Oh, Olive! Utility Jacket - Workwear Look

Depending on where you work, you might be able to be in your sweats or pj’s. So many people have been working at home through the Covid pandemic, that people have gotten rid of many of their business style pieces since they really have no need for them. However, many places have opened back up and have called people back into the office. When I was working as an assistant manager at a university bookstore, I could wear my jeans to work, and very often did, but I could also wear skirts or dresses if I chose to do that. Usually, when we talk about workwear style, we are talking about a business or business casual type of outfit consisting of blouses, nice pants, blazers and other similar pieces. We do have a more casual type of style that has moved into the work place in many business realms, allowing their employees to have more flexibility and comfort. I would say today’s look tends towards business casual due to the utility jacket and the tennis shoes, and I would have been perfectly comfortable wearing this to my previous job.

As I told you in Tuesday’s post, I am featuring the olive utility jacket as my olive piece. This is St. John’s Bay brand from JCPenney. This jacket is roomy, so I can wear multiple layers underneath if I want to use it in the cooler weather. Right now, it is a great piece for overly air conditioned restaurants, retail spaces and business offices. This piece also has adjustable tabs at the sides to make it more fitted, as well as a double front closure which includes a full zipper and buttons.

Fall Trend Alert - Lavender

Certain colors are always trending for each of the major seasons and fall is no exception. Surprisingly, rather than the typical fall hues of orange, brown or yellow, we are seeing pastels like lavender and blush. I’ll cover blush next week, but for today lavender is my color of choice. My thrifted eyelet top is Old Navy brand. I love this light weight piece.

You’ve seen my polka dot skirt on the blog before. Amazingly with my weight gain and redistribution (aka spare tires), I can still get it on. Ha ha. This older thrifted piece is a brand called Outback Red. It is a great piece for any warmer weather season, spring, summer or fall. Not a full length maxi skirt, it is more of a tea length. Another plus, it has pockets.

I kept my accessories pretty low key, except my layered necklace is fairly blingy. I added a few bracelets, my white cross body bag again and my Steve Madden sneakers that I got recently at DSW.

Do you like this outfit? What would you wear to the office? Let me know what you think.

I hope you enjoyed this look. I’m including a few shopping links. These are affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

Have a great rest of your week!

Oh, Olive! Utility Jacket - Casual

I am back from visiting my mom and ready to get back to posting here on the blog. I wasn’t feeling well, the first couple of days after I got home, but I think most of it was fatigue and allergies. They seem to be beating on everyone this year. While I was at my mom’s I didn’t have internet, but I was able to get some photos taken and was pretty pleased with the result. I hope you will be as well.

I am continuing my look at a few of my different olive pieces and how they can be used with just about any outfit and any color. I do like to think outside the box, at least my box, so I hope you will find some of these outfits inspirational for your own wardrobes. The week before last I showed you a casual and a workwear look using an olive pair of pants. Today and Thursday, I want to take a look at ways to style an olive utility jacket. You can see how I styled this same jacket on the blog before with a striped tee and distressed jeans, another striped tee, and a polka dot chambray top.

Another thing, I decided to add to this little series, is to give you a few peaks at what is trending for fall. I’ll point it out as we go along. Let’s take a look at the olive utility jacket.

I have had this olive utility piece for a number of years now. St. John’s Bay brand, I got it at JCPenney. Since then I have accumulated a few other utility jackets in other colors. I like that they are so versatile. In fact, I may have to do a post on that at a future date. Most of my pieces, including this one are lighter weight, so a great topper for spring, summer and fall. While they do tend towards more casual, I will show you on Thursday how to make one look appropriate for work.

What makes a piece utility? I think it has to do with the pockets and the details like drawstrings, snaps and metal zippers. Next week I will be showing you an olive utility vest.

Fall Trend Alert - Denim on Denim

Once again, it seems denim with denim is trending for fall. While I wouldn’t wear this regularly, it does have a casual appeal. Monochrome is always a good way to get a longer, sleeker line. Most of what I saw on the runway were pieces of the same wash. See this post on Fall 2021 trends from Marie Claire. However, there is a sense of personal creativity in putting together pieces with different washes, as I did in this outfit.

My chambray top is a thrift find from earlier in the summer. It is a brand called Cremieux. Apparently, Daniel Cremieux started a men’s clothing line in Saint Tropez, on the French Riviera in the mid 70’s. It looks like he designed women’s clothing for a time as well. Both lines were sold at Dillards, but the women’s line is no longer available in the US. The fun things you find when you thrift.

You’ve seen my thrifted, distressed Simply Vera, Vera Wang jeans plenty of times on the blog. They are getting rattier looking as time goes along, but I guess that is the point. Ha, ha. If the holes get to big for my comfort zone, I may make a few patches, which actually could be fun.

