Faux Leather Pencil Skirt, Plaid Sweatshirt & Black Pumps: Stealth Professional

At first glance you might be thinking, “Um, Debbie, what are you doing dressing all professional-like for work?” Never fear my friends, it’s not as it first appears. I called this outfit “stealth professional” on Instagram the other day because at first glance it appears that way, but upon closer inspection, maybe not. The pencil skirt is faux leather. And the plaid top is a sweatshirt. See, no need to worry. I haven’t been taken over by an alien being who is controlling my mind and forcing me to dress like a grown up with a job. Ain’t no mind control gonna make that happen. I like to have fun with my clothes and that includes my work wear. I never ever dress provocatively or in poor taste for work, but what most people consider professional is just too restrictive for me. Trust me, I can throw together a smokin’ professional look just as well as anyone (Exhibit A), but even then, I have to throw in something to make it unique and maybe a bit rebellious. If I don’t, it’s just not me. And that, in my opinion, is what personal style is all about. It tells the world a little something about who you are without speaking a word.

My lovely friend Alice at Happiness At Midlife posted a link to this outrageously cool faux leather pencil skirt from Ann Taylor on her Facebook page and the rest is history. I scored it for under $35 and I’ve gotta say, it’s pretty great. It looks and feels like the real deal, and it’s so comfortable. The skirt I originally ordered was too large and the return process was super easy and quick. I’m so happy I found it…thanks Alice! I haven’t given the plaid sweatshirt a spin for awhile so I decided it was time. I layered the red chiffon blouse underneath for the visual interest it provided and since I just wasn’t feeling boots that day I went with the black pumps. No, I wasn’t running around in all of this snow and ice in pumps…my trusty Bearpaws were waiting patiently in the car.

Linking up with: Throwback Thursday, What Wives Wear, Spotlight Weekly Link Up, What I Wore To Work, A Labour Of Fashion, Fashion Item Friday, Style Elixir’s Friday Fab Favorites, Welcome To The Weekend Blog Hop, Fashionomics Friday, Favorite Fashion Friday, Fun Fashion Friday, Passion For Fashion Link Up, Fashion Friday.

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Skirt: Ann Taylor; Sweatshirt: Forever 21 (Old); Pumps: Kohl’s (Old); Blouse: JCPenney (Old)

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Style To Inspire Link Up And A Hot Mess: Watercolor Print Pencil Skirt, Blue T-shirt And Converse

     First off, today I am co-hosting the Style To Inspire Link Up with the beautiful Rhea at rheaetcetera.com. She is yet another fabulous friend I’ve discovered through blogging. Her style is impeccable and she’s a dog lover…so bonus points there! So, stop by and check out her blog. You’ll be glad you did. And make sure to scroll down and join the link up. We’d love to have you!
     Next, I have to apologize for the less than stellar quality photos this last week. Normally during the school year I try to get my shots after school when the lighting is good. But the middle school does not have air conditioning and the elementary did. What does that have to do with my photos? Well, it’s been in the upper 80’s temperature wise with crazy high humidity, so by the end of the work day I am the poster child for the term “hot mess”. Seriously, if you could look it up in the dictionary my picture would be next to the definition. Therefore, I’ve been taking my blog photos in the morning when the lighting isn’t optimal so they’ve been a bit “noisy”. Hopefully, this week is the official start of declining temperatures and humidity so I no longer look like the witch after Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her in The Wizard of Oz at the end of the day.
     This outfit is very blue-based for a reason. We have dress down day on Fridays in our school district, which means jeans are allowed. But at the middle school I’m required to wear either a school spirit shirt or something royal blue (which in my mind is Blue Devil blue). Talk about crampin’ a girl’s style! This week was way too sweltering for jeans so I went with my watercolor blue skirt, a tee and my Converse sneaks. I’m always a fan of the not quite right pairing, so the Converse and pencil skirt were perfect together. I wasn’t exactly cool, but it sure beat a pair of jeans.

Linking up with: Style To Inspire Blog Hop, Creative Monday’s Blog Hop and Visible Monday.

Skirt: boohoo.com (Old);  Tee: Forever 21 (No longer available); Converse: Nordstrom


NOW FOR THE LINK UP

Fellow fashion bloggers, we are all part of this amazing community where we can share our own style and check out other bloggers’ style through our own personal space in the web. Through blog hops / link ups, we discover more blogs to follow, and more outfits that inspire us to shop our closets and come up with a similar outfits!

