MyShingle Fashion: The Statement Blazer

Happy New Year, everyone! I was gone for the month of December due to law school finals but I’m back now to ring in the new year at MyShingle, and bring you even more outfits and pretty baubles.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not big on new years’ resolutions. I’m big on resolutions, just not for the start of the year. I make my resolutions whenever the mood or necessity strikes, and work from there. This time, however, two of my resolutions happened to coincide with the new year. First, I wanted to learn Krav Maga, and I ended up signing up for the classes in late December, and the program starts in January. Second, I cleaned my closet and gave away a lot of things, and found clothes I’d completely forgotten about, leading me to decide that in the new year, I was going to find a new, interesting way to wear those long forgotten, semi-discarded pieces.

My first project? A statement blazer. I found this pretty rust colored one in my closet that I had forgotten I had, and figured it was time to actually come up with a way to wear it. I’ve discussed blazers before, and that’s because I love them. They’re a great way to easily turn a casual outfit into a business casual, even professional outfit. And statement blazers are particularly fun because they come with great details or they come in great colors.

Let’s take a look at what I came up with for today, which is a business casual outfit featuring a statement blazer like mine, with a bit more emphasis on the ‘casual.’ Next week, I’ll be using this blazer (or a very similar one, if this one has sold out) to create a more professional outfit, so we have all our bases covered.

To A Tee Blazer ………. $98
Boot Cut Jeans ………. $29.50
Lace Top ………. $29.40
Kelly & Katie Wedge Pump in Tan ………. $44.95
Turquoise Beaded Necklace ………. $5.80

This is simple, comfortable, but still really pretty, interesting, and eye-catching. If you work at a relatively more casual office, this outfit would be just fine. And if you work at home, this is a great outfit to wear when you’re out running errands – going to Kinkos or the post office, etc – and might possibly run into clients. In those situations, you probably don’t want to be wearing your sweatpants and Uggs.

Also, how horrible is it that Uggs have elevated sweatpants into actual, viable pants that you can be out and about in? I say this, even though I’m totally guilty of wearing my flannel pajama bottoms in Christmas colors and my grey Uggs out. In my defense, it was (1) a Chipotle run and (2) during finals. Hopefully, I can be forgiven just this once.

If you work in a business casual office, then the outfit next time, using this blazer, will be much more appropriate. Hang on until then!

I paired the jeans with a cute white top. Lace is very popular now, and what I like about this top is that it’s very feminine but still modest enough. When wearing a statement jacket in a bold color, you’ll want to go for a neutral top, like white or cream or taupe, to really play up the color of the jacket.

And what a jacket! I adore this blazer from Anthropologie in deep orange. Great texture, fabulous warm color, and a beautiful tailored look. It’s just gorgeous.

As for the shoes, I definitely didn’t want to go with black. There are just better options. Like this taupe color! It really plays up the warmth of the orange and works well with that color. I opted for these wedge pumps because they’re adorable. Plus, they’re super comfortable, great for running around if you’re one of those lawyers that works mostly at home and has errands to run, sans sweatpants. Wedges put less pressure on the feet, and the heel is pretty low on these particular shoes as well – just 2.5″.

I wanted to toss in some jewelry, but didn’t want to send that price tag shooting up too high. (After all, I work with a teeny $100 budget every day on my own blog; seeing a $250 is kind of jarring!) So I went with this cheap little necklace from Forever21 just to illustrate how pretty a turquoise or blue necklace would look with this outfit. Because of the neckline of the top, I’d go for a longer necklace this time, and this one works perfectly.

And there we have a pretty, somewhat casual outfit featuring a gorgeous tailored statement blazer from Anthropologie. Now I get to work on the more professional outfit featuring this blazer for next time. Stay tuned!