What to Wear to Thanksgiving

Today I'm sharing 6 different outfit ideas for you to wear to Thanksgiving dinner this week. The great news about all of them is that they can probably be created or re-imagined with pieces you already have in your closet! I have included links too just in case you want to ask Santa for any of these versatile pieces.

The first two options are variations of what I would call casual, preppy, and easy to wear outfits. I love this style of dressing, it's very fresh and clean in my opinion. Most of you probably have a pair of dark skinnies, brown boots or booties (depending on the temps of where you are at), a plaid shirt, sweater (again, depending on how cold your Thanksgiving weather is) and a quilted vest in your closet. I love mixing patterns with plaid, or don't be afraid to grab a leopard print scarf or fair isle sweater to pair with your plaid. Lastly, throw on one or two statement pieces of jewelry and you are good to go!

outfit on right

check shirt | cream vest | fair isle sweater | skinny jeans | bag | riding boots | necklace | earrings

outfit on left

plaid shirt | red vest | skinny jeans | leopard scarf | booties | red bag | monogram necklace | statement necklace

The next two outfits revolve around leggings, which I am convinced were created for Thanksgiving, so that we can comfortably eat our weight in turkey and pumpkin pie. One of my favorite things about leggings is how easy they are to style; they can be dressed up or down, with pretty much any shoe or boot, and with a dress, tunic, or any over-sized shirt that covers your bum. To create a more dressed down look, I paired leggings with a striped turtleneck & knit poncho, easy flats, and simple jewels all in a neutral palette. I added some visual interest with pop or red with a cozy beanie, tote, and plaid red with hints of red to tie everything together. This same strategy can be used with any color. To dress up leggings, I focused less on that pop of color, and more on playing with different textures; like a big knit turtleneck, floppy felt hat, faux fur vest, and suede over-the-knee boots, keeping the jewelry simple again, and the palette much more subtle. 

outfit on right
stripe turtleneck | poncho | beanie | statement earrings | leggings | double sided plaid scarf | red tote | flats

outfit on left
faux fur vest | felt floppy hat | pendant necklace | over-sized turtleneck sweater | leggings | black handbag | otk boots | watch

The final two outfit ideas I am sharing are for dresses. While my family's Thanksgiving is more on the casual side, I know that some of you might be attending a dressier dinner or just prefer to dress up a little more for the holiday. One great thing about throwing on a dress is that in one piece you have an outfit, and pretty much anything goes with accessories. This time of year is perfect for wearing sweater dresses, they are super cozy and it's cold enough to wear tights with either a great pair of boots or booties (wear black tights and heeled black booties to give the illusion of super long stems). And of course, I am loving plaid shirt dresses, they are the perfect casual option and can be easily dressed up or down. Since my sweater dress option is a little dressier I opted to show a more casual styling of the plaid dress. 

outfit on right
faux fur vest | sweater dress | booties | tights | statement earrings | scarf | leopard clutch

outfit on left
sherpa vest | plaid dress | red earrings | slouchy knit hat | fringe booties | bangle | red handbag

Hopefully this gives you some ideas of what to wear for Thanksgiving if you are looking for some outfit inspiration! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

What to Wear: Holiday Party Edition Part 2

Happy Tuesday lovelies! Hope everyone's week got off to a good start yesterday. Today I am back talking about what to wear to holiday parties, and today's outfit inspiration focuses on another classic holiday trend: lace. In yesterday's post, I incorporated sequins into some holiday outfits that played up crimson, the quintessential Christmas color. But red isn't the only color that I think of this time of year; I think of the icy blue tones of frost and the navy blues of the increased midnight hours, as well as red's complimentary color green; decking our halls in emerald jewels and evergreen boughs; these are all colors and tones that I am drawn to this time of year. In honor of these blue and green hues, I have composed some outfits featuring gorgeous lace dresses in this pallet. As with yesterday's post, I have styled each color two ways, showing again how you can recycle your holiday outfits throughout the season.

green outfit top: dress / clutch / shoes / earrings / bracelet / blue bracelet
blue outfit top: dress / clutch / shoes / earrings / bracelet
green outfit bottom: dress / clutch / shoes / earrings / belt / necklace
blue outfit bottom: dress / clutch / shoes / earrings / bracelet / necklace

