Professional and a Lovely Little à la Mode Link-Up

Monday just seems like an appropriate day to talk about work-wear, don't you think?  Often I find that my best inspiration for teaching outfits comes at the beginning of the week when I'm fresh and energized.  Last week I showed you a typical school outfit for me.  Today I'm featuring a slightly more professional look.

Truth be told, a lot of "professional" clothing feels too straight-laced for teaching.  Other teachers may disagree but I just don't feel relatable to students when I'm wearing a pencil skirt.  And I'm less apt to be walking around the classroom, helping students when I'm wearing 3-inch pumps.

One way that I do like to spruce up my work-wear, however, is by adding a blazer.  Blazers provide that extra professional touch but I still feel comfortable doing my job.  Patterned blazers, in particular are a fun way to to up the professionalism!  Here are a bunch of patterned blazers that would be great additions to your professional wardrobe (I'm particular to the plaid ones, this time of year).

I wore this particular outfit for the first night of parent-teacher conferences.  My outfit had to take me from teaching by day to talking to parents all night.  I was comfortable and I felt put-together for a crazy, 12-hour day!

What I'm Wearing:

Blazer: Macy's 

Dress: Banana Republic Outlet (similar, similar)

Necklace: Peach Jewel (exact)

Watch: JORD

Tights: Nordstrom (exact)

Booties: DSW (exact)

Now it's time to link up!

Hosted by :

Carrie/A Lovely Little Wardrobe : Bloglovin/Facebook/Instagram

Whitney/Whitney à La Mode : Bloglovin/Instagram

Casey/A Little Bit of Cheer : Bloglovin/Facebook/Instagram

Each week we choose a favorite...check out Carrie and Casey's blogs to see if it's you! Here was my favorite this week:

I can't get enough of Katie's pattern mixing!  I don't know if I would have thought to put these pieces together but I think they make for a perfectly whimsical outfit!

Now let's get linking! We like to keep things simple around here. Just link up your favorite posts--fashion, beauty, food, DIY, anything goes! Follow your hosts on social media, have fun and be inspired! Thanks for linking up!

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Another Monday + Link-Up

Well, it's Monday again, friends!  I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels like Thanksgiving weekend just flew by!  I had lofty goals of checking-off to-do lists, spending quality time with loved ones and passing much of the time lounging about.  Do I feel like I got enough of any one of these things?  Of course not!

Why is it that time seems to fly the fastest around the holidays?  This is my absolute favorite time of the year and I wish that the clock would quit spinning so that I could truly enjoy what this season has to offer.

But here we are, back to the daily grind.  In honor of that daily grind, I'm featuring a pretty typical teaching outfit for me!

To me, the key to a good teaching outfit is comfort and fit!  When you are at the front of a classroom, you have about thirty pairs of eyes on you at any given time.  It's super important to not be tugging at your clothes or worried that something isn't covered-up properly.

Cute colored pants and a top with a bit of detailing are easy pieces to mix and match for a put-together teaching look.

My final "must have" for a day of teaching is a warm layer.  I teach in an old building with really inconsistent heat so my denim jacket goes on and off several times a day depending on the temperature.

What does a typical work outfit look like for you?

What I'm Wearing:

Top: J.Crew Factory (similar, similar)

Pants: c/o Stick Fix (similar, similar)

Denim Jacket: hand-me-down (similar)

Flats: DSW (similar)

Time to link up!

Hosted by :

Carrie/A Lovely Little Wardrobe : Bloglovin/Facebook/Instagram

Whitney/Whitney à La Mode : Bloglovin/Instagram

Casey/A Little Bit of Cheer : Bloglovin/Facebook/Instagram

Each week we choose a favorite...check out Carrie and Casey's blogs to see if it's you! Here was my favorite this week:

This week I loved Riva's post on five ways to wear sequins!  If you can't wear sequins around the holidays, when can you!?

Now let's get linking! We like to keep things simple around here. Just link up your favorite posts--fashion, beauty, food, DIY, anything goes! Follow your hosts on social media, have fun and be inspired! Thanks for linking up!

