blazer – PPMeow!

Florals & Stripes

SPRING IS FINALLY HERE…with weather that matches. Finally!!!!

Now I know florals for spring isn’t a new concept or new fashion trend this year or any other year. 🙂

So, I tried doing the floral trend by mixing it up:

I’ve been trying my hand at mixing patterns more. Taking this floral dress and pairing it with a striped black and white cropped blazer really amped up this look, right?! I’m really digging the contrast.

In an effort to keep this outfit ‘work-wear’, I wore dark stockings along with my black suede booties. This was the outfit I wore to the office for my first day back from my big Asian Adventure (I’m working on those posts friends…stay tuned).

Both these pieces were thrifted finds as last year’s BIGDeal Toronto Sale (and the first time I’m wearing this dress ever). I’m not the biggest fan of floral patterns — but I really liked these colours on this white background of this dress.

Plus, being a peplum skirt it creates hourglass-come-hither style hitting the curves in all the right places …. that always gets a BIG thumbs up from moi!

***How I Got The Look:*** Floral peplum dress & Stripped cropped blazer from Forever21; Black suede booties from *NineWest*

Dunno what sort of plan y’all might have this long weekend, but this might be a good Easter weekend outfit inspiration, hmm? 😉

What do you think of this look and the pattern mixing? Would love to know your thoughts in the Comments section below.

For other looks with this striped blazer click here and here.

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Office Jumpsuit

Since I’m usually a work-from-home kinda gal …. these last few days of having to get up, dressed and out the door to go into the office has created a lot of alarm clock anxiety in my life. I find myself waking up multiple times in the wee hours of the morning (4am, 5am, 6am..) freaked out thinking I’ve overslept.

Well, this fear became my reality the other day, when I opened my eyes to see that it was 8:14am and I was still cozy under my comforter with my first meeting downtown beginning at 9am!

What’s a girl to do outfit wise when time is NOT on her side?

It’s Office Jumpsuit time!

How perfectly did this selection work out. No need to worry about coordinating tops to bottoms. No need for hosiery. Just cover it up with a cardi or a blazer and BOOM – office ready!

As I was running late, I chose to go with my light leather jacket (Danier) and simply wore it all day as a chic blazer to help bring this Summer jumpsuit Fall wearability. [SIDE NOTE: This lamb skinned jacket hasn’t fit me in years – and now it zips up and everything! Woot! Woot!]

Now, I wasn’t always so keen on this onsie-look. Click here for my initial reactions to this plus-size fashion trend. Click here to see how I wore this jumpsuit in the Summer months.

Some general rules I think need to be followed to take a jumpsuit into office wear:

Choose a jumpsuit that is simple and basic. No sparkles. Nothing with a deep-v – keep ‘the girls’ workplace appropriate.
Cover up with a jacket, blazer or cardi to create a more conservative look and neckline.
Keep your jewellery and accessories simple.

I would have loved to rock some pointy toed heels with this look to give me some height and make my legs look longer, buuuuuut as you know I was running late. So flats that matched my purse was all I could swing I’m afraid. Plus, they facilitated in my mad dash into the downtown core as fast as my little legs would carry me!

Who’s already jumped on bringing a Jumpsuit to the office? Would love to know what you did to make it work for you. Use the Comments section … tell me everything! 🙂

How I Got The Look: Jumpsuit from Reitmans; Purse from Kate Spade New York; Jacket from Danier Leather; Swarovski PAWS Jewellery by MyBeaded Designs; Shoes thrifted

Stripes & Leopard

The week began with a post I called Edgy Officewear — there was quite a few comments on the PPMeow Facebook Page encouraging me to do more office appropriate looks on the blog. (Thank you for the feedback and interaction … it really does help me create content that YOU want to see & read…so keep those comments coming!)

It just so happens that I’ve got to head into the office 3 days in a row this week. HAZZA!!! If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you know that I’m one of those fortunate/unfortunate people who get to work from home most days…so planning work wear this week was a real treat for me. Nerdy-Nerdsony thing to say – yes, yes, I know. 🙂

I’ve been more daring these days with mixing patterns in my looks. When I first picked up this fabulous stripped cropped blazer from one of the many blogger racks at this year’s BigDeal Toronto event, my first thoughts were…

BEETLEJUICE! BEETLEJUICE! BEETLEJUICE!

But the cropped style of this blazer and the classic black n’ white combo really hooked me …..and the price: $10!!! Yup! It needed to come home with moi! (Stay tuned for a complete event recap blogpost for BigDeal Toronto soon friends).

Being both petite (short) AND plus sized, finding perfectly fitting dress pants are the biggest nightmare ever. Buuuuuut I have fallen in love with Old Navy’s Pixie Pants … they fit perfectly even after several washes. (Click here to read my post on discovering this line of fabulous pants.)