When styling a lace dress, the dress should be the focal point, and all of the accessories should complement it. The perfect neutrals during the holidays, in my self-proclaimed "expert opinion," are silver and gold, and there is no shortage of metallic options right now! This brings me to accessory talk time: ok, I believe it is a personal style choice whether you think more is more, or less is more, but my preference for most holiday parties: work, family, church, etc. is that less is more. That being said, for this post I have chosen more delicate and subdued pieces that add a touch of sparkle and glitz, without leaving you looking like you are wearing an accident from the glitter factory. Also, keep in mind that you don't need a statement necklace, especially with a lace neckline. If you feel it's too much, skip the neck candy, the lace is enough. You can always add your sparkle elsewhere. I have styled these dresses both ways, just in case. And, if you are a more is more girl, that's fine too, just double up on things from each of the outfit options!

Will you be wearing lace this season?

What are your go-to colors during the holidays?

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

What to Wear: Holiday Party Edition

Hello Loves! Today I want to talk about one of my favorite type of outfits to plan: party attire! Now that December is in full swing, holiday parties will be popping up on our social calendars through the new year, and I, for one, could not be more excited. To me, no other time of the year is as rich with color, texture, and most importantly, SPARKLE. The entire month seems to be dripped in gold and dusted in glitter, from Christmas tree decor, to twinkling lights, to glossy wrapping paper; it doesn't seem like anything in existence can escape looking shiny and bright. I think you cannot help but feel that way too, a little more shiny and bright now than during the rest of the year. So, I think, if you feel it, flaunt it! Holiday apparel is very reflective of the mood this season ushers in with it, and it is almost impossible not to fall in love with all of the fancy party pieces on the racks. This week I will be posting some outfit ideas and pieces that I think are perfect for many of the occasions this holiday season where you want a little extra sparkle in your wardrobe; appropriately dedicated the "Holiday Sparkle" series. 

To kick off this series, I would like to introduce a holiday staple: sequins. Now, personally, I don't own a single sequined thing. GASP. Well, its true. I am not quite sure why, I guess I prefer my jewelry to sparkle and shine, not my clothing. That being said, I have been considering how I would incorporate a sequined item into my closet. I have been eyeing the numerous sequined tanks and thinking that would be a safe bet, not too much bling, an easy way to dip my toes into the sequin pool, but it is winter...and winter in the mitten is fierce. So, I started thinking about ways to incorporate a sequined piece as one of my signature layers (keeping in mind that I didn't want to look like a disco ball upon outfit completion), and thanks to the amazing line of winter apparel at J.Crew Factory this season, I was able to find two sequined pieces that I wouldn't be too intimidated to wear this winter. Knowing that many of us can't afford a new outfit for every party we attend this season, I put together two outfits for each piece, and since the color family is similar, the sets are pretty interchangeable, giving you plenty of outfit styling ideas with fewer individual pieces. I know I love to get the most bang for my buck when it comes to styling my clothes, and I bet you do too! 

set one: sequin sweater / plaid pants (option) / polka dot top / plaid skirt / bag / pumps / bracelets / nail polish / eyeliner 
necklace / earrings / headband / tights

set two: sequin skirt / polka dots sweater / plaid shirt / bow sweater / clutch / heels / necklace (option) / earrings 
tights / bracelet / nail polish / lipstick

So, as I mentioned above and you can see in the sets, all of the items I selected are very interchangeable, the color pallet is red, black, grey, and white, so three neutrals and one vibrant color. I think that this is the best way to achieve a cohesive look when mixing patterns, while looking polished and put-together. I would wear all of these outfits, and any combination thereof. As you may have observed, I am a big proponent of plaid and all of these outfits have the option of styling the more feminine sequin piece with a touch more rugged print and texture of a plaid or flannel. Pairing different textures, mixing patterns, or contrasting feminine pieces with masculine touches are all easy ways to create playful and interesting outfits that don't come across as too daring or too much of a hodge-podge. 

I hope this helps inspire you when deciding what to wear this holiday season, either by remixing pieces you already own, or adding something new, with numerous styling possibilities. Be sure to stop by tomorrow for more outfit inspiration and styling ideas for your holiday soirees this year!

Will you wear sequins this holiday season?

What trend are you most excited for this holiday season?

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!

