This is definitely on the casual side of “business casual” but it’s sufficiently professional to pass muster in my office. Although it’s a fine line, I think this falls on the professional side by virtue of being simple: just a shirt, sweater, and pants. Yes, the sweater is whimsical; but keeping the outfit uncluttered (and accessory free) makes it seem a little less “full-time blogger dressing for an imaginary office” and more “full-time actual office dweller”. Ahem.

Ok, here’s something you probably don’t know about me (unless you’re my mom, and you’re not my mom, because my mom doesn’t do the internet): when I was about 11, I went through an intense butterfly-collecting phase one summer. By “collecting”, I mean mostly chasing, because my “net” was an old tennis racquet and, well, you can imagine my rate of success. Mostly, I keep trying to get these little guys:

Pic

Anyway, to this day I have an obsession with butterfly prints, even though collections or actual butterflies kinda creepy me out.

There are days (many days) when I just don’t feel like reinventing the sartorial wheel. On those days, I’m thankful for dependable outfit staples that can be thrown together to make me look presentable at work. Mixing one print with two coordinating neutrals, plus an accent colour (pulled from the print) is about as dependable as it gets – office-appropriate, with a bit of visual interest.

Oh hey, let’s take a closer look at mah bag! It’s very purty, see:

A red bag is by no means a must-have – if you own one or two bags in total, you definitely don’t need a red one – but it’s a nice-to-have in my books, because it works great as a Pop Of Colour. (My blogger mandate is to remind you periodically about the Pop! Of! Colour! It’s, like, written in the small print.)

Got a dependable outfit formula? Tell me.

You’ve seen this dress a bunch of times before. Ditto for the blazer. And the shoes. And the bag. You could call this outfit the sartorial equivalent of comfort food: quick ‘n easy to pull together, but guaranteed to hit the sweet spot.

The dress is ancient, but does occasionally pop up on eBay, and I encourage you to hunt it down, because it’s stupidly easy to accessorize. The abstract print is fun, but not overwhelming. The fabric is some kind of synthetic jersey that drapes nicely, doesn’t wrinkle, feels comfortable, and doesn’t create static. I mean, it doesn’t really get better than that. Oh, and real flattering to boot.

For anyone keeping track of these things at home, the cost-per-wear of this entire outfit (minus the shoes, which were a gift from my husband) is currently a hair over $30. I’ve never really thought about this before, but I feel like an outfit CPW that’s under $25 can be one metric of a well managed wardrobe. I don’t know why, but that feels like a “good” number for me. Maybe that’s an arbitrary number. Maybe there are better metrics out there. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts.