WHAT I WORE TO WORK MY FIRST WEEK BACK

Not going to lie, but one of the main reasons I was excited about heading back to work after my maternity leave was getting to wear my work clothes again! I mean, it’s been an entire year since I’ve worn any of these items, so it was like a closest full of brand new clothes! To make my “working mom” life easier, I plan my outfits for the entire week over the weekends. It feels like I’m going shopping every weekend, but it’s not costing me any money! Give me a HEALL YA for a free shopping high! I’m getting creative by making new outfits out of my old clothing and really enjoying the experience! I’m sharing what I wore my first week back and hopefully you’ll get some inspiration to create your own fun outfits out of your already existing wardrobe!

Outfit #1.

Both the blouse and pants I wore that day are from Dynamite. Dynamite has been my go to store for office clothes for quite a few years. I always find they have the in trend items, the quality of their clothing is really good and their prices are pretty affordable compared to other stores. As I said I plan my outfits for the week in advance; this involves looking at the weather because I don’t want to be underdressed or overdressed for the temperatures. The weather was still mild the week I returned to the office, so a blouse was a good option to wear. I mostly just really wanted to wear these black pants, because I’m obsessed with the ribbed detail around the knee. I paired the ensemble with tanned fall booties from the Shoe Company and gold jewellery.

Outfit #2.

I picked this dress up last summer from Ardene, while pregnant. It was stretchy and so super soft, great for an expanding belly. The dress is very casual, the sleeves actually have what I would describe sport style stripes on the sleeves. (Say that one five times fast!) Think of the stripes or lines on football sleeves. Totally meant for wearing with sneakers or flip flops, but the burgundy/plum in the flowers were speaking to me. I mean that is the “official” colour of fall. Well, in my books it’s the official colour of fall. I decided to pair the dress with a long black cardigan with leather detailing on the collar; again from Dynamite, black tights and matching burgundy ankle booties which were also scooped up at Ardene. I have to say Ardene has really stepped up their shoe game from their days of “3 shoes for $10”. I went overboard on the “accessorizing” by doing the full Burgundy Bar by Maybelline makeup and my Sephora plum lippie. I also threw on a pair of burgundy/plum tassel earrings I just picked up last month from the accessory section in H&M.

Outfit #3.

This was my favourite look for the week. A “thrifted” leather skirt, simple long sleeve black top tucked into the skirt and a long Heather tanned vest to complete the outfit. I opted for more sheer tights for this look, black booties and a double choker necklace. The black long sleeve is from Garage, a cute ballerina style cut and the vest is from Forever 21. The choker, again just recently purchased from H&M.

Outfit #4.

A dress from Dynamite (yup, again) I’ve had for YEARS and is one of my fave work dresses! You could technically wear this in the summer, but for me personally I don’t feel comfortable wearing it without tights as I find the length on me a bit short for bare legs. I adore the neckline, with the cute exaggerated collar and double breasted button front. Also this dress has freakin’ pockets, like enough said! I have always called this dress my “Paris” (but said like Par-eee) dress, something about the dress just seems so French. Maybe it’s the minimalist black and white thick stripes. Like a mime, ha! I paired the dress with cute little wedge round toe shoes.

Outfit #5.

I mentioned before in my Lululemon’s for Fall post, how much I love the combination of olive green and tan in the fall. I took my oversized t-shirt dress (with pockets!) that I bought - are you ready - from Walmart last fall! I paired it over a plain black long sleeve to keep me warmer and sheer nude tights; again from Walmart. They are actually my fave brand of tights; Walmart’s George brand. They have this beautiful shimmer to them and don’t give the impression you’re actually even wearing tights. You know how sometimes “nude” tights actually look like “Tan Mom’s” orange skin? These don’t do that. I completed the outfit with my tanned over the knee suede boots from Call It Spring. The boots and the hem of this dress overlapped, so I opted to fold the boots under my knees. Again I accessorized with simple gold jewels one of which is my new fave necklace from Alex and Ani.

I had so much fun creating my outfits for the week and it really set the tone for doing it the following weeks. The picture taking proved to be the trickiest part, one, because it was dark and rainy the entire week! That made it super tricky to get good quality lighting for mirror selfies. Two, prior to this post, I’ve maybe taken a handful of mirror selfies in my entire life. I had no idea what I was doing, but nearer to the end of the outfit week I think I was getting better at it. Do you agree?

Would you guys like to see more of these types of blog posts? What I wear in a week? What I wear to a special event? I’d love to hear what you’d like to be reading or seeing from my blog! I’ve also linked some similar pieces below, so you can shop the looks I wore if you aren’t up to creating similar outfits out of what is already in your closest!