I think this color combo is incredibly refreshing for spring and summer. If you’re unable to go sleeveless in your office, check out the matching jacket here. Also, if you haven’t checked it out already, the Bloomingdales 25% off sale is on now, so check it out with code PS25!
I’m on the hunt for a bridal shower dress and while perusing the Bloomingdales sale, there were just too many good things not to share. Remember to use code PS25 to get 25% off. Here’s to kicking off the weekend with a little retail therapy… Happy Friday!
If you’re looking to refresh your summer wardrobe, check out the latest that has graced the racks at Ann Taylor. Loose knits, flowy maxi dresses, eyelet layers, and killer sandals to name a few. As for today’s look, these cropped ivory pants in an elevated crepe are definitely the kind of cargo pant I can get behind. Yes. I said cargo pants. They’re happening.
P.S. These ankle strap sandals are so incredibly comfortable, and have an amazing high-but-not-too-high heel height. However, if your office is more formal and you can’t sport sandals to your workplace, check out these heels or some of the other great pumps at Ann Taylor, which I also highly recommend.
Happy Friday! Today I’m taking a brief detour from the typical work style posts, to share some more wedding planning tips. If you missed my post a few weeks ago on how to find the right wedding dress, and are wondering what’s going on, Memorandum is growing a bit! To be clear, Memorandum will always be geared towards working women and the sartorial challenges faced when dressing for professional environments. However, at the request of many of you, I’m going to be adding additional content from time to time. Although I started the site focusing largely on conservative workplace attire, I gradually made the conscious decision to add in creative and also casual office attire as well. In large part, this was at the repeated request of readers whose work environments run the gamut of formality—from teachers, to advertisers, to tech engineers, to lawyers.
The inclusion of all three outfit types also has mirrored the progression of my own professional life. The content expansion has been a natural fit for me because, since moving from NYC to San Francisco, my office attire now encompasses everything from casual business attire to creative ensembles to conservative suits depending on the day and types of meetings I have; whether I’m meeting with an associate in fashion or meeting with investors.
Regardless of whether each specific post is perfectly suited for your particular work environment, I hope that at least some aspect of it can be applicable and relevant to your life. If, for example, Wednesday’s post is too casual for your more conservative workplace, then the skirt and sandals are likely not a good fit for you. However, they may be something that you could wear on the weekends, or alternatively, you might draw general inspiration from the color palette and look to simply replace those two elements with an ivory pencil skirt and brown pump instead.
Ok, so what do Bridesmaid dresses have to do with any of this?Get to the point, lady. More recently, as you may have read here, I’ve chosen to respond to further reader requests to occasionally include pieces that are beyond the narrow scope of office style, and speak to other aspects of the working girl’s lifestyle. Since I’m getting married in August, I’ve received countless emails requesting wedding planning advice and tips on different aspects of the process. As we know, working women can, in fact, get married, and luckily no one is required to hand in their #girlboss status at the altar ; ) . As working women, we still have to find the time to plan a wedding, and navigate the often tumultuous journey. As always, thank you so much for following along as Memorandum continues to grow and a huge thanks to so many of you who have sent emails as well. As you can see, I read every single one, and am always trying to adapt accordingly!
With that, today I’m excited to share more wedding planning tips by tackling questions about finding the right Bridesmaid dresses…
This particular part of the wedding process is super tricky, because unless you’re cool with allowing your bridesmaids to choose whatever dress they want in whatever color they want, odds are you’re going to be faced with the uphill battle of trying to choose something for someone else that ideally does not make them want to light themselves on fire. To me, the task of finding bridesmaid dresses seemed only slightly less painful than being waterboarded. Nevertheless, I survived the process, and none of my bridesmaids have burned me at the stake (or maybe they just haven’t succeeded yet?), so in no particular order, I give you my top seven tips for finding the right bridesmaid dresses…
(1) MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: MAKING EVERYONE HAPPY
Most of the advice I received at the outset was along the lines of, It’s YOUR day! Pick whatever you want and don’t worry about whether your bridesmaids like it or not! I think this advice is fine (certainly well-intentioned), and might be appealing in its simplicity (and justified selfishness?), but I’m not sure it’s totally the right way to approach the process… especially if you don’t want your bridesmaids to have zero fun at your wedding. Having gone through the process and chosen the dresses, I’d personally recommend a more tempered approach. Of course, it is “your” day, so you should move in the direction of bridesmaid dresses that do fit within the scope of both your taste and the aesthetic you’ve chosen for your wedding (more on that below). However, it’s also important to carefully consider all body types and the general tastes of your bridesmaids. Although it is your wedding, if you force someone else to wear a dress in which they are wildly uncomfortable, they’re likely not going to thoroughly enjoy the day. Ipso facto, the wedding day vibe of your nearest and dearest that are stuffed into the chartreuse and purple sheaths that you chose because “it’s your day and you can do what you want” might not be ideal.
