Life

You Know The Other Parents Are Judging You By Your Outfit, Right?

My daughter is attending a new school this year – one that surprisingly has a busy calendar of activities for the parents to note, memorize and attend.  The kids are only 2 mind you but there is a teacher visit at your home, several parent mixers, seminars, a curriculum lowdown night, picture day, parent teacher conferences, holiday events and more to log into my expanding calendar. Mind you, I LOVE the idea of community involvement and appreciate such planning on behalf of this very organized school and parent’s group.  Yet somehow I found it a bit dizzying and wondered to myself how parents of multiple children deal with it all. (Please explain if you happen to be one!)

I just attended my first parent mixer.  And I felt oddly anxious about it like it was MY first day at school.  Remember the butterflies you got at the prospect of entering a new classroom with no known friends, wondering who would sit next to you at lunch?  That was me as I prepared to put my best foot forward and couldn’t for the life of me decide what to WEAR!  I’m a fashion blogger that has styled hundreds of models in my lifetime yet I had to change my outfit 3 times to finally feel confident walking out the door!

Image from white coffee magazine

Outfit 1 was too flashy.  While the outfit might have screamed Stella, and announced fashionista (which I’m perfectly comfortable with), it felt too over-the-top for a parental meetup.  And first impressions are everything.

So I put away the bling and created a preppy, understated outfit.  And soon enough I was starting to feel like Goldilocks.  The first bed was too big. The next was too small.  Well this outfit was too boring.  Not me.  Undress!

Outfit 3 if I had to title it would be called, “conservative chic.”  I dusted off a Shoshanna work dress from my past life which was colored a neutral (i.e. relatable) camel and sported a fit and flare style.  I accessorized with sensible stacked heels and a smart Prada purse along with simple, modern jewelry.  Finally!  I figured I could pass as a working mother coming straight to the meetup, without scaring anyone off with a suit.

Shoshanna dress, Prada purse, Zara heels, Sisley necklace

Phew, that took a  lot of over-thinking.  Who knew parent – school meetings could be so stressful?  And the school year hasn’t even started. Ha!

Travel- How to Pack Light and Still Stay Fashionable.

5 dresses + 1 tutu+  2 vests + 2 shirts+ 1 jacket+ 3 shoes = 23 outfits!  See for yourself!  It’s all about mixing it up with different accessories and layering in different ways.  Here is what I packed for my 2 year old toddler’s first trip to Italy this Spring.

My mom gave Juliet this cute Ralph Lauren dress which I was so excited about because it perfectly matched her little blue bow shoes from Gymboree.  Here it is styled with Madeline (the doll) as the muse.  And below, is another way the dress was worn by Juliet while on the trip.

I found the adorable fanny pack at a local Italian store called Accessorize and let Juliet choose which snacks to carry in it.  Isn’t it just the cutest fanny pack you’ve ever seen??

This blue dress is a vintage find from Lishyloo and styled two ways with different layers.  It’s topped with a Gap raincoat on the left (which I’m selling by the way), and worn over a tutu on the right.  Below she wears the dress without any layers and no socks for the 3rd look.

Going along with the red, blue, yellow color theme, this vintage dress is styled 2 different ways below and is also inspired by Juliet’s doll, Madeline.  With vintage clothes, it’s always best to style with modern accessories and shoes to avoid looking too costume-y.

This long – sleeved dress, also another Lishyloo vintage find, can be worn on colder days or night and is seen layered with a fur vest for extra warmth on the left, without it on the right.

And here is Juliet wearing the dress accessorized the 3rd way.

1 denim vest worn 3 ways.  In the picture on the left, it’s worn over a white tutu dress and topped with a faux collar/tie that I bought off of Mabel’s Etsy store.  On the right, it’s paired with the tutu skirt and a simple white blouse that I swapped at the last Swappies event.

On our second day in Rome, she wore it with the tutu dress and a yellow bow in her hair.

And here is another vest outfit with a mini gondola hat that I couldn’t resist buying when there.  It was kinda love at first sight.

This white tutu dress with the sequin detailing on the top is so versatile.  I find that I can style it numerous ways.  In addition to the above examples, see below.

We ended up buying a lace dress in Venice under which I had Juliet wear this white dress because of how see through the dress was.  It acted like a slip.  The shoes were bought in Italy at the Zara there.

The red tutu that we packed was also styled 2 more different ways – shown below.   You can see how the same pieces can look so fresh and new when paired with different items.

Here it is worn in Italy another way.

One of my tips when trying to pack light for a trip is to pick the shoes first (pick ones that can match lots of outfits!) Then work your outfits under the strict rule that they have to go with those shoes.  For our 16 day trip, each of us packed just 3 shoes.  Pack accessories and layers to change up your basics and you’ll look like you’re wearing a new outfit each day!