Now that the Christmas and New Year's holidays are over, I'm back to sharing my office style. Even though I wore both of these outfits before Christmas! Have been so behind with blogging, although I was dressing for the Fox in Flats DAREcember style challenge each day.
Two incredibly similar outfits following an almost identical outfit formula. Striped tee dresses like these are perfect for spring, especially when you add bright accessories like purple high tops, Balenciaga bags and an extra touch of pink.
Wore this to take the kids out to the movies! Movie theatres have been open for a while when the restrictions lifted but we haven't really felt the need to go. We haven't been big movie goers since having kids, so it wasn't like we felt we were missing out when things were closed. My sister scored us free family tickets to a Paw Patrol movie though, so we decided to take advantage and take the kids out to their first movie of the year. The last one we saw at the movies together was Frozen 2!
While it was a warm spring day I knew it would be cold in the cinema so I took the opportunity to wear this long sleeved tee dress I thrifted a few weeks ago. Added more colour to it with the purple high top shoes and Balenciaga work bag. Even though the shades of purple are very different I thought they looked good together. The pink skull scarf was another way to add even more colour and picked again for extra warmth in the cinema.
It was a really fun morning out and I'm glad we went - even if the kids were getting annoyed with how frequently I was getting them to sanitise their hands!
This was another fun day! Had a rather boring morning of errands and getting my tax done, but I got to spend the afternoon with my sister who stayed for dinner with us.
This striped tee dress is actually one from my sister's wardrobe, I gained it in one of her wardrobe clear-outs luckily! With the neutral black and white stripes I used accessories again to add more colour, with the purple high tops (also from my sister's wardrobe clear-out... ) and a touch of pink with the marble necklace and Balenciaga sorbet city bag.
I've shared 30 ways to wear this pink Balenciaga city bag before and wearing it with black is a combination I've worn heavily over the 10 years I've had it. It just pops so well! I really liked this outfit. Perfect for such a hot day too.
A stripe tee dress is a good basic to have in your wardrobe, especially in neutral colours. You can change it up each time you wear it with brightly coloured accessories. Add more colours with shoes, bags, and scarves or necklaces depending on the weather.
No, it isn't scarf weather yet in Brisbane! This scarf I got from my mum is so pretty though, a lovely blush shade with rose gold thread running through it. I added it in the morning as I'd lost my voice the afternoon before, and thought it best to keep wrapped up in the office air con. Thankfully my voice (mostly) made it through to the end of the day.
I forgot that this necklace hangs at an awkward length and bangs noisily on my work pass when I wear it, but the scarf did help muffle it a litte.
I usually pick neutral bags to wear with this colourful orange sheath dress. Although there was one time I paired it with an orange bag. I like blue and orange together, so the navy Regan satchel was a nice addition and a change from my usual grey. With the blazer and ballet flats, it's a classic office outfit combo, and one that I relly on a lot. Especially when life gets hectic, as happens often with two little ones. I wonder how full time office workers with kids do it all sometimes!
This dress is on it's eighth wear, even though this year marks 5 years since I bought it. I do tend to keep it to spring/summer as I prefer to wear it without tights. Other than not getting worn a lot (which is even harder to do now I'm only in the office a couple of days a week), there's nothing wrong with it. I feel bad keeping pieces like this that are so rarely worn in my wardrobe, but given the choice again today I'd still buy it if I saw it in a store so it's staying, even if it will be a while before it gets worn again!
Unlike the orange sheath dress above, this blue paisley print one has been worn a lot more often. One of my favourite work pieces, it just makes me feel pulled together and confident. I've worn blue bags with this dress in the past, but this is the first time I've worn the dress and Balenciaga city bag together. I've worn it with a pink blazer in the past, but never a pink bag. I really liked the combination - I'm sure it will come up again in my quest to get to 30 wears with this dress this year!
While I love the Rebecca Minkoff Regan above and think it's a great classic option for work, there's something so cheerful about the pink Balenciaga city bag that makes me smile when I wear it. Paired with my favourite blue sheath dress, it's a great mood booster for a tough week.
The pearl necklaces were a last minute choice, I'd planned to wear another necklace but changed my mind that morning. I'm not completely happy with them. I did try knot the longer chain of pearls but when I couldn't get the knot to sit right and I was in a rush I just left it. I think knotting it would have looked better though, like this time I knotted the necklace.
Sheath dresses are a classic cut and style for the office. They work in many different office dress codes. Fun printed ones like these two are perfect for business casual offices, but if you have a more formal dress code you could go with a plain version.