On the other end of the spectrum, you’ll never please everyone. With this in mind, I think it’s a big mistake to involve all of your bridesmaids in selecting the dress—unless perhaps you only have one or two. The chances that everyone agrees on a color, style (or even selection of styles) is unlikely, and prone to produce disappointment and conflict (I feel like that’s something Dr. Phil would say… sorry). So, my advice is to think long and hard about each individual skin tone and body type yourself. When I was evaluating different colors and dresses, I actually made a list and took notes thinking, ok how would this color and style look on Annie? Now what about Hanna? … and down the line. I chose to only involve my maid of honor (who is the beauty depicted in the pictures today!), and my Mom, who was the perfect neutral third party—someone who, like me, will not be wearing the dresses and can objectively opine on how the dresses would work for each girl.
Another trick that I used (though possibly a little creepy because it involves facebook stalking…) was to actually scroll through each bridesmaid’s facebook and/or instagram pictures and take note of what necklines, silhouettes and colors they wore and gravitated towards. This allowed me to actually see different dress types on them which further informed my decision. Also, luckily, I’m very close to my bridesmaids, so I already knew that my friend Cara, if given the option to wear anything yellow or face a firing squad, would unflinchingly choose the firing squad all day everyday. So needless to say, yellow was out of the running early. Luckily, I wasn’t particularly interested in yellow, but if there are any major red flags like that, better to eliminate them early on.
(2) BUDGET:
With the breadth of dress options out there, make a special effort to take everyone’s budget into consideration. My understanding is that the general price range is $100 to $300, so if you have your heart set on a dress beyond that, you really should offer to pay the difference. As illustrated in the pictures today which were taken in Nordstrom’s amazing Wedding Suite, they offer a huge range of bridesmaid dresses, both in terms of style and price. However, I know a lot of people who haven’t gone with a dress that is technically intended to be a bridesmaid dress. You might find something in the regular women’s dress department that is just what you’re looking for and is possibly a better fit for everyone’s budget.
(3) TIMELINE:
Pay special attention to the time it takes for the dresses to arrive. While some off-the-rack bridesmaid dresses take very little time to order, most bridesmaid dresses and certainly those that are made-to-order can take months. Since you want to allow at least one month for alterations after each bridesmaid has received her dress, make sure you know exactly how long the dresses will take to arrive so you can plan accordingly.
(4) LENGTH + SHOES:
You might have found the perfect floor-length dress, but be sure to consider the dress length on all of your bridesmaids. In my case, several of my bridesmaids are quite tall, so it was mission critical to find a dress that came in long lengths (spoiler alert, the dresses I chose are floor length, but that’s all I’m divulging before the big day ;). If you’re interested in short dresses, take similar care to make sure they’re not too short for the taller girls, and on the other end of the spectrum, can be easily shortened for bridesmaids that are extra petite.
Additionally, be sure to think about what shoes you’d like the bridesmaids to wear before purchasing dresses. If the floor-length dress is long enough when they’re barefoot in a changing room, but too short once they put on the heels that you’ve selected, you’re teeing up your weird uncle to be making “flood” jokes all evening. Don’t let that happen.
(5) SIZING:
For a chick who knows her fashion, I quickly realized that I had MUCH to learn about bridal fashion—both in finding a wedding dress and finding bridesmaid dresses. Lots of things are different, most notably the sizing. Thus, make sure that each bridesmaid is individually measured by a professional seamstress before ordering anything. If someone blindly orders a Size 4 because their typical dress size is a 4, they’re likely to have huge problems when the dress actually arrives.
(6) AESTHETIC:
This one is pretty obvious, but often can be forgotten when brides fall in love with a particular bridesmaid dress before they’ve thought through the rest of the wedding. In addition to making sure you consider whether the dresses will look nice on each individual bridesmaid in color and style, make sure it’s a good aesthetic fit for your overall wedding. If your own wedding dress is a very formal ballgown, a flowy boho bridesmaid dress might look disjointed. Think also about what the groom and groomsmen are wearing, and whether the style and color palettes will compliment each other. Finally, make sure you factor in venue, geographical location, time of year, and time of day. Black bridesmaid dresses may seem out of place at a garden wedding on a summer morning. Similarly, mint green might seem out of place at a winter wedding in a cold climate.
(7) COMFORT:
Similar to my advice offered here in the post about finding the right wedding dress, it’s important that you consider the overall comfort of the bridesmaid dresses as well. If the dresses are too fitted, your bridesmaids may not only feel self conscious, but may also feel less capable of dancing at the reception if their movement is restricted. A lot of off-the-shoulder dresses inhibit arm movement, which can make hugging and dancing difficult as well. If your wedding will be held in a particularly warm setting, think also about how breathable the fabric is because (a) you don’t want anyone overheating and potentially fainting at the altar and (b) you don’t want bridesmaids walking up the aisle with embarrassing sweat stains. On the subject of fabric, also be careful about some stiffer fabrics that wrinkle easily. Some (not all!) versions of dupioni, shantung, peau de soie and others can become completely wrinkled after sitting briefly which doesn’t look great in general, and certainly makes for less than ideal wedding photos.
