Tag - ‘accessories’

Simply Summer Business Casual

While sometimes we think business casual is especially hard in the summer, it doesn’t have to be. The other day, I was meeting a client for lunch. It was a warm sunny day, and I wanted to be cool, comfortable, and stylish, professional without looking too dressed up. I chose a white 3Dots t-shirt and a tan, pencil skirt. Alone this would have been a pretty bland outfit, so I added a heavy, chain necklace, gold hoops and my gold watch. Then I slipped on my brown high heeled “gladiator” sandals. Ah, and because you can never tell what the weather is going to do, I grabbed my Beth Bowley, lightweight, brown cardigan. Here’s why this outfit works— First, the colors are neutral and the shapes are basic, so they're super easy to combine. Secondly, instead of choosing any old white t-shirt, I picked one in a high quality. While you might not always want to sink a lot of money into your everyday summer tops, a few nice quality t-shirts in your wardrobe lend themselves to a business casual look. They also wash better and last longer. Next, the weight of the skirt is a little heavier than your typical cotton skirt. (Read more...)

Basic jewelry

With all of springs colorful clothing it's best to downplay your jewelry and accessories. In other words, pair basic metallic and pearl jewelry with bright clothing. Or wear colorful jewelry with neutrals such as black and white.
You'll actually find that metallics are big trends in jewelry at the moment, so now is an especially good time to build or refresh your basic jewelry wardrobe. I'm not much of a "pearl girl", but I've been loving this necklace:


It's modern, yet classic and basic. I personally can't decide on the silver or the gold. I'm not the kind of image consultant that does color consulting and strongly recommends certain colors over another. I know I look better in gold, but I feel gold makes more of a statement than silver. So whichever you choose is a personal decision.


Because the necklace above albeit basic, makes a statement, I like the concept of pairing it with simple, somewhat more casual hoops like either
(Read more...)

Buy accessories you love.



I usually give the advice to only buy complete outfits, and don't buy something unless you are absolutely certain you've got something at home to go with it. As I was getting dressed yesterday, I realized this doesn't hold true for accessories.


Here's my advice on accessories. When you're shopping and you see an accessory you absolutely, positively love, BUY IT! We all tend to gravitate towards our favorite colors or basic colors, so chances are very good that when you buy an accessory you fall in love with, it will work with several things in your closet. The thing I've come to love about accessories is that they don't have to be a 100% perfect match with your outfit, and in fact, it's usually better that everything isn't perfect. (Perfection tends to look too contrived and a bit old fashioned.)


Let me give some examples. Yesterday I decided to wear my new Chaiken, charcoal gray pencil
(Read more...)

Dresses



I'm so excited that dresses are so hot this season! I know it all started with the wrap dress, which I never really got around to, not to mention I can't afford the DVF's. But there is quite a plethora of dresses on the fall market.


I wore dresses as a little girl, but they were gone from fashion for years. The thing is...they're so easy. One piece...pop it on and out the door you go! But back up one moment. You still need accessories. The great thing is, though as with the "little black dress," or LBD, you can completely change the look of a basic dress with the accessories. I was looking through my InStyle Instant Style book this morning over breakfast.


They showed a LBD 3 ways. First, a la "so genteel" the dress was topped with a velvet cropped jacket with ruffled trim and worn with pearls, black lace over nude satin pumps and a clutch purse.


Next, a la "haute stuff" the dress was topped with a feather shrug. (Feathers
(Read more...)
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