What to Wear: Thanksgiving Edition

Happy Tuesday loves! Today was such a hectic day with work and a big paper due for school that I seriously have been looking forward to escaping and posting here ALL day. Total distraction, but I couldn't help it, I am just so gosh darn excited for Thanksgiving and most importantly, planning what to wear ahead of time so that the day of, I can focus on how grateful I am. For today's post, I have created three outfits to help you plan what to wear on Turkey Day. All of the items featured are from Target, because holy moley are Target's sales this week OUT.OF.CONTROL. We're talking boots and handbags buy one get one 50% off, 40% off sweaters, 40% jeans, and price cuts on tons of statement jewelry, and that's not even looking at Cartwheel, which if you haven't heard is now available to everyone, even if you don't have a Facebook account, yippee! That being said, don't be surprised if the outfit below featuring the chevron sweater shows up as my #ootd on instagram, because I caved and bought it yesterday, it was such a steal! So run, don't walk, to Target if you are in a rut planning your holiday outfit =)

So, let's talk Thanksgiving day outfits. Now, I don't know about you, but growing up, Thanksgiving was always a dressy holiday. My mom would make my sisters (I have 3 younger ones) and I special dresses for Thanksgiving and Christmas, braid our hair the night before so we would all have long wavey hair under our giant bow barrettes, and find the most ridiculous tights (white with red heats, anyone?) to wear with our little patent Mary Jane's. We were like a set of Russian nestling dolls at Thanksgiving, and at Christmas, and at pretty much every holiday for that matter. But, as we grew up, the fanciness inevitably began to fade. My sisters and I now text each other ahead of time to make sure its okay not style our hair or wear makeup or even to wear our yoga pants over to my mom's house. "We're not taking pictures, right?" someone will text. We all conspire to get out of looking nice. We look nice everyday (seriously, I work at an Architectural Engineering firm, two of my sisters are teachers, and my baby sister works at a library, it's like a fashion show every freakin' day), Thanksgiving is a holiday, holidays are for resting, we want a break, hence the conspiring. Now, there are some holidays when we decide to not look like a bunch of rag-a-muffins, mostly anytime we are not celebrating at my mom's house, so...like when we are out in public, bahaha. You are welcome world.

I digress...Anyways, this year Kevin and I will be making the lovely, scenic, 3 hour commute across the state to spend Thanksgiving with his family (its going to be awesome and I am excited to spend my first holiday with his family!), sadly though, this means I will be in public, which means no yoga pants for me (you can just hear my disappointed sigh, right?). BUT that also means I get a new outfit, its only fair if I have to wear make-up and brush my hair on my day of rest, right? ;-) So, after seeing a few ladies snag the aforementioned chevron sweater shown below, I ran out to Target to get one. First trip = fail, didn't even have them at my store. Second trip = success, only one in the store was in my size = happy dance! Since I have been told that the atmosphere will still be fairly casual, I will probably pair my sweater with dark denim and red and leopard details. Since its apparently winter in Michigan (its in the 20's, eek!), I will also be wearing a coat, and this one just happens to be on my lust list! Now, knowing that other families still maintain a sense of decorum that my own has lost, I also put together a dressy-casual and dressier outfit that I would also wear if warranted. 

casual: jeans / sweater / coat / shoes / purse / scarf / belt / bracelet / essie

dressy casual: pants / sweater / coat / pumps / purse / necklace / bracelet / essie

dressy: dress / coat / booties / purse / belt / necklace / bracelet / tights / essie 

If I were not going to wear jeans, a pair of dressier pants, like those pictured with an amazing window pane print, would definitely suffice. I added a little print mixing with the polka dot sweater (also on sale with the chevron one for 40% off) and a plaid coat. All the pieces feel cohesive because of the color story: cobalt, black, and cream. Since there are a few patterns at play here, I decided to keep the accessories monochromatic and chic, all in black. If dress up for Thanksgiving, a sweater dress with booties and colored tights is a must! Again, the color story here is three part, black, tan, and burgundy. The burgundy is so festive and really pops against the black. I added an edgier cut-out bootie to add a touch of hard in contrast with the softness of the dress. Whatever you wear, I think the most important part is feeling comfortable, especially if your family makes enough food to feed an army =)

And now, for your viewing enjoyment, I have decided to share a family picture from a few years ago when the sister who is an art teacher, decided we needed to do a "family Thanksgiving craft," made us make hand print turkey sweatshirts. Yeah, I know, you wish you were this awesome.

Olivia, Me, Stacy, Tina

Do you have any Thanksgiving Day traditions?

What is the dress code for your Thanksgiving?

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous day!