Fashion Fridays: Casual Fridays

I am getting SO many fun topics from you all – keep ’em coming!  Today Fashion Fridays are jumping into the fray that is casual wear. Casual Fridays have taken the nation.  Casual Fridays are a different animal than Business Casual work environments.  They can involve a “jeans allowed” policy.  Which many of the Friday working masses take to mean anything is allowed.  Ahem, it is not.  While a perfectly acceptable business casual outfit could mean khakis and a button down for a guy and slacks and a blouse with cardigan for a woman, Casual Fridays somehow mean red strappy sandals with too small sundresses.  No, no, no, no.  We’ve all heard dress for the job you want, but honestly, some of us need to start by dressing for the job we have.

Here’s some basics, for women, for casual Friday:

• If jeans are allowed, go for a dark rinse straight leg denim trouser.  Do not wear low-cut, tight-cut, or acid-washed.  Honestly, don’t ever wear those, even to the park.
• If jeans aren’t allowed, stick with pants, skirts and business appropriate dresses.  Do not wear capri pants.  Again, ever.  Do not wear sundresses unless you are going to the company barbecue and then make sure you’re not showing a bunch of skin.  Do not wear mini skirts.  Do not wear shorts.  (Do I even need to speak the latter out loud?)
• Your shoes can be more casual but shouldn’t ever be a flip-flop or a strappy sandal.  Naked feet don’t belong in your office.  I’m personally good with the peep toe because it’s just a “peep.”

Y’all, I could post 52 Casual Friday outfits from Pinterest that would set you up for the year, but it would take you forever to download my post so I’ll just give you a few of my favorites.  I got these all in 10 minutes of Pinterest-ing, and it takes nothing to run into Target or Old Navy or Macy’s to find similar low-cost pieces so you can look pulled together on a day when a lot of people are looking out of sorts.  Granted, there is a fair amount of diversity, so make sure you first identify what works in YOUR workplace.  Old law firms and banks are less inclined to tolerate informality and color, so you should incorporate that with a shoe or a necklace if your outfit needs to stay neutral.  My personal go-to casual Friday outfits are dark jeans with a blazer, always a solid bet, or a simple belted dress.  Here’s some jeans/pants ideas:

And for you girls who eschew jeans, here’s a few skirt/dress options:

Have fun shopping and send me your favorite Casual Friday outfits.