I am so excited about the outfits found in this SWAP. If you missed last week, we’re in the middle of a three week “SWAP” – Shopping With A Purpose. These are with my real live friends/guinea pigs. Last week you met Brandy and watched her discover pieces to upgrade her wardrobe to executive career. The other conundrum Brandy faced during our SWAP was polishing up her casual Friday. Brandy is the only woman in her office. Additionally, her boss doesn’t office in town. So Fridays in her office are really casual. But as you’ve heard me say, you just never know when you’re going to bump into someone who could impact your career, so you have to dress the part. EVEN on casual Fridays (especially then because those can unravel pretty quickly if you get too casual).
Brandy needed to exchange her pale jeans for a darker trouser jean and have other options on rotation besides jeans and casual tops. Well, she hit it out of the park. You saw that a few of the blazers she found last week could be paired with jeans. But she found this gorgeous blazer (Ann Taylor Loft), which I wanted to buy so badly but I have no shopping budget right now, and it just looked spectacular when sitting atop a dark rinse jean (Talbot’s) for casual Friday:
In addition, she found a few good pieces which she can mix and match, including this simple royal blue top and perfect length patterned pencil skirt (both Ann Taylor) which she can pair with kitten heels for casual Friday:
What is critical if your casual Friday has lost some of its sheen is to add a few basic pieces which you can build on – a dark wash trouser jean, a couple of fun/bolder blazers or a cardigan, a simple skirt – A line or pencil depending on your figure type, and some simple blouses that are not t-shirts. Stay tuned next week for our other friend Julie’s SWAP feature and make sure to send me any SWAP ideas you have.
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