Jacket Week! Day 1: Work Jackets

K, so this week is jacket week, due to the questions I get all the time about jackets. We're going to focus on four different types: work wear, casual, outdoor functional and outdoor fun. See how CONVENIENT that is? And we'll still have time to finish out the week with ugly clothes. YAY.

So, work jackets I love. Know why? Because they aren't just for "work" anymore. I know this because I used to work in an office. And I had the most fantastic work wardrobe. Like honestly, I salivate a little at all the cute outfits I used to wear. If I ever consider going back to work outside the home, the only thing that convinces me are the clothes. Now, I work from home, and more often than not, my "business casual" wardrobe revolves around yoga pants. Oh, if my colleagues could only see me now.

Anyhow, so I had this great wardrobe, and then I quit working in an office to telecommute, and then what do I do with all of it? I reassigned it, of course. My work wardrobe became my exceedingly cute girl's night out wardrobe, church wardrobe, etc. I just broke up the pieces, paired it with trendier stuff, and voila! Hotness.

I prefer a bit of a shrunken blazer to a traditional "jacket". The difference? Take your hand and place it directly on your hip bone. DO IT! Did you? K? Remember this while shopping. A shrunken blazer will not fall below that bone. The nice thing about them is that you can pair it with a longer, flowier top to balance out the structure of the jacket. (PS, according to spellcheck, 'flowier' is not a word. Psshhhhhh obviously spellchecker as never been on a quest to find a GNO outfit utilizing his office wardrobe, am I right?)




Take this super cute jacket here. It's all structure-y and heavy. Take the belt off, and pair it with this:


OR! If you're feeling wild, this
(All from Forever21)

Then add dark wash jeans, pointy heels, and you will be the hottest chick at your next GNO/date night/PTA meeting. Kidding about the PTA meeting. When I was a kid, one of my friend's moms used to wear leopard print to the school functions and people had ideas about her. And rightly so.

If you do happen to enjoy a longer blazer, I totally recommend you keep it super simple underneath, with a plain tank. Just because the blazer is going to be enough on it's own.






Girlfriend has this right. (Victoria's Secret)

And if your jackets are a little more mens-wearish and don't lend themselves to flowy tops very much, never fear.


Swap the stuffy shirt for some much needed cleave (and by cleave, I mean boobs.) And call it a day.

K, a couple of don'ts when it comes to work/office type blazers.
-Make sure they have some kind of seaming from under the bust vertically to the pockets or hem. This means it is structured, which in turn means you look skinny.




-Jackets should always be worn with DARK jeans. Otherwise you'll totally look like some redneck who shows up to his wedding with a jacket on, but still his stonewashed denim because HE'S READY TO PARTY!


So dust off your work wardrobe and give it some new life. Unless you happen to have last been in the workplace in 1985, in which case, you should probably just donate it to a secretary with a HEART OF GOLD! And buy something new.