Dress Down Day

Posted by Jalisa on May 14, 2014 under Dressed Up Casual

Hey Babes!

This week's work look is perfect for a dress down or casual day at the office. I know many places have either a weekly or monthly dress down day, where you're allowed to wear more casual pieces, but of course still look presentable and professional. A look like this can also be inspirational for those of you who already work in a more semi-casual setting as well.

Who doesn't like wearing jeans to work? It's important, however, to understand the affect that the color or rinse of the denim plays in making your outfit appear more dressed up. If you've been following my blog for a while, then you've heard me mention time and time again how darker rinses have a more dressy feel, making them more suitable for the office. Plus, they add a slimming effect to the leg. In this case, I'm wearing dark wash bell bottom/flared jeans, a style that is perfect for all you pear shapes. The reason is that, as I just mentioned, the darker wash provides a slimming effect to the leg, including the butt, hips, and thigh areas. The fact that the leg is flared helps to balance out the width of the hips as well, since it's mimicking the width on the bottom. This creates a nice clean streamline affect, ideal for the more bottom curvier shapes, including the hourglass.

You may remember me mentioning in my video for styling the pear shape that whisking is not ideal because it draws attention to the hips and thighs, since it's white, which highlights. However, when the jeans have width on the bottom, it helps counteract that effect, making it more permissible and flattering.

I do want to also mention that this style of jean is not only perfect for these two shapes, but also for the apple and inverted triangle. These two shapes lack bottom curves and I always mention that it's important to add visual weight to the bottom portion for that reason. With these jeans, it does just that and for the inverted triangle, it balances out the width of the shoulders, as it does for the width of the hips for the pear and hourglass shapes, since it, again, mimics the width.

When it comes to height, I know flared bottoms can be a bit intimidating for petites because there's a lot of fabric on the bottom, but you can still wear them, which I mentioned in my video for styling the petite sized body (watch here). The key to pulling it off is to wear tops that have a v-neckline to help lengthen the upper body; combined with the flared jeans, the entire body will have the appearance of a longer silhouette. When it comes to shoes, I'd suggest going for a pointed-toe, which generally lengthens the legs, in a darker color to blend with the dark rinse of the jeans. This will give the appearance of a long leg from hip bone to the point of the shoe!