(So you can wear your nice clothes more often)
This pant suit is quite old and is collecting dust in my closet. Which is a pity really, as it’s a nice suit from cool wool that fits me perfectly.. The reason really why I don’t wear it so often is because the suit feels a little formal for my day to day activities. I do not work in an office so don’t really have a need for very formal wear.
However, it’s a nice suit and I like to wear it more often. One way of accomplishing that is to wear really informal pieces with the suit, like this yoga top from Stella McCartney for Adidas. This way the look becomes more casual chic rather than formal chic and makes it appropriate for many ocasions!
Of course, the suit becomes more formal again, if you combine it with a chic bag and wear the jacket.
Why not be a bit more creative and see how you can either dress up or dress down some of the pieces in your wardrobe that you never wear for various reasons? Like those pieces you really like, but you never seem to have an occasion to wear them.
Suit: Zara
Top: Stella McCartney for Adidas
Bag: Balenciaga
Sunglasses: Furla
For more tips also see my article on business casual attire for women.
Do you wear your more formal wear very often? Which pieces of your wardrobe are collecting dust and would benefit from a bit of ‘informalising’ so you’ll wear them more often?
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I love your hair in these photos. The bangs with the choppy layers are super cute. IMO this is your best style! But really, you look good always so…hair’s just an added bonus.
This is great! I don’t work out of home, too, so the few pants I have rarely get used. I recently realized that I am older (just turned 48) and always wearing jeans out, haha! I am slim, though, and my problem area is my tummy, as I am an “apple” I think. I am also looking for casual dresses that I could just throw on when needed.
This website is exactly what I need, and I will be starting a style journal to keep notes/clippings on what I learn, so that I can dress gracefully over 40. 😎
Thanks for your feedback MJ and great to read that you like the site and find it useful!
Wow! This site just rejuvenated me!!!! I am into my 50’s, a third grade teacher surrounded by pretty, young teachers and sometimes it gets really hard to feel stylish and age-appropriate. I am 5’5′ and weigh 100 lbs and although I can fit into “younger” styles, I CANNOT really fit into them if you know what I mean. This site has given me such a jolt of inspiration. Thank-you, thnak-you, thank-you.
Thanks Roxyrudy, that’s great to hear. As you may have read I feel that women over 40, 50 and 60 can look as stylish if not more stylish than all the youngsters, so have fun looking great. I hope this site can continue to inspire you.
I only have a few suits and they’re a bit too small so it’s not really a problem but it is hard to wear formal-work looking things in a less businessy way. T-shirts help for sure, but some things are just up-tight looking naturally. Sigh. Isn’t it funny that it’s easy to “dress up” a pair of jeans but hard to “dress down” a pant suit. I wonder why that is.
Yes, it’s definitely harder but it’s a great challange!
This is such a great look, Sylvia! I like to make my two-piece suits more casual too, or break them up, and wear the jacket with jeans. Your suit is so pretty and fits you beautifully – I hope you can wear it a lot! Thanks for linking up to Visible Monday.
Thanks Patti!
I love this look SO much! I have quite a few suites from Ann Taylor that’s collecting dust in my closet…gotta get’m out. So Chic!
Thanks Jeannie. I look forward to seeing your suits too!
love to mix and match dressy with not so dressy
those pants look great on you
brett
Me too, and I should do it more often!
I can not believe this is the first we are seeing of that Balenciaga bag!!! I would be carrying that every single day – and maybe even sleeping with it on my pillow at night! It is awesome. I love the Furla sunnies too. They look great on you.
A good way to make a suit more wearable is to break it up – wear the pants or skirt with a simple top and wear the jacket over jeans or a more casual pair of pants/skirt. I like what you have done in this outfit. My problem with formal clothes is with not being able to be seen in a cocktail dress or long gown more than once – especially if I have been photgraphed in it. I am in a social group that is so strict about that. I have saved some of my favorites though and hope to be able to wear them in a different town. Both of my children are at universities a few hours away (one in a different state) and one of my best friends just moved 1000s of miles away so I hope I can wear some of my dresses when I visit her. There are not too many ways you can make a formal dress look different unless it is very plain and I am attracted to lace and sparkles. 🙂
Hmm I thought I showed it once before but am not sure… Yes, it would be a different stories with real formal wear like evening dresses…