Wearing a Dress Shirt Like a Jacket Women
Styling Your White Button Down Shirt as a Jacket
Quote of the day: "More than intelligence or persistence or connections, curiosity has allowed me to live the life I wanted." Brian Grazer
I thought this quote was perfect, because one of my objectives in this blog is to find great versatility with the items we already have in our closet. I've talked about how we tend to "categorize" the items in our wardrobe, yet if we become more curious about how else to wear it, we can have more options.
One of the things I love about a button up blouse is the fact that it can be worn over other pieces. Kinda like a jacket. So I had the three of us grab a white button down shirt and do exactly that. Last year we styled these shirts in even more ways.
Although the white button down used to be the classic item that EVERY woman had to have in their closet, I do think that has changed over time. It may not be the piece you want to go out and purchase today and maybe doesn't fit your lifestyle as much right now. Yet if you do have one in your closet, you might as well wear it, right?
Jodie's (50+) Outfit: Not only have I been experimenting with different ways to wear an item, I've also been trying out different color combinations.
Since I just purchased these yellow jeans at Maurices, I thought I'd try combining pink and yellow again. The first time I saw this last year, I was enthralled with the combination.
For those of you not so excited about this color pairing, I broke it up with the black sheer top, and the white button down over it. To me, that's a good way to try colors together but not have them in your face.
And if you've never shopped at Maurices before, I can understand. In fact, I talked about it in an Instagram post right after my experience. I'm not only trying to expand my horizons on different styles, trends and color, but also different stores.
I have to laugh at these sunglasses. I bought them for our 3rd anniversary post, along with the ones I picked up for my mom and Nancy at the party store. Although I never thought I'd really reach for them to wear after that, but I've been surprised at how much I like them. Heck, I've worn them many times for my Instagram posts, like this one and this one.
It makes me think that maybe we all need some fun and interesting sunglasses that aren't too expensive? You could embrace the cat eye shape, heart shaped, blue, or how about the mirrored ones?
The other accessory that has been tickling my fancy lately is purses.
How did I get this far in life without embracing fun purses? I blame my work environment, really. Because when you go to work, the purse gets stuck under your desk and no one sees it. At least that's my rationale for buying so many lately.
And the best part is not all purses are expensive. Take this beauty below. Aldo has some incredible purses, and this one was on sale for $25. If you've never been in an Aldo store, let me tell you what you're missing. My husband has gotten a ton of his cool shoes there. Their shoes don't fit me great, but that's the advantage of purses—they always fit! LOL! Take this one, this one, this one or this lobster one for instance. Aren't they lovely?
The other detail that I tried to get crazy about, is I wanted to layer the white button down over something that is normally the top layer. That's why I chose this sheer top for underneath and had the fun cuffs stick out. When I bought this embroidered sheer top, my thought was that I could wear it over so many other shirts and dresses. In fact, I wore it over my dress the time we styled our leopard coats.
You can see the blouse in its entirety layered the traditional way when I give options of how to wear a sheer top.
Obviously the sheer top will always be layered over something—at least on me! Yet, if you hate the idea of having a top that HAS to go over something, then there are certainly embroidered ones that aren't sheer. For example, this peasant top, this white one or this blue one.
Jeans: Maurices (similar here)~~White Shirt: Brooks Brothers given to me by a friend (similar here)~~Top: (similar here)~~Shoes: Kenneth Cole-thriftbox (similar here)~~Earrings: (similar here)~~Purse: Aldo (similar here)~~Sunglasses: (similar here)
Nancy's (60+) Outfit: Nancy used her white button down shirt as a shorter layer for this outfit.
You can see that she tied knots in the ends of her white shirt, so the hem didn't hang down as long and cover everything.
She also added a pin to the edge of her shirt, because she thought the white button down needed some extra fun. My mom actually made this pin from zippers, after she had bought one for herself and me in Russia. I found the one I have in the Western Wear blog post, but I couldn't find my mom wearing hers. We will have to remedy that.
I do think that adding a pin or brooch to your white shirt could make it appear more like a jacket instead of just a blouse. Another idea would be to drape a scarf under the collar just like Nancy has done to her denim jacket in the past.
Since I talked about my love of purses lately, I thought I'd continue the fun with Nancy's purse.
Even though the olive green color isn't one you'd think about for spring, the fact that it's a straw variety seems great for the warmer seasons.
If you're "in the know" then you might realize that the circle purses are all the rage this summer. So why not get one in the straw variety? Of course, there are many darker straw purses for those of you who prefer. There's a black one, blue one or even black print.
The best part of having all three of us on the blog, is the variety we can showcase for the same theme. I love that both Nancy and I wore jeans, while my mom wore a skirt. And even though my mom and I wore heels, Nancy put on her flats.
Flats can be just as stylish and fun if you don't wear heels. In fact, they are all I wore in dental school because of all of the walking we had to do. With summer around the corner, I always think that espadrilles are a perfect solution. Of course the loafers tend to be comfortable along with fun sneakers.
Jeans: Chaps (similar here)~~White Shirt: (similar here)~~Top: (similar here)~~Shoes: (similar here)~~Necklace: (similar here)~~Earrings: (similar here)~~Brooch: My mom made it (similar here)~~Purse: (similar here)
Charlotte's (80+) Outfit: My mom has a plethora of white button down shirts in her closet.
Not to tattle on her, but my mom could probably wear a different white shirt for an entire month. I understand wanting a couple since they are versatile. Along with the fact that they can get stained, so it's nice to have a back up. In my mom's case, she likes the variety in all of the ones she has.
Like this white button down has this chevron pattern on the front panels. Now I know I said you might not want to purchase a new white blouse. But if you did, there are modern styles at the stores. For example, the tie waist, the flare sleeve, along with the ruffle hem all are details that you see quite a bit nowadays.
I know my mom's not wearing the sunglasses in these individual shots, but you should check out the photos of us in front of the mural. Those cat eye sunglasses are from the 1950's (can you say older than I am?). She found them in a drawer, and thought she'd put them on for the photo shoot. The funny thing is they kept sliding off when she'd look down, so she ended up putting them in her purse. Unless there's a fix for that, it goes to show that it's not just our bodies that lose our shape over the years, LOL!
And on the subject of purses again, this antique purse that my mom discovered is so amazing.
Straw purses must be something that have been around forever? It's surprising that it is still in such good shape, unless it never got used.
I certainly couldn't find one like that for your shopping pleasure at least under $50. However, there definitely are some with flamingos, flowers, pom poms, or even stripes.
Like I was commenting under Nancy's photos, it's so fabulous that the three of us choose different items even though we are dressing for one theme. My mom is still a lover of skirts and heels which is refreshing.
I follow a lot of bloggers and am always so impressed that many wear skirts and dresses a lot. But it's not what I see when I go out in Denver. Is it just here, or is day to day life more casual where you live too? Heck, even when we went to see the musical, Hamilton, there were so many people dressed casually.
Skirt: (similar here)~~Blouse: thirfted (similar here)~~Top: Fabrizio-Gianni c/o (similar here)~~Shoes: (similar here)~~Necklace: (similar here)~~Earrings: (similar here)~~Purse: from an Antique store (similar here)~~Sunglasses: (similar here)
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Source: https://www.jtouchofstyle.com/styling-white-button-down-shirt-jacket/