style blog – Page 3 – PhD in Clothes

Now & Later: Repurposing Office Clothes for Work From Home

Lately my urge to do a huge closet cleanout has been creeping back. I LOVE getting rid of things, but sometimes it’s a thinly veiled excuse to keep buying more things. It doesn’t help that half of my closet is just sitting there because I’m working from home now. I sort of miss my office clothes, but I also want to be comfortable, so starting this week I am challenging myself to style more office and going out clothes for my life right now. So here’s my first restyle: a midi skirt.

I love my skirt collection but anything too rigid is staying on its hanger. This softer midi skirt is from the Rent the Runway clearance and I was immediately drawn to it because it would match so many things (black, cream, navy, and yellow) and I liked the sporty drawstring.

WFH. For midi skirts at home I’ve just been grabbing a tank top and sneakers for my walks around the block. This outfit was pleasantly comfortable!

Later. I can’t wait to layer this skirt in the fall with a black blazer (sold out but still in white) and wedges (mine are still in my office at school because I just throw them on at the office).

What should I style next? What things in your closet need a little more love lately?

If you’ve never used Rent the Runway you can get $30 off your first order using my link. This post contains affiliate links that may generate commission for the author.

What I wore for a week of virtual job interviews, plus resources for talking about race with family

It’s Friday and I have just finished teaching my 3-week summer course on job interviewing. It was a strange time to teach the class with many students out of work due to coronavirus shutdowns, and then a sad time to teach the class with the country mourning George Floyd and rallying for racial justice, but we made it and I am SO PROUD of my students! I loved hearing about their career goals, talking cover letters, and practicing interviewing with them. I did, however, have to interview all 25 of them this week. Which was a lot of video conferencing. Don’t worry, I decided to change outfits like twice a day to deal with having to sit for so long. Here’s what I wore…

My 30 piece summer capsule wardrobe: Week 2 of the 30×30

Welcome back to week 2 of my 30 piece summer capsule wardrobe. Here are all my items if you would like to see, and here’s what I wore this week for over 100 degree temperatures here in the southwest (eek).

Shopping for business clothes using Black Friday sales

We’re all friends here, right? Can I just share that my shopping victory of the weekend was finding a suit I want and will actually wear, in a tall size, for $115?! I know that’s steep, but it’s hard to find anything cheaper when it comes to suiting unless you are lucky enough to find one second hand.

I accomplished this by using Black Friday sales to finally get some business clothes I’ve been eyeing. Yes, I know, the season of giving gifts to others, etc etc…but this is also a really good time to find business casual clothes at more affordable prices.

Here are some picks from the J. Crew sale, which is 50% off almost everything. That makes J. Crew almost affordable! Above, the suit I bought (jacket $75, pants $40). Below, some other good choices:

What I wore, what I read: 10/15-10/19

This semester just went from 0 to 100 real quick. Here’s what I wore on a very “put your hair up and deal with it” week.

Spring 10×10 picks

Starting the Style Bee/Un-Fancy Spring 10×10 style challenge on Monday. If you have lots of clothes and feel like mixing them up is difficult, you should join! Pick 10 wardrobe items and style them into 10 outfits over the next two weeks. Here’s what I’ve got: jeans, culottes, a sun dress, three shirts, two sweaters, boots, and sandals. My wardrobe is very black and white right now so I tried to pick some stuff to lighten it up.

Shopping J. Crew winter clearance for business wear

Shopping the J. Crew Sale

Every December/July J. Crew does a 50% off sale on clearance items. This is the only time I buy anything from them, and has helped me to slowly build a professional teaching wardrobe. Here are some of my favorites this time around:

1- Sweater (I bought this in cabernet for $30 yesterday)

2- Velvet blazer

3- Cashmere sweater (I will probably save up for a couple months and make this my next big purchase…additionally, Steinmart has cashmere sweaters for $35 right now. Run, I say!)

4- Dress pants (I love that these come in fun colors, I might buy these in blue)

6- Necklace (J. Crew is my go-to for I-am-presenting-at-this-conference-and-I-need-a-power-necklace)

7- Flats

8- Dress

Source: polyvore.com

Teacher style: fancy cut, casual fabric.

One way to make your wardrobe work for teaching and the rest of your grad school life is to find crossover pieces. This dress has a semi-fancy cut (waist definition, pockets!) but is a nice comfy cotton, so I wear it to teach or dress it down with my jean jacket to go to class. Fun fact: I bought this dress in Norway from this woman who worked in a clothing store because I wanted her to give me some contacts for my research. She did not pick up what I was laying down, and thought I bought the dress because I was trying to ask her out. #hazardsofresearch

Dress: Like I said, Norwegian. Some similar options from Old Navy: 1, 2, 3

Shirt: Madewell

Shoes: Pikolinos, Nordstrom Rack score (similar)

Backpack: Herschel (backpack round up coming soon!)