That is what is amazing about blogging… in our own ways, we inspire and are inspired by our fellow bloggers’ style posts! This is the reason for this weekly blog hop called Style to Inspire, with hopes to be a weekly collection of style posts that reflect the bloggers’ personal style, in turn inspiring new outfit ideas and new connections with fellow fashion bloggers!

Welcome this week’s co-host, Debbie of Fashion Fairy Dust!

Link Up Guidelines

1) Please link up a direct link to a fashion post you would like to share.
2) Please follow your host Rhea EtCetera via BlogLovin or Facebook and your co-host Fashion Fairy Dust  via BlogLovin or Facebook.
3) Cohosting opportunities are available - please email [email protected] for more details.
4) Please link back to this post by using the button below (code provided) or a text link back.
5) Check out other blogs, leave a comment, discover what can inspire you, and have fun!

 

Link up below! Can’t wait to see what you share!

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Dog Toddlers: Floral Print Pencil Skirt, White Ruffled Tank Top And Converse

     There are a couple of reasons that I always write my posts the night before. Primarily, it’s a time issue. Especially during the school year, I just don’t have enough time in the morning. Also, my cutting edge wit isn’t fully functioning until at least 9:00 a.m. I need a warm-up period for my sarcasm to reach full potency. Keep that in mind if you ever want to engage me in verbal battle; hit me before nine and you win, hands down.
     One more reason that is in tight competition with the time thing is that in the morning my dogs are like a room full of preschoolers who just snorted cotton candy and bobbed for cookies in a punch bowl full of Kool-aid. They are out of their freakin’ minds. Maybe it’s because they’ve gone without direct human attention (because sleeping wedged against my butt doesn’t count to them) for many hours and they feel the need to overcompensate to gain my focus. I don’t know what reasons are cookin’ around in their furry little brains. In any case if the bullie and the pugabull aren’t brawling with the sheltie barking in circles around them, then they are pawing the crap out of my legs and attempting to crawl into my lap. All of this while the minpin is standing next to me whining repeatedly in a tone that makes my ears bleed and a stare that would turn me to stone if I looked directly into her eyes. I know. Then why do I have four dogs? Because I love them and would be lost without them. And because if it weren’t for their hair all over everything I couldn’t claim to own a fur coat. But just like human kids there are times where I just want to tell them to go to their grandmother’s house. For a week. Or two. I swear every one of them thinks the words “Damn it…” are part of their names (as in “Damn it Bawb!”).
     This is one of my “work skirts” that I decided needed a good dressing down. Hence the white tank top and Converse. A lot of my clothing is dual purpose, neither work clothes nor real world clothes, they go back and forth between the two. But some of my things are categorized in my head as specifically one or the other. This skirt happens to fall under the work category so I figured I’d broaden my horizons a little and wear it in the real world.

Linking up with:  Trend Spin Link Up, Stylish Tuesday, Share-In-Style and Style Sessions Fashion Link Up.

Skirt: Conversation Pieces (No longer available);  Tank: Victoria’s Secret (Old);  Converse: Nordstrom

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It’s That Time Of The Year…

     You will never see me dressed like this in any month with a “u” in it.  January and February are just too dang cold for pencil skirts and pumps and June, July, and August…well, come on now, as Alice Cooper would say school’s out for summer! So no work wear for this girl! Elle from Living In Color Style and Jacqueline from Stylin In St. Louis are hosting a Professional Dress: Work Style Link Up today so I thought it would be good practice for the inevitable rapidly approaching first day of school.
     To be perfectly honest, as you will see in the upcoming months I don’t typically dress quite like this for work.  I don’t dress inappropriately, but I do like to push the envelope a little bit.  I guess I’m a rebel at heart… I mean really, how many elementary teachers do you know with seven tattoos?
     In case anyone was wondering, yes, the glasses are real. Unfortunately, they aren’t a fashion statement.  I’m supposed to wear them all of the time, but I hate anything on my face, so I pretty much don’t wear them.  It’s only really a problem when oh, I don’t know…I need to see!
     Also linking up with Tara at Mix and Match Fashion for her Summer Style Link Up and Meghan and Bethany for their Three-fer Thursday Link Up.

Style Tip:  Always be yourself.  You can dress appropriately for the occasion, but still be unique through the use of colors, textures, patterns, and accessories.

          

                                                   

Top: KMart (old);  Skirt: Newport News (old);  Pumps: Target (old) Necklace: Very Jane

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