Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Casual and Comfortable Outfits: Alternatives to Yoga Pants (What I Wore Wednesday: November 4)

A lot of my work is done at home - grading, lesson planning, responding to emails. I’m really only on campus for teaching, office hours, and meetings, which is about fifteen hours a week. I therefore often change out of my “work clothes” around noon. If you follow me on Instagram or have read my What I Wore Wednesday posts, you may wonder why I change out of my “work clothes” as my outfits are pretty casual for the most part. And that’s true since I teach in a very laid back environment.

I guess the answer is that I like to be as comfortable as possible when I’m not on campus, and it’s also necessary as I am known to get colored ink over my clothes when I write feedback. I think I’m in such deep thought that I don’t realize what I’m doing. Well, that’s my excuse at least, and I’m sticking to it! All I really know is that I find lots of pink, green, and purple (my favorite pen colors for writing feedback) marks on my clothes.

When I change out of my “work clothes,” it’s very tempting to reach for too casual clothes like yoga pants and tees. I have lately made an effort to wear more “put together” casual clothes for the second part of my day.

I bought the flare jeans at the beginning of September but hadn’t worn them because the length works with my boots, for which it had been too warm. They are super soft; in fact, I read one negative review where someone complained that they are so soft they don’t feel like jeans. I think that’s great and why I love them! I paired them with a simple turtleneck and silver necklace. I felt great in the late morning/afternoon/evening, which was spent grading, picking up the kid, dropping off the kid at his afternoon activity, and running some errands.
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On Friday, I spent the day grading midterms and lesson planning. I was comfortable in dark skinny jeans, a long sleeve black and white tee, and a favorite necklace of mine. I really like the skinny jeans because they have a lot of stretch; they are as comfortable as yoga pants but look more put together. I got the tee years ago at White House Black Market, and I love the material. It’s super soft and comfortable. I need to get another one in the same material soon!

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Another super comfortable outfit were the dark skinny jeans paired with a striped Banana Republic shirt. It’s a super casual outfit but more put together than yoga pants and a tee shirt.

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But there are also days when my teaching clothes are so comfortable that I don’t feel the need to change when I get home. This was actually the case on Monday and yesterday.
The black and white dress and the leggings are super comfortable, so I wore them all day without ever even thinking about changing. It’s really a perfect outfit for my life as I feel it’s dressy enough for teaching yet comfortable enough to wear even if I don’t have to be dressed up.

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And my new cashmere sweater is so soft that I didn’t want to take it off and wore it all day. I was extra careful not get ink on the sweater…

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When I’m adding new pieces to my wardrobe, I will be looking for dressy(ier) pieces that are comfortable and easy to care for (or super cozy like the cashmere sweater!) so that I'll want to wear them all day.

Questions: What are your favorite comfortable outfits that are still somewhat “put together?"

Be well,
Andrea