Ok what did I miss? If you’ve gone through this process as either a bride or a bridesmaid and have any additional tips, please let me know in the comments!
I think I’ve done a bad job in the past few posts of making a clear delineation in the work-appropriate footwear department, which is a tricky subject especially in the summer months. Some followers have brought this to my attention, and I’m really grateful that you’re keeping me on my toes (no pun intended)!
As always, it’s important to critically analyze what’s appropriate for your own workplace, because there’s absolutely no universal rule governing all professional environments. I’ve talked a lot about appropriate footwear in the past here on Memorandum, but it’s important to keep the conversation alive, especially for those of you who are new readers!
Now that I live in California and work in a slightly less conservative environment, I’ve learned that dressy sandals (like the ones depicted today and in recent posts here and here) are appropriate for my professional life. This is why I was sporting these brown leather ankle strap sandals when wearing the all-ivory monochromatic ensemble to the office recently (that’s pictured today).
However, when I worked for an investment bank in NYC, sandals were definitely not an appropriate option. From female friends and family in other business formal professions, I’ve learned that this also rings true for lots of law offices and government jobs (among many others that fall into the “conservative” category). However, for those of you in more creative or casual environments—especially those in warmer climates—dressy sandals like these might just be a go.
If you’re starting a new job and not sure where your office lands on the spectrum, my advice is always to stick with conservative options until you are sure. Nothing is worse than overstepping and having to be chastised by superiors. Actually, maybe there is something worse—not being chastised by superiors because they’re too awkward to tell you that you’ve gotta cover up your bunions, being left out of meetings because of aforementioned bunion exposure, and before you know it, you’re relegated to tasks that only require you to see the inside of a copy room. I once found a label maker in a copy room that changed my life, but other than that, there are not a ton of awesome things happening in copy rooms.
So listen, if you can’t wear sandals to work… well that kind of sucks. BUT, there’s a definite bright side. Consider that extra flap of leather (or some variation of polyvinyl chloride, as it may be) an extra line of defense against the underside of your desk when you’re getting your fitness on at the office and becoming a bit over-zealous in testing the waters of Leandra Medine’s deskercises—most notably the under-desk leg lift. It can be a highly perilous situation for exposed toes. Best to cover ’em up.
Ok yeah, I had to dig deep to find that bright side. But whatevs, just cling to that supremely comfy pair of commuter sandals and hold on tight ’til temps start to drop in September.
So what’s your deal? Can you wear sandals to the office in the summer or is your office more formal? Are you self-sabotaging in hopes of one day also discovering the mystical label maker? Give me your sitch in the comments…
Always a sucker for something navy, I’ve gotten a ton of use out of this skirt and these slide sandals. With the padded cork sole, the sandals have been perfect on the weekends (as worn here last weekend in wine country), and amazingly comfy for running between meetings which is when these photos were snapped. Once at the meeting, I switched into these navy pumps that were stowed away in my bag. K cool but back to the skirt: I chose to go up a size so I could wear the skirt down on my hips, giving it a drop waist look, which is nicely accentuated by the tie. However, if you purchase the skirt in your normal size, it’s likely to fit snug up around your natural waist. Options, baby, options.
Such a versatile dress for warm weather, this Karen Millen number has amazing floral detailing that’s actually made out of fine grosgrain ribbon—not embroidery! Sooooo that’s a fun Friday surprise for you. If you’re bigger in the bust then I’d probably not recommend this particular dress for the office, since the v-neck is on the deeper side of work appropriate. Gotta lock that up. However, if you’re a fan of the look, I linked to several similar dresses with varying necklines in the widget above (love this one) that may work better for you. Happy Friday!
It is impossible to put into words how obscenely comfortable these pants are. Whatever alchemy of cotton and spandex came together to form this perfect pair of stripey deliciousness, I’d like more of it.
I’m wearing the “modern fit” above, but the pants also come in a “curvy fit,” and both fits are sold in petite, regular and tall. It’s the democratization of railroad stripe denim. Between that and the sale price, you basically have no excuses left to not buy them, wear them, and never take them off. This is fate.
Now we all just need to have casual enough workplaces to accommodate the wearing of said stripey deliciousness on a daily basis. If you’re reading this from the depths of your pant-suit-laden Monday morning despair, remember, Saturday is just five days away. Hang in there.