When I got the email that Jeanswest had a sale on, I hopped on the site for a quick browse. I saw this top and instantly fell in love, and purchased it the same day. Originally $59, reduced to $20, I couldn't say no! While it's got the tassels and the studs, it's still a lovely neutral navy, and I can see it going with so much in my wardrobe. I wore it below for a casual day of shopping, and more formally for a day at the office.
After a busy few weeks, I was really looking forward to a relaxing day of shopping. As relaxing as it can be with two little boys in tow! Overall, they were pretty good. We had time to browse a few stores. I had a hunt through the Jeanswest sale again, and while I tried some things on nothing came home with me. My sister did buy this star print tee which you might remember I bought last month! We have quite a few of the same or similar pieces in our wardrobes actually, so I wasn't surprised when she picked it up.
With the navy top and navy shorts together, I wanted something to break it up a little. I was originally going to wear my pink Rebecca Minkoff mini MAC bag, but felt a bigger pop of colour was needed. The sorbet pink Balenciaga city bag was perfect, and it meant I could be matchy matchy with the Balenciaga sandals as well, not just the top and shorts.
I woke up this morning not feeling too great, but figured it was because of a busier than weekend. Put on this lovely top to boost my mood, and the Rebecca Minkoff Regan bag as I like how nicely the navy colours work together. Once I was at work I realised I couldn't shake the head cold, and ended up going home a little early after my final meeting for the day. I intended to rest up for a couple hours before the boys got home from daycare, with the idea that I'd feel better the next day after resting. Unfortunately, I did not. I ended up being pretty sick for a few days - as were the boys, which didn't help with resting and recovering! Thankfully we are all feeling much better now.
I'm glad it was a warm enough morning that I didn't need a blazer with this so that it was easier to see the fun studded sleeve detail. I did wish at the end of the day when I started getting feverish that I'd had a scarf in my bag to wrap myself up in though. Heading home to bed was the next best thing!
More Boho Style Peasant Tops For Work And Weekend Under $50:
How You Can Wear It:
Neutral tops like this in modest cuts are perfect for casual days out with the boys, or more formally with a pencil skirt for the office. The beauty of a block colour top is that you can pair it with fun printed pieces without worrying about patterns clashing. I'm always looking for more ways to wear pieces in my wardrobe, so tops like this that do double duty in the office and on weekends are must-haves!
I tracked this cream Zara blazer down on ebay. It's soft jersey material and I have it in black too. I really like this cream colour as it's a great neutral and goes with everything. The soft fabric makes me happy wearing it outside of the office.
Wore this for a lunchtime catch up with a friend from out of state. She was in Brisbane for a couple days for work and managed to squeeze a little bit of spare time to meet up. It was so lovely to see her. The weather was not quite so lovely! It looked like an okay day and as it was supposed to rain a little I brought umbrellas just in case. After we made the decision to head off it started pouring! Luckily the stroller has a waterproof cover, but I realised on the way home that I had left the spare battery pack for my phone in the now waterlogged baby bag!
This pink Balenciaga looks pretty bad when it gets wet but (as I reassured my friend) it dries fine and it handles the rain well. The sun does more damage to it through fading the colour than any rain, especially since I've waterproofed this bag like all my handbags. It wouldn't be my first choice to wear for a stormy day, but at least I don't have to worry about it developing watermarks if I do get caught in the rain with it.
I enjoyed wearing the jersey blazer so got it out again when I was trying to think what jacket would go nicely with the pink and grey outfit I'd put together. I did try a denim jacket with this, but it seemed to hit at an odd point on this top, I much preferred this blazer. Ran some errands, took toddler T for a haircut so he'd look nice for his brother's upcoming dedication ceremony and had dinner with the inlaws.
It's the second time I've worn this new top, so my purchase review:
I like it! It really is perfect for breastfeeding, and the fabric is softer (and a little cosier) than the navy one I have in the same style. The wrap top is kept together with a snap closure so I just need to unsnap it to breastfeed, really handy even though it's not actually a breastfeeding top. I'm pleased I bought this and see it easily getting more wear.
Another outfit duo following a similar formula but two very different resulting looks, with shorts, blue and white, and Balenciaga bags. These bags are from 2009 and 2010, but age so well! I'm glad I splurged on them all those years ago.
A hot but relaxed day, with the school run and working from home. Surprisingly, I haven't worn this tie dye cape and the sorbet pink Balenciaga city bag together before. I really like blue and pink so expected the combination to come up in my blog archives, but looks like this is a new pairing! The different blue and navy shades in the tie dye go so nicely with the sorbet pink of the bag.
