Weekday/Weekend--The Embellished T-Shirt

I try to distinguish myself in a suit-and-tie world by dressing a little less corporate, but no less professional. I just hate fussing with collared shirts. The dress shirts are saved for my suit days; I try to avoid them on days when I don't need a suit.

It might surprise some people to learn that a large percentage of tops I wear to work are well-fitted t-shirts. It makes perfect sense to me, actually--they're easy to take care of (just throw it in the wash and dry cycle), and a good t-shirt lasts quite a while. However, by no means do I just roll into the office with a t-shirt-and-jeans combo (unless it is Friday, in which case I usually wear a blazer with the t-shirt). I like to dress it up with accessories and add a few layers to diffuse the casual, commonplace look.

Most of my t-shirts are black or gray--simple, streamlined, and fairly discrete backdrops for blazers, cardigans, and skirts. My newest t-shirt, however, is anything but discrete. When I ran out of clothes in Arizona a couple of weeks ago, I had to go to the mall to get something quick. I just love the pretty lavender color, the delicate chiffon embellishments, and the fact that the t-shirt is still machine-washable even with that frontal floral arrangement. The t-shirt turned out to work perfectly with the cropped pants that I wanted to wear for work, and it is so pretty that no one would see the t-shirt as a t-shirt.

I've been told that purple is a good color for me. I don't dispute that, but purple can be an awfully difficult color to work with. A purple top looks terrible with black pants or with light-wash blue jeans, which can make it difficult to wear no matter if it is a weekday or weekend. It seems like cream, beige, and light brown are the colors that contrast quite well. The addition of another shade of purple, fuschia, or a dark blue ties it all together rather nicely.

[Weekday: F21 cardigan, Ann Taylor Loft t-shirt, secondhand Banana Republic khaki skirt, Giuseppe Zanotti Design slingbacks.




Although t-shirts are by definition casual wear, I find that an embellished t-shirt is much harder to wear on the weekends. Perhaps it is because my weekend style is far from girly. After piling on a lot of jewelry, an indigo cardigan, shorts and boots, the prettiness adopts a sassy attitude.

[Weekend: Ann Taylor Loft t-shirt, Thakoon for Target cardigan, Calvin Klein shorts, cuff with chain detail was a Christmas gift, multiple rings from Etsy, Bandolino boots]