I just returned last night from a week in NYC where over the weekend, my best friends threw an amazing bridal shower/mini bachelorette party for me. It was a good excuse to sport some of my favorite white pieces, including this beautiful (and super comfy!) embroidered lace tunic dress. Unsurprisingly, it’s almost sold out at Ann Taylor, but I’ve spotted several super similar options which are included in the widget below…
The blazer and pencil skirt—about as classic a workwear ensemble as there is. These items are likely the meat and potatoes of your professional wardrobe, but they’re anything but ordinary when found in a refreshing summery palette. Especially for those of you who need to wear a suit everyday to a formal work environment (or those of you who are inteviewing!) there’s no reason that all of your suits have to be grey, black or navy. You can up your style game even in the most conservative of office environments without sacrificing formality or professionalism—just slap some color on that situation.
Speaking of professionalism, the only non-conservative element of this ensemble is found in the footwear department. Last week, I talked all about summer-appropriate footwear in different office environments (check out the post here if you missed it!). For me, it was appropriate to sport these ankle-strap sandals to my meetings earlier this week in New York. However, if your workplace is more formal, stick with a pair of nude pumps (I love these ones so much).
I’m always a sucker for a matching set, and this one is no exception. Fun fact: the white collar is actually detachable, which opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. I wore the coordinates as-is last week in NYC, but the collar can be easily removed and added to anything with a crewneck—like a sheath dress, a sweater or your pajamas. Anything.
Another look from my bridal shower in NYC, this dress might (dare I say…) be one of my all-time favorites. It’s a little sheer, so even though it’s a work-appropriate silhouette, it would be tough to make this fly in a professional environment. However, with a more opaque slip underneath, you might be able to get away with it in a super creative environment. Workwear aside, it’s a dress I plan on wearing for other wedding-related events and on into the future. With the delicate embroidered lace, long sleeves, and midi-length skirt, it’s one of those rare pieces that can beautifully adapt to both formal and informal situations, allowing it to really go the extra mile. Brava, Rebecca Taylor. You got me again.
For those of you in the U.S. of A., Happy (early) Fourth of July! In honor of the holiday, I thought what better day than this Casual Friday to bust out some retro patriotic sailor vibes? You know from previous posts (like this one and this one) that I am fully on board with the renaissance of flare leg jeans. Recently, I discovered this amazing pair from Express with sailor button detailing. They also come in a darker wash, so you know, whatever floats your boat.
I know. Seafaring puns are the best.
These jeans also have that perfect stretch factor making them shockingly comfortable and easy to wear. For those of you with PTSD from button flies or sailor pants that you have to awkwardly wedge into and then button up the side, these actually have a hidden side zip, so no hardship there.
Ok that’s the last one I promise.
If your workplace has been blessed with casual Fridays in which jeans are a viable option, I think this particular pair of flare leg jeans is well-suited for the occasion. The silver side-button detailing seems to stylistically elevate the denim and make them a bit dressier, which can often be a challenge when making jeans pass the office-appropriate test.
A favorite ensemble from the holiday weekend spent in San Diego, this floral matching set had me in full swoon from the get-go. I’m excited to re-wear the top with a black pencil skirt for a more work-ready look, and the black and white shorts will serve as a great neutral foundation for colorful tops and sweaters (like these favorite ones that are super on sale) well into the fall. Hope you had a great Fourth of July!!
PANTS: c/o Ann Taylor (sold out but here in khaki; very similar versions here, here, here, & here) | SWEATER: J. Crew (tons of other colors on sale here) | SHOES: Ralph Lauren (old but similar here and here) | BELT: J. Crew (similar here) | RING: Kathy Kamei (similar here and here) | SUNGLASSES: Ray-Ban
Big news! The behemoth Nordstrom Anniversary Sale starts TODAY! In case you’ve missed it in years past, this is quite literally the best sale of the year. For real, cross my heart, pinky swear, spit and shake, really mean it… this is not a drill. Also, we’re not talking about a sale where they’re purging their shelves of all unsold/unwanted spring and summer dregs. This sale is exclusively brand new Pre-Fall items at heavily discounted prices—most of which haven’t even hit other retailers’ shelves yet. You may not be thinking fall fashion yet, but with this thing happening, you really need to start.
Nordstrom card-holders will have Early Access to the sale starting today through July 16th. If you’re not a cardholder, you can still preview the on-sale items so that you’re ready to attack on July 17th when it all opens to the public. When the sale is over, you can still purchase the products (unless they sell out during the sale), but prices will return to full retail value.
Bottom line: come hell or high water, you’re going to want to get in on this.
Today, I’ve included my favorites which you can click on above. This poncho, in particular, is really calling my name for fall and winter commuting here in San Francisco. I’m also drooling over this chic vest, which looks amazing styled for the workplace with a pencil skirt as they did above, or even with jeans on the weekends. Speaking of jeans, these medium wash flare jeans are too good to be true. Ok I could go on forever, but I’ll leave you to it… ready, GO!