Kept my outfit simple with this white graphic tee and Bermuda denim shorts, it was really too hot for much else, or for proper shoes! Didn't even add a necklace to this - I think with the printed cape and the graphic print on the tee, and bright bag, there was already enough going on in this outfit.
Another hot day! We had a quiet morning at home, with a wildlife show to attend in the afternoon with the kids. I went with this simple turquoise tank and these light white Bermuda denim shorts, again blue and white like the outfit above. Because the show was outdoors I felt I should add a little bit of physical sunblock as well so went with this tropical floral print duster.
I've worn this purple Balenciaga work bag with turquoise before, and liked the combination. I also like wearing this purple bag with navy, so thought it would go nicely with the duster. All together it doesn't work quite as well as I would have liked, and with it being so hot and sticky I was wishing I'd gone with no duster on top. The bag was the perfect size for all our water bottles though. Thankfully we got home from the show just before the storm hit, and the humidity didn't stop my kids from enjoying the wildlife show and getting up close and personal with the animals and snakes.
If there's a colour scheme you enjoy wearing, try finding different pieces in your wardrobe to create it. Both of these outfits feature blue and white, just in different ways to create different looks.
Bit of a long post for today's Weekday Wear Linkup, sharing 3 outfits I wore recently with blue dresses and pink bags. Both things I have a lot of in my wardrobe, they pair so perfectly together!
A dress is an easy not too formal but not too casual outfit for a training day too, and that's why I wore these outfits to a training course for work.
I was surprised to see that I hadn't worn this dress and bag together before when I hunted through my blog archive. Both much loved pieces, I was sure I'd worn them together before!
I think the casual boho peasant style of the printed dress works really nicely with the slouchy pink Balenciaga city bag. The colour combo is great too!
Unfortunately these are not the shoes I wore. I've been taking pics in the morning with the shoes I've been wearing in the office and commuting in my daggy old sneakers to try reduce the pain on my knee. A frantic realisation we were out of bread for the kids breakfasts and a dash to the shops before breakfast and then trying to make it into the city on time, I'd forgotten to pick up the bag with these shoes to change into. Thankfully I made it to the course on time but I felt a bit out of place with the sneakers!
Thankfully I remembered the bag with my shoes in it this time so I was able to wear these lovely ballet flats during the day! I really like the way all the accessories matched with the silver multi strand necklace, metallic ballet flats, and silver hardware on the Rebecca Minkoff Darren messenger bag.
This blue Paisley print sheath dress is a firm favourite too and was what I wore to the first day of training, as I wasn't sure about the dress code. Something I've worn for important meetings and to be dressed down for casual Friday, this dress is so versatile! I like the way the pastel pink Rebecca Minkoff small Darren messenger bag went with the Paisley print too.
Another blue dress and another pink bag! This isn't even all my blue dresses or pink bags, I really do have a few! I liked the way this magenta Rebecca Minkoff Edie bag popped with the navy Ikat print dress.
Like the other blue dresses above, this is a favourite and I even took it to Europe with me last year.
Rather than wear a statement necklace I went with my Tiffany diamond necklace and the silver leaf earrings which are a perfect statement on their own, and added a little extra colour with the skinny lilac belt. This belt is an old one I rediscovered after finally finding the box of belts I'd hidden away in pregnancy a while back. Unfortunately being pleather, being stored in a box for years in the Queensland heat and humidity has not been kind to it and it actually disintegrated and snapped when I unbuckled it at the end of the day. Such a shame!
Blue and pink look so good together and as you can see in each of these outfits, you can pair any shade of blue with any shade of pink! Using bright accessories like these pink bags is a fun way to try out the colour combo and shows you how versatile a pink bag can be, it's easy to wear with colourful printed pieces and not just neutrals!
Weekday Wear Linkup #62
Welcome to the Weekday Wear linkup! A linkup for you to share your weekday outfits - whether that is office wear or stay at home mum wear - if you wore it on a weekday, you can link it up!
Guidelines:
1. Please link to a specific outfit post, not your blog homepage.
2. Link back to this post so others can find the link up.
3. Follow your host Away From The Blue on Bloglovin, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube.
4. Add up to two posts and be sure to visit and comment on as many other posts as possible to get some weekday outfit inspiration!
Optional: tweet the post you linked up with the hashtag #weekdayWearLinkUp so I can retweet!