I decided to add this floral mini print scarf just for a little extra color. I don’t use my scarves much in the heat of the summer. I sweat just sitting still on these humid days. Last night, I was working on this post and I was dripping with sweat. Of course we hadn’t turned our air conditioners on. Sometimes, we have to choose between a little bit of inconvenience and being able to pay the electric bill. My husband always runs colder, so he’s not as hot unless he is doing yard work or something. Today is supposed to be even warmer. I think the air will be on later, so this woman doesn’t get too cranky. Ha, ha.

If you follow my Instagram account, you may have seen that I rearranged my scarves. Just like with all of my clothes, I have way more than I need, but I am trying to make everything more accessible and visible, so it is easier to sort through and find. Do you have a special way of arranging your scarves?

My blue Converse are making another appearance. While I still think this brand of sneaker makes me look even more like I have ski feet, I am trying to embrace those long skinny things on the ends of my legs.

The last accessory I have is my white cross body bag. This was another thrift find. I like that it is a little bit larger than many cross body bags, so I can actually fit everything in it, without having to squeeze it in. I am not sure what the brand is, but it was still very clean and unworn, so I snatched it up.

Do you own an olive utility jacket? How do you like to wear it? I love hearing from you, so be sure to leave me some love in the comments. I hope your summer is going swimmingly well!

I’m including a few shopping links for denim pieces and utility jackets. I hope you’ll look those over. Every time you click on a link, I get a few cents and I appreciate it. All opinions are my own.

Have a great Tuesday!

Fall Trends - 2019 - Part 1

Time has gotten away from us and life threw us a few curve balls, so my daughter and I have not been able to connect to take pictures for my Fall Pantone series. It is still on the docket, but will be put off for a week or two. In the mean time, I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about a few of the fall trends. I touched on a few of them in my last Wearing White post, but now I will address them more in depth.

When it comes to fashion, I am not a big trend follower, but I do like to see what is current and pick and choose what trends I find most fitting for my personality and my style . This week I am going to cover two. These are flat lays I put together and these are clothes from my own closet. Once again, I encourage you to shop your own closet before going out to purchase new items to follow the trends. Often times we have things in our closets that we forget about, that fit perfectly with the trends that are current. I think this is especially important when it is a trend that isn’t going to be lasting - things like tie-dye, see through rain coats, bags and shoes and other very specialized trends.

Trend 1 - Head to Toe Green

I am simply calling this head to toe green, but it is most specific to a light green in the manner of pistachio, sea foam or colors of that nature.

This warm, fuzzy, knee length, open front cardi was a Christopher and Banks purchase at the end of the spring season. I fell in love with the color and its soft coziness. After making that purchase I found myself drawn to other pieces with that same light green color. I would probably say these are closer to a mint. In fact, take the pants away from the sweater and they actually look more like a very light blue. I love when colors have an almost chameleonic effect when they are near other colors.

These straight leg jeans are from Chico’s and I found them on the clearance rack. The silver studs on the bottom portion of the pant leg are part of what drew me to them. That, and they have a soft, stretchy feel. These are So Slimming Girlfriend Ankle Jeans.

This v-neck, thrifted, Croft and Barrow tee has black polka dots, so I decided to make my accessories black. this black beaded tassel necklace, I have had for a while.

I wish I would have thought to lay one of these booties on the side. They have a neat cut-out along the outside where the buckles attach. They are easy on and off with an inside zipper. I got these at Bass Pro Shop when my hubby was looking for a pair of hiking boots. These were marked down and yes my husband did get a pair of shoes too. Ha, ha. These are Natural Reflection brand.

Of course I had to include a bag in my flat lay, so I decided to add another Fall Trend, dark florals. The bookstore where I work used to sell various Vera Bradley products, but not any more. I get a few of these bags at extremely good discounts.

Trend 2 - Metallics

Why do I feel that metallics come around every fall, just in time for the holidays? I like metallics, but they are a trend that I personally feel you have to limit. For fall the push is for head to toe everything, so head to toe green, head to toe metallics and on it goes. I say do what works for you. I like subtlety with metallics, so the following flat lay, would probably be a bit more than I would normally go for, but I think it works well.

Lauren Conrad is famous for a line of clothes that is rich with pastels and feminine details. This skirt is no exception. The metallic sheen makes it party and holiday ready, but it exudes femininity. I need to figure out how to take it in a bit, because it is a little big.

The gold button up was thrifted and I have had it for a long time. George brand clothing is carried by Walmart. When I found this blue cropped tee with the metallic words and dots, I knew I could wear it over this gold blouse. This thrifted piece is Hollister brand. Hollister is not a brand I would normally buy, as they seem to be geared to younger people, but I will say, I don’t care who makes it when I am thrifting. If it fits and I like it, I buy it.

Keeping in the metallics theme I chose my SO silver flats, and my sparkly pewter clutch. The final piece was a metal beaded bracelet.

What do you think of these trends? Will these be trends you will try this fall? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Have a great weekend.