Nearly every week I have one day to evening thing for work. A cocktail hour, an after work meeting, a dinner, a charity event, a monthly girls meet up, and on and on.
One of my monthly girls event friends emailed me to ask how to make that easy. Does she change shoes? Handbags? Jewelry? Make up? Or does it involve a whole outfit? That’s why I mentioned last week, when unpacking random invitation code, that I’d tackle this day to evening topic this week!
Well, I’m all about easy, so I try to make it super easy on days when I have those transitions. If it is a business attire work event like a dinner or cocktail hour, then you probably don’t have to do a thing. Your work outfit, on the nicer side, and a bit of freshening up of your make up will take you straight to the event.
But a lot of other events, mixers, industry events, girls nights, or even dates (with hubby or a new guy for the unmarried working woman) do warrant an upgrade. This is what I will usually do:
1. Wear a nicer blouse under a dark blazer to work and then take the blazer off after work for the event.
2. Pack dangling earrings or a fun necklace in a smaller handbag. I have a simple black faux crocodile clutch that I use for my evening events. I toss it under my seat with a dressier pair of earrings when I get in the car in the morning.
3. Wear heels to work. If you have a job where you’re on your feet a lot, then throw heels into the car when you toss in the clutch.
4. Pack real make up in the clutch too. I actually don’t carry make up with me. Just lipstick and powder. So I throw in blush, mascara, and eyeliner into my clutch with the jewelry so I can freshen up because I’m likely leaving at 5:30 after having put my make up on at 7 am. It needs a refresher.
Here’s what I did two weeks ago for a nice dinner after a work meeting (note simple black work pants, I wore the blouse under my blazer and peep toe heels to work, I just tossed the long necklace in with that black clutch and put on heavier make up).
Here’s some great options, that are reasonable, to transition your normal daytime work attire into evening:
Silver python clutch, $27
Gray clutch, $44
Black & white clutch, $28
Croc clutch, on sale for $18
Coral and silver strand necklace, $65
Mint circle necklace, $28
Bone peep toe pump, $50
Red peep toe pump, $50
Silver peep toe pump, $40
Let me know what you do when going from work to an event.
Good tips Gindi! One thing that I often do when I have a meeting/dinner after work is wear a dress to work instead of pants. Dresses typically look more formal and if you pick a basic color (black, navy, khaki) you can add fun jewelry to dress it up more depending on where you are going. Another tip is to pack panty hose in your clutch. Panty hose have a way of making everything look a little more dressy. Panty hose also can help give you a “slimmer” look in the event you had a lunch that was heavier than usually. I would also say to keep a “Tide ToGo” pin in your office or car just in case you have a spill throughout the day.
Love these Shavonnah! Especially the hose, I would never have thought of that!