter and needed to suit up.  It wasn't on-camera, but my general look for any video-recorded interview is a black suit with a bright shirt underneath.  It's boring, but looks good on film and doesn't call my credibility into question. 

* Below: suit: Ann Taylor; shirt: Express (circa 2005); basic black belt: Old Navy; patent leather mary janes (they have red heels!): Nine West from Macy's (circa 2008)

So, that's my week in clothing.  It's not easy to dress in a way that makes me feel stylish within the confines of my corporate culture, but generally, I feel like my clothes show my personality.  Happy shopping!