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My Take on the GYPO Fall Challenge + Link-Up

With a blanket of snow covering the ground here in Michigan, I think it's time to recap my experience with the Get Your Pretty On Fall Challenge so that I can move on to winter style!

For those of you who aren't familiar with the Get Your Pretty On challenges, I'll start with the basics.  Each seasonal challenge costs around $50.  Upon signing-up, you receive a shopping list of both classic and trendy items that comprise a capsule wardrobe.  You purchase the items according to your own budget or find the pieces (or similar ones) already hanging in your closet.  Once the trial begins, you receive daily outfit formulas featuring the items from the list.  You get twenty-some outfits that are ready-to-wear!

What I liked:

I really love this challenge in theory.  I love the idea of remixable pieces.  I love pairing classic and trendy looks.  I love the hunt for all of the items on the list according to my budget.  And I especially love having cute outfits already planned for me (that way, getting dressed for school at 5:30 in the morning doesn't feel so daunting).

What I didn't like:

But like I said, I love the challenge in theory.  In execution, it just didn't work for me.  For one, sometimes the "outfit of the day" didn't work for what I had planned.  I just can't wear distressed boyfriend jeans to work on a Tuesday.  I ended-up using the outfit ideas out of order to fit with my plans but, for me, this created more work than just choosing an outfit from my closet.  I would spend my evening combing through all of the outfit combinations to find one that would fit my needs.  The next struggle was in making sure that all of the pieces I needed for that outfit were actually clean.

The other trouble I encountered was with the clothing items that I substituted.  For example, I couldn't find the grey cable knit sweater on the shopping list so I substituted the recommended neutral sweater that I already had in my closet.  I just didn't like my outfits featuring substituted pieces as well as I would have if I had purchased the actual recommended items.  This makes me feel like I want to buy each specific piece on the lists in the future...which just isn't compatible with my teacher budget.

In Summary:

I know that lots of women love these challenges so I'm in no way trying to portray it in a negative light, I just want to be honest about my experience.  And even though I found the program to be more difficult than I expected, I did find myself in the middle of a great Facebook community of women who were participating as well.  Everyone in the group was super encouraging and supportive.

All of that being said, I will not be participating in the Winter Challenge.  I'm hopeful that I can try another one in the future but I just don't have the money or time to give this next one a go.

The Outfits:

And finally, here are two outfits that I created based on the prompts from the Fall Challenge.

This was one of my favorite outfits that I created from the daily prompts.  I really enjoyed the color pairing that I wouldn't necessary have thought of myself.

And this is an outfit that I didn't necessarily dislike but I would have liked it better if I had the grey cable knit sweater with a white shirt underneath.

What I'm Wearing:

Scarf: Target (similar, similar)

Pink Shirt: Old Navy (exact)

Red Pants: c/o Stitch Fix (similar, similar)

Gold Flats: DSW (similar)

Camel Sweater: J.Crew Factory (similar)

Pearl Necklace: Amazon (exact)

Black Jeans: Zara (similar, similar)

Leopard Flats: LOFT (similar, similar)

And now it's time for the Lovely Little à la Mode Link-Up!

Hosted by :

Carrie/A Lovely Little Wardrobe : Bloglovin/Facebook/Instagram

Whitney/Whitney à La Mode : Bloglovin/Instagram

Casey/A Little Bit of Cheer : Bloglovin/Facebook/Instagram

Each week we choose a favorite...check out Carrie and Casey's blogs to see if it's you! Here was my favorite this week:

This week I loved Mary of Mary Murnane's look!  She used a kilt pin to create a poncho out of her blanket scarf.  You better believe I'm going to try this with my beloved Zara knock-off!

Now let's get linking! We like to keep things simple around here. Just link up your favorite posts--fashion, beauty, food, DIY, anything goes! Follow your hosts on social media, have fun and be inspired! Thanks for linking up!

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Blogging Besties: Buffalo Plaid

Selah has the best collection of graphic tees so of course I loved her outfit last week!