Let me apologize for the gloomy photoshoot – it was a rainy day in Toronto and I only remembered to take pictures of this outfit AFTER a full day at the office…hence the wear down of makeup and disastrous hair. I was pooped! I dunno how you normies do it – going into the office everyday! Ew! 😉

How I Got The Look:

Striped cropped blazer, Forever21+; Black jewelled tank, Reitmans; Red pants, Old Navy; Leopard fur heels, Calvin Klein; Michael Kors bracelet watch and simple gold earrings.

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April Outerwear

If you’re a fellow Toronotonian….than you must be feeling the pain of the constant weather flux from +21 degrees one day to a chilly -4 the very next.

I personally refuse to wear a winter coat in April! However, a girl needs more than one piece of outerwear to make it through this fickle weather comfortably. So here’s how I’ve managed to come up with creative solutions based on the weather forecast.

Weather: High Teens (+18) (Monday, April 14 2014)

I managed to get to and from the office WITHOUT a proper coat. This little cobalt blue blazer (along with a ‘just incase’ silk scarf) was all I needed in terms of outerwear to the office yesterday! Plus, zero hosiery was required – so peep toed heels had to make an appearance too!

The Look: 3/4 Sleeved cobalt blue blazer, DressBarn; Purple leopard peep toed heels, NineWest; Berry bandage skirt, Forever21+; Lepoard peplum top, Reitmans; Bianca Tassel necklace, Stella & Dot; Gifted gold vintage earrings

Weather: Below Zero (-4) (Tuesday, April 15 2014)

I awoke to snow-covered rooftops, strong winds and heavy flurries this morning, as I walked my pup. So I was forced to pull out my wool Fall coat, pink pashmina and large brimmed hat (plus booties) to make it in into the office today. Seems my poor hat hasn’t been stored properly, but I think it still worked well regardless of the extra floppy one side 🙂

The Look: Black hat with leopard ribbon, Winners; Camel wool coat, Old Navy; Pink pashmina, Necessities; Purse, Guess; Black leather bow tie gloves, Danier

Weather: Single digits (+4) (Wednesday, April 16 2014)

Anticipating tomorrow’s weather, I think I’m gonna wear my shawl + hat combo to the office, making sure my under layers are warm enough to get me by (thinking a lightweight sweater and ankle length pants) … but who knows what my mood will lead me to outfit-wise when I wake friends 😉

The Look: Houndstooth shawl, Reitmans; Black belt, Lane Bryant; Hat from Vintage Clothing Show (forget which booth)

How have you been managing keeping your outerwear fashionable and functional while the weather decides if we’re finally going to let go of Winter and fully embrace Spring/Summer?

Use the Comments section – tell me!

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#OOTD: Nautically Inspired

It’s been a while since I’ve done an Outfit of the Day post….with all the recent excitement of being a Bridesmaid, The Oscars and modeling for Dragons’ Den Auditions. So I’m excited to be sharing an #ootd with you all again 🙂

I picked up this fab lightweight cream crewneck sweater from Old Navy Boxing Day! These red anchors are the cutiest. I really love the nautical theme … Black, Navy, Red & White in combination with stripes and anchors are just the greatest things ever.

I’ve worn this sweater a ton over the last few months …but I never remembered to take pics for the blog. Monday this sweater made another appearance to the office and I finally snapped a few for this post, combining them with random selfies I’ve taken whist wearing it elsewhere. 🙂 This great red blazer is part of a skirt suit from Sears a few years ago…also scored during Boxing Day sales. The pants are those Diva Old Navy ones you may remember them from my previous post – and I stand by my statement: Best.Pants. Ever!

Here are two distinct nautical themed looks – both totally do-able for “9-5 office” and super perfect for post-office-day fun too!

Mixing Patterns
A huge trend right now, but for me doing it right is difficult. I think I made it work here with the red anchor sweater + black n’ white polka dot pant. The look was a bit more on the casual side, so adding the red blazer helped me feel more confident to bring this outfit to the office all day. Sigh…If the weather in Toronto will ever become spring like, I can finally stop pairing up all outfits with my winter boots – blah…sooo sick of winter!

Stripes + Solids
Keeping with my nautical themed post, I’ve often worn this red blazer with a simple black pencil skirt, rather than the red skirt from the suit set…in an effort not to be “too loud” at the office (remember folks…financial-institution-corporate-types don’t appreciate “loud” amongst them in cubical/open-office living…or so I’ve noticed). In an effort to still keep the look interesting, like moi … introducing a sharp pattern or print like this striped strapless peplum really helps me create some noise, without being too “loud” for the office 😉

So, which nautical inspired look do you like best?

Because I’ve been missing wearing shoes with my OOTDs, I’ve included a few fab shots taken by the artsy eye of Rebecca Northcott – a few in black peep-toed heels and others in red wedged heels 🙂

How I got The Looks:

Red blazer by Jessica skirt-suit set from Sears

Diva pants + Anchor crewneck sweater from Old Navy

Black n’ White stripped peplum top from AdditionElle

Large tear drop earrings in both Gold and Silver are from Payless

Peep-toe black platform pumps from Diesel, Winners AND Red Georgen pointed wedge heels from Aldo