Rosie the Office Worker

I was finally – finally! – able to get out my spring clothes over the weekend (after a maddening series of false starts by Mother Nature), which means a wider selection of short-sleeved tops to choose from. Now, nothing in my transitional collection is ever "new," because when I do get new clothes, I either keep them out for the current season or pack them away for next summer/winter so I can reveal them all at one glorious time, so generally getting out my spring clothes is not a source of much excitement.

However, one thing in my transitional wardrobe that still feels fresh to me is this navy blue blouse with tiny white polka dots, which I think I've only worn once since it was given to me last year. I picked it out instantly from all the other pieces in my closet, finding it both office-ready and slightly playful—the perfect shirt for the first spring-clothes day at work!

I hear that red is a trendy color this year, and to my mind, polka-dots and red go together like Minnie and Mouse, so I next sought for red accessories to brighten up this otherwise bland-colored top. My red platform pumps were an obvious choice. I was getting a rather vintage vibe from the puffed-sleeve, polka-dotted top, so I denied my first instinct to wear my red chandelearrings in favor of a red neckerchief. With this bandanna as my accent, I was starting to feel like a Rosie-the-Riveter wannabe.

I had planned to wear my long-beloved white sailor pants with this outfit (what is more vintage than a sailor suit?) but alas, they were not long enough to work with my 5-inch heels, so I compromised with boring ankle-length khaki trousers. Probably for the best, as they tone down a rather costumey outfit into something more subdued for the office.

Jeans at work

In case you missed it, all of my blog post titles for the entire month of March started with the letter D. It began as a fluke, when I noticed I had inadvertently written the first 3 titles in this fashion (My last post in February started with D as well). But after that, I couldn't not continue! It was a little bit of a struggle coming up with D-words (thank goodness for "DIY"), so I'm relieved that April has arrived and I can go back to titling my posts with whatever clever (or un-clever, in today's case) phrase pops into my mind first!

Now, to segue into the topic of this post, let's travel back in time to early in my D-Days, when I happened to comment on the fact that I have been embracing a more casual aesthetic in the workplace of late. I'm ready to discuss this topic at greater length! Remember when I used to complain that jeans were the last thing I'd ever choose to wear to the office? Well, my, how times have changed! It might be a phase (much like my obsession with blazers in 2013), but right now, denim feels like the freshest way to express myself in the office (it may also just be a manifestation of my exhaustion with trying to look cute when the weather's cold).

I have planned out a couple of work outfits for the next few weeks, and my favorite ones of them all feature jeans. The tops that I never wanted to wear again somehow became exciting when I put jeans on the bottom. I work in a casual workplace, so why not make the most of it? Why bother with my unflattering "professional" pants, and fussy, hard-to-wear skirts, when I can look better and feel happier in a pair of creatively styled jeans? 

Case in point: today's green silk blouse, which is a new one from Swap.com, would have looked ladylike and lovely paired with a skirt, or classic business-casual worn with black trousers. However, I didn't want to look ladylike or businesslike. I wanted something different and unexpected. So along with my elegant blouse (and over-the-top ornate earrings), I wore a pair of well worn blue jeans and some chunky-soled forest green oxford shoes. 

Thus I combined ladylike with aggressively masculine, and fancy with utterly casual. And I had fun doing it! Expect to see more jeans in my workplace future...at least until my next fleeting passion strikes.