Supporting the Seniors

My first outfit in today's post may not seem fully appropriate in terms of professionalism at first glance, but allow me to explain:

I heard from a couple former students (who are now seniors) that the senior class decided to have a "Shoe Spirit Week" this week. I found out on Tuesday, so I asked what the themes were for the rest of the week. My Ballroom Dance class has a number of seniors, so I wanted to support them if I could, plus, who wouldn't have fun joining in with something like this? I learned that Wednesday was going to be "Converse or Vans" day, so I decided to design an outfit around my Converse All-Stars.

As I mentioned earlier, it's not the most professional outfit I could have chosen to wear. It's not horrifically unprofessional either, but it's a little more casual than I usually wear. The ivory skinnies look more work-appropriate than any blue jeans would, and the collared button-down black blouse is nicer than a pullover tee. I added a maroon lace-edged camisole under the blouse, partially for modesty (though I could have just buttoned the shirt up to the top), but more to add another color to the outfit besides just white and black; I think it worked well breaking up the otherwise block-y color palette.

And, of course, I wore my black Converse, which is really where the outfit becomes overtly casual. But when you think about it, am I being a better teacher by wearing "traditional" professional clothes or by supporting my students in a fun community-building shoe-fest? I decided the latter.


Get the look for yourself:
Blouse - Goodwill; similar here.
Camisole - Target, available here.
Skinnies - Express; similar here.
Shoes - Target, available here.
Bracelet - Street vendor; similar here.
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Today's shoe theme was boots, which was an ostensibly easy one for me to follow, yet I took FOREVER (hyperbolically speaking) to come up with an outfit I liked.

Eventually I decided on this striped shirt-dress and black boots. Technically, the sash around the waist is supposed to be a strip of the same printed fabric as the rest of the dress, but I couldn't find it in my rush this morning, so I grabbed a black sash instead, and I think it worked fine. I figured no necklace was needed for this, but I wore some dangly black earrings and a simple black bracelet for my other jewelry.

For the boots, I chose these folded suede boots, but I regretted it immediately upon arriving at school. As it turns out, right boot slouches A LOT, and left boot stays nicely in place; right boot got on my bad side real fast. See, I'm even giving it a dirty look:

"Really, boot? Really?"

It annoyed me so much that within twenty minutes I had to drive myself home to change into a different pair of black boots. (Unfortunately, I didn't have time to retake pictures, but the general look was very similar.) Once I had the new boots on, however, I was quite pleased with the overall look, and happy that I was able to play along with the seniors for a second day.

Tomorrow? The theme is mismatched shoes. I... don't think I'll be participating.


Get the look for yourself:
Dress - Target; similar here.
Boots - Cathy Jean; similar (and hopefully less annoying) here.