I just love dressing up for the holidays! Don’t you?! I’m the type of person that will find just about any excuse to add a little plaid or pop of red to an outfit to make it feel more Christmas-y. So today I thought it would be fun to share a holiday style at work look that is professional enough for the office but could also easily be worn to a fancy Christmas party.
You might remember seeing this skirt in this post back in 2015 (woah, how time flies!). Well, I can honestly say that it is still a favorite of mine and holding up strong! I love that the tweed material and the longer pencil cut of the skirt make it a classic, but the sparkly embellishments and delicate lace trim give it that extra something special and really set it apart from anything else I own in my closet.
The last time I styled this skirt, I paired it with a black Stewart plaid button-up and burgandy suede pumps. But today I wanted to create a more layered look using a neutral sweater and one that could be worn year-round. As someone who loves Christmas, it is easy to accumulate a lot of holiday pieces that can only be worn one month out of the year. So for this look, I challenged myself to incorporate a sweater that could be worn throughout the year (not just in December) into a Christmas look that only uses “holiday pieces” I already have. And I love how the final result came out!
When in doubt, my go-to for making an outfit more festive is to add bright pops of red. So it was a no-brainer to choose this red plaid button-up as my base layer. Next, I needed a more neutral-colored sweater to layer on top. I could have easily gone with a solid-colored sweater, but instead chose to mix things up in the pattern department with this tippi sweater in a pretty cat print.
I’ve mentioned my tips for mixing patterns before (full post here), but let’s get into why I think this print mixing works especially well in this outfit.
Firstly, the bright colors of the plaid pair well with the neutral colors of the sweater. It’s always easier to pair a colored print with a neutral print. And secondly, you may have noticed that this is a somewhat unique case of mixing stripes with polka dots (a fail-proof combination, in my opinion). Here, the plaid acts as the “stripes” and the cat print acts as the “polka dots”. It’s a straight lines mixed with rounded shapes kind of rule! Haha. A little abstract, but it works!
I gave my tips for layering a button-up underneath a sweater in this post, and you might remember that I talked about rolling the sleeves of your button-up over your sweater to account for any discrepancies in sleeve length between the two. Here since the tippi sweater is already 3/4 sleeve length, I chose to just leave the longer sleeves of the button-up uncuffed to show more of that pretty red plaid along my arm. It’s the same idea of adding a layered, cascading effect down your arm, just a little different implementation here since the exact pieces I’m layering are different. It’s all about taking note of your specific pieces and making them work well together for your given outfit.
As you might notice, I again added on a fun statement necklace to make the sweater-to-button up transition near the neck a little more festive. Plus, this red necklace would be a great statement piece, year-round. (I can’t wait to wear mine on the 4th of July this summer!)
And a pair of classic red pumps pulls the whole look together! In the past I’ve been a huge proponent of the chunky block heel for both style comfort (and I still am!). But lately I’ve been getting more into the pointed toe pump style, like these. Which is your favorite?
What about you? How do you get festive at the office?
You might also like…The BEST Holiday Party Skirt and Holiday Red at Work.
Photos by Noah Berg
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Get the Look…
Sweater: J. Crew | Button-Up: J. Crew Factory (similar) | Skirt: J. Crew (similar; last seen here) | Shoes: BCBG (similar) | Necklace: J. Crew
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