The Closet Coach

One of the things I talked about in my series The 5 Levels of Working Mom Outfits was how to transition from one outfit level to another.

Often many of the pieces are the same; the difference is in accessories, or shoes, or one garment.

In the next two outfit posts I’m going to show you how this works by starting with a Level 3/Casual Friday outfit and then bumping it up to a Level 4/Client Meeting.

(Those are the levels for my workplace, anyway; you might consider these two outfits a Level 2/Weekend Chic and Level 3/Casual Friday. Either way, they differ by a level of dressiness–as you’ll see.)

We got our first dusting of snow for the season (thus the indoor photography), so I turned to layers once again. Because it’s apparently my new theme, the bottom layer was a turtleneck.

I wondered what it would look like topped with the vest I got last summer, so I added that. I could’ve gone the 3-piece suit route and added a blazer, but I thought a denim shirt might be interesting instead.

And what works better with denim than brown corduroy? (Peeking through at the waistline is a red belt, not brown; I was inspired by the way Allie recently wore an orange belt with black and tan.)

The final two pieces that make this outfit a Level 3 to me instead of a Level 2 are the flowing animal print scarf (which I slip-knotted to make a sort of cravat for my menswear-inspired vest) and the pointed-toe heeled boots.

Take the scarf off and put on flats and it would definitely be a more casual outfit, don’t you think?

Turtleneck: Lands End (similar, Three Dots, $55).
Vest: H&M (similar, Coldwater Creek, on sale for $20).
Denim shirt: Old Navy (similar, $78, Zappos).
Corduroy pants: J. Brand (similar, 612 Corduroy Pencil Leg, $172).
Boots: DSW (similar, Bandolino, $76).
Scarf: JCPenney (similar, Nine West, $24).
Outfit level: 3

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