Corporate to Couture: The Blueprint

Today is a special day because it marks the first post of a NEW weekly series! This new series is my humble attempt at demonstrating the power of a good workwear piece. Most of what I’ve found for workwear inspiration focuses quite strictly on workwear but fails to truly demonstrate how versatile workwear can be. This series aims at taking workwear up a notch for after-work drinks, shopping or a weekday event. Outfits in this series will be limited to things I would actually wear to work and wear after work.

THE BLUEPRINT:

A detailed plan of how to take your look from Corporate to Couture, one outfit at a time.

CORPORATE:

When I saw this dress [similar] on the hanger, I wasn’t as excited as I was when I saw how wonderful it looks on. On the hanger, it looked fairly straight and it was a size bigger than I normally buy. I paired it with a boyfriend cardi [similar] – my gorgeous photographer, Crystal, recommended that I wear the sleeves rolled up and she was right! Rolling the sleeves is so comfortable and so chic for the office. I’m wearing an edgy mixed metal necklace [similar] that emphasizes the cool tones in this dress and my favorite ballet flats because they’re a little blinged out!

COUTURE:

To amp this dress up, I dumped the cardigan, added blue sunglasses [similar] and told my inner lioness to come on out. This purple Michael Kors Hamilton bag [lower cost option here] is the perfect bag because it doesn’t exactly match – there isn’t one shred of purple in the dress but it plays on the cool tones of the look and it is the perfect compliment to these fab sunglasses.

Hair:

What you’re seeing is my naturally wavy hair – the only addition is a quick spritz of hairspray. Wearing my hair curly is the perfect way to sass up an outfit – and its the perfect compliment to blue aviators, don’t you think?

Makeup:

I broke all of the rules here – by doing a purple lip with purple eyeshadow. It works well here because this outfit is all about cool tones – so it creates a very cool monochromatic look. On the lioness scale – this one is a 10/10. Wild, yet refined which is exactly what I think of when I think of couture.

Say hi on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube or down below and let me know what you think! What is missing in your workwear wardrobe?