Happy June, friends!
First—thank you to all of you who have taken my reader survey so far! I am going to leave it open a couple more days and then close it to start digging into the results so I can share with all of you.
Second—I’ve been reading the results as they come in, and I want to thank you for all your thoughtful and insightful comments. One request that came up repeatedly was for more wear to work outfits. Like many of you, I work full time, so am always looking for new 9-5 ensembles—or, in my case 9:30-6 ;]. As such, I want to make more of an effort to show you my work wardrobe, so I’ll try to shoot one of these looks each time I take outfit photos to balance out my obsession with OTS tops and dresses for the weekend.
In addition, I’ve recently been investing more in my work wardrobe—so there will be lots more to share. It’s been two or three years since I really purchased a substantial amount of workwear, and since then, my style has changed a bit, as well as work fashion in general. My office straddles the border between business casual and business professional, and we can only wear jeans on Fridays. If I have an important meeting, I’ll dress a little bit nicer than if I know I’m going to be sitting at my desk all day plowing through work. I also generally try to wear heels since most of the female execs in my office do—though many wear open toed heeled sandals in the summer so we’re not as traditional in that sense.
One workwear purchase I am loving as of late are these J Crew Ruffle Linen Leopard Pants that are currently on sale for $40! They’ve been restocking often, so if they don’t have your size—keep checking back! They are worth the chase, I promise.
Ok—so, I’d never owned anything linen before these pants. Let me save you the trip to the Yahoo Answers forums—linen pants stretch. Keep this in mind, dear reader, because I learned this the hard way.
Typically, I order petite-length pants since I am 5’4″ and hate spending extra money on hemming alterations. But since these are technically ankle pants, I also ordered the regular length. And, because I am never quite sure with J Crew pants, I ordered two sizes of each the regular and petite length—8, 10, 8P, 10P. You just never know. #plusthosefreeshippingminimums
I actually liked how the regular length fit better on me and kept the size 10 since the size 8 was a bit snug. I really wish I had kept the 8—my normal size in most J Crew pants/dresses—because after a day of wearing them, they’d stretched out a bit. Nothing terrible, but since I’m used to more slim fitting pants, I think I would have preferred the size 8.
Despite that snafu—I am completely on board with linen pants for summer. They’re cool enough you’re not sweating on your way to work, but keep you a bit more comfortable in the office—assuming yours pumps the AC like there is no tomorrow as mine does.
Also, before I let you go for the day—definitely check out these Steve Madden Indi Sandals which are currently 20% off! They are true to size—I nearly always wear a 7, and these were perfect. I ordered the 6.5, too, but they were snug so I sent that size back.
Would love to know what you’re wearing to work lately! x
*** SHOP THE POST ***
J Crew Ruffle Waist Linen Leopard Pants—here’s a similar option from Express if you like the ruffle waist
Steve Madden Indi Sandals
Michael Kors Chronograph Watch—old, new version here
J Crew Factory Gold Link Bracelet—only $16 and perfect for stacking!
Madewell Prague Satchel
Navy Blouse—from Stichfix, similar here for $49, here for $28, and this would be cute too for $60
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Photos by Brittany Marie Photography
This post came at such a perfect time!! I can’t wait to rock these in the office 🙂
http://www.mollyonthemoveblog.com
YAY! I am so glad you like them, too.
I LOVE this outfit! I have a leopard print pencil skirt that I wear to work (on fancy days) and I always feel so grown up in it. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that it’s a work skirt and everyone else on my team is in jeans or because of the print but something about it puts me in a way more productive mindset. I gotta get me some pants though to fill out my collection!
YAY! I am so glad that you like leopard too. And yes! I have a skirt like that, too. Amazing what a simple change in dress can do for your confidence.
I couldn’t love this outfit more!! I was probably one of the “more work wear” responses b/c you and I seem to work in similar style offices and dressing for 5 work days a week is no easy feat! 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration- and the head’s up about the sale price!!
Yay! I love workwear so it definitely helps to have as much inspo as possible! xoxo
Love this look! Very doable. Office clothes can be so restrictive. I end up wearing crop pants the most, so when I saw this post is spoke to me!
Thank you so much! Crop pants are my go-tos as well.
I love those pants! leopard is so cute in the office!
XO Ellen from Ask Away
http://www.askawayblog.com
I love how chic but sophisticated your work wear is! Love those pants!
Jessica | notjessfashion.com