Work Wear Wednesday Week 1

Happy HuMp DaY! I have joined up with some lovely ladies I’ve ‘met’ through the Style Me fashion challenges Alison Lumbatis offers through her blog, Get Your Pretty On. We are going to be linking our blogs up on Wednesdays in order to share our challenge outfits with one another and the readers that follow each of us. As a brand-new blogger, I am afraid I won’t be bringing many readers to their blogs through mine…but maybe some of their faithful followers will add my blog to those they follow. Here’s hoping!

I stumbled upon Alison’s fashion challenges through a link up on Cyndi Spivey’s blog Walking in Grace and Beauty.  The Spring Style Me Pretty Challenge was Alison’s first with over 600 gals from all over the United States (and internationally, as well) participating. Alison provides participants with a shopping list of seasonal essential wardrobe pieces, several examples of each piece and several stores where the piece can be purchased. We are encouraged to “shop” our closets first before heading out to the stores. Of course, none of the suggested items are mandatory purchases and options are provided at different price points so no one has to break her piggy bank to play along! We are given a little more than a week to shop and put together our pieces before Alison releases the first of 21 daily outfit combinations. Participants replicate the daily outfit using pieces from their wardrobe combined with pieces purchased from the shopping list. We are encouraged to make each day’s ensemble our own by adding a bit of ourselves through the use of accessories, different fabrics, patterns and colors.

Sharing photos of ourselves in our outfits on the private challenge Facebook page is one of the highlights of this experience. The fashion challengers are a special group of gals who among the most supportive, complimentary, uplifting anyone could imagine. During the Summer Style Me Pretty Challenge, a swim suit was an optional purchase on the shopping list. On one particular Friday, participating fashionistas were invited to share a picture of themselves in their bathing suit. Because of the safe, supportive nature of this great group of ‘friends’, many of us – myself included – posted a picture of ourselves! Here is the picture I shared taken in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, where I vacationed during part of the summer challenge.

Alison’s third challenge, the Work Wear Challenge, has just begun and participants received their first outfit last Sunday evening to wear Monday. For today’s outfit we were asked to wear a solid colored caridgan and floral, tunic-type blouse with khaki pants. Alison paired statement earrings and bright flats with her sample outfit. This is my interpretation on the first two outfits of the challenge and  today’s Wednesday Work Wear outfit.

Wednesday’s outfit featured khaki pants and a patterned tunic blouse from the Loft Outlet, bright cardigan from the Loft, nude heels and bright flats both purchased at DSW and filigree gold earrings from Wal-Mart.

Day 2 found me wearing a black sheath from Land’s End, white button up blouse from Dress Barn, bright heels from DSW and a statement necklace from Old Navy.

We started the challenge with this simple outfit on Day 1, tunic blouse from NY and Company, black ankle pants from Loft, statement necklace from Edith Marie Jewelry online and Target leopard flats.

Please follow the links below to see how my friends chose to style the Work Wear outfit of the day.