TBMD

I wore a variation of today's outfit to a baby (girl) shower over the weekend. I swapped out the pencil skirt for a mini and the work tote for a bucket bag, while the rest of the pieces remained exactly the same. I love the versatility of work to weekend transformations (and vice versa) through subtle tweaks.

When I first put this outfit on, I was thinking the peplum top looked long in proportion to the pencil skirt. Enough so that I was wondering if I should buy another top in petite sizing and save the current one to be worn with pants. Is that crazy talk?! But now that I'm looking at these photos, the proportion doesn't look off like it did earlier in the day... probably due to the lowered position of the camera vs. at eye level. So basically, this outfit looks best to kids.

I call this my grown-up prep outfit. Note all the details: the polo shirt with a crest emblem, the cardigan with varsity stripes, the color navy, the low (and comfortable) block heels, and just a little bit of British plaid. I'm really not sure I can look any preppier.

After I mentioned long cardigans paired with dresses in the last post, I realized I haven't worn that combo myself in awhile. So to the back of my closet I went and out came today's outfit.

Can we keep the focus on today's outfit and not the frizzy mess that is my hair? Scratch that, the focus needs to be on outfits only for the rest of the summer. (There's not much to say except I'm the worst when it comes to hair styling. Lack of patience and passion means I'm never going to improve.)

Back to the topic at hand -- today's outfit. I typically reach for shorter blazers/jackets with dresses because they're more formal and suitable for work. The combo with this dress have always felt a bit off to me. Since this dress is already a few inches above the knees, a short blazer makes the dress look even shorter. Then add in heels and I feel like there's so much skin showing.

The long cardigan with dresses look has been popular for awhile. So I figured I can replicate that look with a longer blazer. I think the end result worked out well! A bit business + a bit casual = business casual.