I really wanted to copy her entire outfit but I thought it might be more interesting for you if I changed things up a little bit.  Here are the options that Selah gave me to choose from: "purple, a graphic tee, skinnies, dark wash denim, roses, ballet wedges and Buffalo check."

Since I'm all about the plaid (like everybody and their brother) these days, I chose to pass along a buffalo check shirt!  

Up until this week, I'd only ever worn this shirt with jeans and boots.  In fact, it has made only one previous blog appearance in which I asked for advice about how else to style the top.  Guess who suggested I try it with a feminine skirt?  Selah, of course!  To which I replied, "I'm thinking of a cute grey skirt that this could work with."

So, almost one year later, Selah has re-inspired me to get creative with my buffalo plaid!

For those of you following along, Alex will be passing on an element from my outfit this week and here are her choices: buffalo plaid, polka dots, pattern mixing, green, grey, ballet flats, or a glamorous necklace!

Create28: Tights

No, no...you aren't going crazy.  I did write two posts about the same outfit today!  I was able to fulfill the requirements of both Create28: Fall Looks and Blogging Besties with one ensemble!  However, I have lots to say about both challenges so I decided to post about each separately.  You are currently reading my post about Create28!

Ahhh tights season, how I love you!  If you've spent any amount of time visiting Whitney à la mode you may have noticed that I'm most frequently found donning a skirt or a dress.  I really struggle finding pants that fit and I find skirts and dresses to be more comfortable, anyway.  Plus tights make skirts and dresses just that much better!  Not only can you change-up your look with different colored and patterned tights, but tights allow you to wear skirts that are just a wee bit short on their own!

While I could talk about the merits of tights all day long, I decided to focus on colored tights today because I know that I used to struggle with how to wear them!  I am by no means an expert or the most stylish colored tights wearer, but here are some tips that I've found help me to feel good about wearing colored tights!  And for the sake of this post, I'm considering colored tights to be anything except for black and brown.

For me, the colored tights struggle was always about finding footwear that didn't look funny stuck on the end of a pair of colorful legs.  The easiest way I've found to pair colored tights with shoes is to go for a monochromatic look.  Add a pair of boots or flats in the same color as your tights and you have a longer, not-so-awkward look!

My other favorite way to wear colored tights is with boots or booties!  If you are feeling really nervous about trying colored tights, I suggest a pair of riding boots because then you are really only showing a tiny bit of the tights!

And then there's this look.  But I already told you how much I love moccasins!

So tell me, are you brave enough to try a pair of colored tights?  And let's see all of your beautiful tights looks from today (#Create28FallLooks)!

What I'm Wearing:

Dress: ASOS (similar, similar)

Cardigan: Gift (similar, similar)

Tights: Anthropologie (similar, similar)

Booties: DSW (exact)

Create28: Fall Colors and a Link-Up

Happy Monday and welcome to the first link-up for Create28: Fall Looks!  We hope that you've joined us in creating new outfits using our seasonal prompts and we want to see what you've come up with.  You can find the link-up below but first, let's talk about fall colors!

Fall colors can encompass such a wide variety of hues, but my favorite colors this time of year are deep, bold and dark.  I know that I can wear this plum dress any time of the year but the rich color just begs to be worn when the leaves finally start changing.  My natural inclination was to reach for my mustard cardigan (a fall closet staple, in my opinion), but then I realized that I'd worn that combination before.  And this is Create28, meaning I really want to find some new combinations hiding in my closet.

This teal cardigan gets love all year-round but when I paired it with the plum dress, I knew I'd found a great fall color combination!  Metallic accessories added a perfect pop of warmth and interest.

I love that the Create28 prompts can be flexible!  What fall colors will you choose to wear today?  Will you stick with Pantone's fall colors or will you pick a combination that shouts fall just to you?  Make sure that you pop over to Carrie and Casey's blogs to see which colors they've chosen!  

