Rainy Day Casz

Draft:

Earlier Drafts:
I wore this classic white button-down on a return flight from summer travels.
I wore this vest in an outfit I'm almost too embarrassed over to reference.  Let's call it a lapse in judgment, shall we?  Or, better yet, a "teachable moment," because I won't make that mistake again.

Composition:
white button-down (Gap)
wool blend vest (Old Navy)
dark wash boot cut jeans (Banana Republic)
black flats (Zara)
gold necklaces (gifted)
bracelets (thrifted and/or gifted, can't recall)

Usage:
Yesterday's day-long downpour posed a dressing challenge for me.  The temperature had dropped too low for capris or shorts, and, as much as I fancy my polka-dotted galoshes, I wasn't mentally ready to flip the boots-plus-jeans switch.  Actually, I typically wear dresses on rainy days.  Jersey dresses and boots.  No soggy hemlines to contend with and all.  However, since I've been in dress overkill mode lately -- having worn frocks here and here and a few days in between -- dresses weren't appealing to me.  So what's a girl to do but call on her closet classics?

For me, a white button-down shirt and a well-fitting pair of jeans solve nearly all wardrobe dilemmas.  Uncomplicated and understated, the combination epitomizes casual elegance in my book.  You might say, as Katie did yesterday of her jeans and tees, that it's a way to downshift sartorially without stalling out.  (Does this analogy break down, drivers of manual vehicles?)

By the by, I managed to sport jeans despite the wet weather by fashioning some good ol' fashioned cuffed pant hems.  Nothing innovative here.  Nothing too chic either.  But I did remain dry while puddle-jumping.  I unrolled the cuffs after stepping indoors.

Anyway, speaking of Katie, her post yesterday helped me identify my own refreshed perspective on dressing casually.  Like hers, my recent months have been low-key.  While job-hunting and tackling home DIY projects, I've been marinating in the world of anti-professional style.  Not that it's foreign territory to me.  As much as I hope Liz's dressing habits are contagious, I've not yet caught the professional attire bug.  But when I was busy with work and school, and supposed to "dress up," my version of "casual" was downright sloppy. Tanks and sweatshirts, and not cute ones.  My weekends and off-hours were like collapsing at the end of a very confusing, pseudo-professional sartorial sprint: I gave up.  The awkward effort of merging my rookie student style with an aspirationally adult style exhausted me.  Now, after time away, I've come to regard "dressing up" and "dressing down" as distinct yet equal counterparts.  Neither one is necessarily more "mature" than the other.  Rather than neglecting casual style entirely, or allowing professional style to absorb it, I'm trying to distribute my attention evenly between the extremes.  One result?  I hope I'm generating more creative, intentional-looking casual outfits.  Perhaps the above ensemble is evidence?  After all, it was a dreary "off" day, and I didn't wear a hoodie.  Or even my usual one-and-done jersey dress.  Hooray, progress!

Happy Friday! Oh, and Huzzah for October!

Prompts:

• How do you dress on rainy days?  Any go-to items or favorite combinations?
• How do you wear classic white button-down shirts?  Do they serve double-duty in your closet as they do in mine, acting both professionally and casually?  Or do you reserve them for one or the other style?
• Liz and Katie have both recently written about their professional versus casual dressing mindsets.  How do you describe your personal style on a scale from one extreme to the other?