On Workwear ... and the Realities of Everyday Life

We promised you a post about keeping your work wardrobe fresh (and if you scroll down a bit you’ll find just that), but if you’ll indulge us a moment we’d like to share some thoughts with you On The Realities of Life.

Admittedly, there are many days on which we move from task to task without pausing to eat or breathe let alone to reflect. This week, however, with a number of significant decisions ahead of us, we’ve taken a moment to think through various aspects of our lives including Everyday Urban.  Of course a huge part of what we want to share with you is “inspiration”, meaning it is intended to show you what you could achieve with your apartment, style, cooking, etc. but our goal is to do so from a realistic and attainable perspective.  

When I first started following fashion bloggers on Instagram I found SO many of them to be impossible to relate to. Early on I followed a luxury fashion blogger.  The specific blogger I am thinking of is basically a goddess who flaunts a perfectly winged cat-eye every single day, sports glamorous brands that we could never (ever) afford, and is always gallivanting to some extravagant location, brunching, or sipping rose.  In some ways it was fun to follow, but mostly as entertainment. I never actually got ideas from her that I would want to (or could even if I did want to) implement. Yes, her photos were perfection, but she was distant. Elusive.

The first Instagram account I really felt I could relate to was Erika Fox from Retroflame.  Her style is quite different from mine in some ways so it wasn’t just what she was wearing (though she does always look fabulous), but it was her work ethic, her willingness to live in a small apartment to pursue her career in the city she loves, her exhausting long days, and her way of talking to you like you are her bff that were incredibly compelling and relatable to me.  I got so much energy and excitement from watching her unfiltered and unedited on Snapchat sharing about all of the 500,000 things that were on her agenda in a day as she walked around the entire length of Manhattan to accomplish all of them. Not only did I get energy from watching her social media platforms, but I also got ideas for how to manage my own schedule, or style my living space, or what to wear for different occasions, or what hair tools to use!

For us, that’s the kind of impact we want to have on you. We want to create content that gives you ideas you can actually incorporate into your everyday life.

As we reflected on this last week and how freaking hard it was, we couldn’t help but pause and wonder whether Everyday Urban is accurately reflecting the realities of our life.  I suppose I don’t mean Instagram, but more so here on the blog. This weekend we shared about our walk through the park and our brunch at Publican. At the end of the post we alluded to the fact our Saturday morning was much needed after a tough week. But the truth is Saturday morning was the only rest we got all weekend and even our rest was also part of our work.  We worked Friday evening, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday afternoon/evening almost non stop.

The truth is, most of our weeks revolve around our jobs. We pour serious time and energy into them and spend most of our time at them.  So even though this is a post about workwear, it’s also just a post about life. And a confession. A confession that life isn’t always Saturdays in the park, or chai lattes at a coffee shop, or cozy snuggles on the couch.  Life is often challenging, but God is faithful to us through all of those challenges and we are so blessed to get to share the ups and downs with you here.

New York & Company: Floral Sheath Dress // New York & Company: Olive Blazer // New York & Company: Grey Handbag // Pom Pom Keychain- Similar Here // DSW: Pumps - Similar Here and Here

Now, we promised you we’d share a workweek look with you, and we won’t leave you hanging.  As I mentioned, work is a huge part of life, so it’s important not to neglect your work wardrobe. I recently went through a work wardrobe slump  I was wearing the same 5 outfits on repeat every week that I’ve been wearing for like… 3 years (where is the monkey covering his eyes emoji when I need him?!).  The reason was simple: I was unmotivated to spend precious clothing money on workwear. BUT while I was in the suburbs for a meeting a few months ago, I swung by New York and Company to check out their suiting (I was in desperate need of a good suit) and was pleasantly surprised to see that I wouldn’t have to spend an arm and a leg to look sharp and professional with style! I ended up stocking up on several new looks that I seriously love and get so many compliments on every time I wear them to work.

This floral dress might be my favorite new piece. Period. It’s sleek, sophisticated, and modern, and pairs perfectly with this olive blazer. The warmer richer colors lend themselves perfectly to fall. 

Since the dress and blazer are bold, I wore neutral grey pumps, and a small pair of rose gold colored earrings.

Forever 21: Knot Earrings

The purse is also NY&Co and is great to add some clean lines and structure to a look that is otherwise overtly feminine.

New York & Company: Floral Sheath Dress // New York & Company: Grey Handbag // Pom Pom Keychain- Similar Here 

I genuinely believe this look is one of the best #girlboss looks you could create this fall and the prices for both pieces were BOMB.

Anybody feel me about not wanting to invest in your workwear? How do you keep your work attire looking sharp and professional even if the dress code doesn’t easily align with your personal style or taste? Daniel is one of those lucky millenials who works in an office with stand up desks, a ping pong table, and like…hoverboards or something… and they wear jeans and HOODIES!

We hope this helped give you some new (real life) ideas for your work attire and thanks for listening to our “right hand on a cold one confession” :)

With Love from Chicago,

Jennifer & Daniel