What I'm Wearing:

Dress: Target (similar, similar)

Cardigan: LOFT Outlet (similar, similar)

Tassel Necklace: LOFT (similar, similar)

Flats: DSW (similar, similar)

Don't forget to check back tomorrow because I'll be talking about some of the comfiest footwear of the season: moccasins!

And now it's time for that link-up I promised!

Hosted by ~

Carrie/A Lovely Little Wardrobe : Bloglovin/Facebook/Instagram

Whitney/Whitney à La Mode : Bloglovin/Instagram

Casey/A Little Bit of Cheer : Bloglovin/Facebook/Instagram

Each week we choose a favorite...check out Carrie and Casey's blogs to see if it's you! Here was my favorite this week:

Amanda from A Good Hue looked so stylish for fall in a marsala hat and I just adore the whimsical feather print of her dress!

Now let's get linking! We like to keep things simple around here. Just link up your favorite posts--fashion, beauty, food, DIY, anything goes! Follow your hosts on social media, have fun and be inspired! Thanks for linking up!

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Create28: Fall Go-To Look

Can you believe it's already time for another Create28 seasonal challenge?  Where did the last two months go?!  In any case, Carrie, Casey and I are super excited for you to join us in creating 28 brand-new outfits for our Fall Looks challenge!

Today we're talking about our go-to looks for fall!  I actually struggled a bit in nailing down one particular combination that I'm constantly reaching for during the fall.  I love fall style so much that my looks are varied and it's hard to choose a favorite!  It's a good thing Whitney à la mode can serve as my own personal style diary!  I combed through my previous fall posts and discovered that I often pair a scarf with skirts or dresses.

Earlier this week, I mentioned that lightweight scarves are my favorite pieces to wear while transitioning from summer to fall.  I adore wearing dresses and skirts so throwing on a scarf is a natural way to add interest, warmth and a little fall spirit.  I can easily take this look into the colder weather by adding tights and cardigans or jackets.

I'm totally digging olive skirts lately and I loved wearing this neutral look with a pop of leopard print!

Take a look at a few of the other ways that I've paired a scarf with a skirt or dress!  Which is your favorite?  Is this a look that you would wear?

What is your go-to look for fall?  We want to see it!  You can show us on Instagram with the hashtag #Create28FallLooks or by linking-up on Monday.  And don't forget to pop over and see Carrie and Casey's favorite looks!  Need some more inspiration?  Check-out our Pinterest board!

Follow Whitney à la mode's board Favorite Fall Go-To Looks on Pinterest.

Join us tomorrow because I will be back to celebrate Plaidurday!

What I'm Wearing:

Shirt: J.Crew (exact)

Scarf: Old Navy (exact)

Skirt: J.Crew Factory (exact in different colors)

Flats: DSW (exact)

Where I'm linking-up!

Blogging Besties: Cardigan

Didn't Alex look perfectly ready for fall last week?

Speaking of perfectly fall, I'm excited to announce that Carrie, Casey and I are hosting our next seasonal Create 28 Style Challenge.  Create 28 Fall Looks starts next Thursday and we hope that you will join us in creating 28 brand new outfits based on our daily prompts!  You can link-up your looks every Monday and share your looks on Instagram with #Create28FallLooks!

Alright, back to the task at hand!  The primary component of Alex's outfit that I decided to pass on is a cardigan but I also incorporated lace and flats into my look!

This striped number is another borrowed Le Tote item!  I can't stress enough how Le Tote is helping me transition into fall.  It's keeping my look fresh while I try to hold off from shopping until I see what I really need for the season.

Here are your choices of pieces to pass on for next week: a cardigan, a lace top, colored pants, pattern paired with texture or something borrowed!  But first let's see what you passed on from Alex's look!  Please link-up below!

What I'm Wearing:

Top: LOFT (similar, similar)

Cardigan: c/o Le Tote (exact)

Pants: c/o Stitch Fix (similar, similar)

Flats: Land's End (exact)

Watch: c/o JORD (exact)

Previous Editions of Blogging Besties

Featured On:

Whitney à la mode

Undergraduate Style

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