The Quintessential Office Outfit (Coffee not included)
- Annie Hull
- Jan 17, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 19, 2023
What’s more quintessential than a white button-up and a bold red lip?
While pink is, forever and always, my favorite color, I absolutely adore this simple combo. I think of Audrey Hepburn in pencil pants, Lily Collins on the red carpet.
It makes me feel like a fashion editor in New York City, a career woman climbing the corporate ladder. I may not be a lawyer yet, but it sure makes me look the part.
I have several different types of black bottoms - black palazzo pants, pencil pants, straight-leg trousers, and every length of black skirts imaginable - but my black skinny jeans are just comfortable. I’ve really, really tried to break free of the death grip they have on me, but I can’t. You can pry skinny jeans from my cold, dead, millennial hands.
These black skinny jeans are from Old Navy. I’ve had them for nearly ten years and worn them often. I want to say I got them while I was still in high school. Old Navy’s quality is not quite what it used to be, but these jeans have served me well.
This white shirt (that I obviously didn’t iron before heading out the door) is from SHEIN. It’s a classic staple. White button-ups tend to get a little faded, a little dingier, a little more…cream-colored, let’s say, over time. I have purchased white button-ups from Goodwill as well, but right now this is the one that’s in my closet rotation.
The pumps are my favorite part, simply because of where I got them. These beauties (well…they were beauties when I got them. They’re looking a little worn now) are Kate Spade pumps. I paid $5.99 - FIVE NINETY-NINE - for them at Goodwill!
The belt and purse are dupes I ordered a while back, and the coffee is a brown sugar iced latte with oat milk from our local coffee shop (in case you were wondering). It’s the bomb.
In total, I think the outfit probably cost around $98, which makes it more expensive than most outfits I wear. The jeans were probably $15, the shirt was probably $15-$18, the belt about $20, and the purse was around $45 (if I remember correctly).
However, these pieces are all staples that I've worn over and over again. The jeans are so old I doubt Old Navy still carried this exact pair. The purse I've had for so long I don't remember how much I paid for it. And every single thing I'm wearing has gotten a LOT of wear.
To save money, I could have purchased the shirt at Goodwill for around $5-$7, and carried a different purse. Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the price breakdown!
My boss (who is also my mother) hates these pants - she says they're jeans and totally inappropriate for the office - so I wore it on a day I knew she had court and wouldn't be in to see them! No harm, no foul, right?
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