What to wear, when to wear it.

christie

I love Angie's "formulas" for dressing: wedding, smart casual, casual, work from home, etc... Now I would like to know how you ladies distinguish one fashion occasion from another. Where do you wear distinctly casual (yet polished) vs. smart casual? Or smart casual vs. business casual? Or casual and polished vs. casual and not at all polished (thinking shorts and t-shirts here).

18 years ago

Dressing

7 replies

Latest reply was from Sarah

emilykate

Active Member

My breakdown of levels of casual/appropriate occasions:
Distinctly Casual (Unpolished): camping, gardening, shovelling snow, to peek my head out the door to get the mail
Distinctly Casual (Polished): to the grocery store, to get fast food, to play with my cousins or brother (all boys 12 and younger)
Smart Casual: To the mall/shopping, doctors office, movie theatre, casual dinner out (somewhere like applebees as opposed to mcdonalds) casual fridays at work, most family functions other than christmas & thanksgiving
Business Casual: To work, or for important errands such as at the bank or with school administration

18 years ago

AnaElizabeth

Active Member

For me, the "category" I wear to certain places depends on my individual arena. For instance, I'm a student, so I could wear whatever I wanted to school (some people wear their pajamas-gasp!). Because of my personal style, I like to dress more "smart casual" to school. But when I'm going to have a beer with a particular group of friends, I dress more distinctly casual (yet polished) because of the bar we always go to (extremely casual), and the group of friends (again, extremely casual). If I were to dress more smart casual, I would feel very out of place with the group, and they would wonder why I was "so dressed up." I think for most "business casual" dress codes, you can't wear jeans, so the smart casual formula would have to be altered to include something on bottom that wasn't denim.

Since reading Angie's blog, there are only two places I would wear "casual not at all polished" and that is Austin City Limits Festival (whatever clothes you wear will probably be ruined), or to a University of Texas Football Game (you better be sporting a Longhorns T-shirt if you know what's good for you). Other than that, I always try to wear at least casual-yet-polished or smart casual.

18 years ago

mayapple

Active Member

Casual and smart casual are honestly the only two dressing styles that seem to apply to my life right now. When I'm at home, I usually loaf around in navy blue terry pants and matching hoodie--acceptable enough to open the door in if I need to. I wear jeans almost every day, or sometimes leggings or some skinny pants I have. When it's warm I'll also dig into my skirt collection. I don't really like business casual (and I absolutely hate business formal), so I'm not sure what I will do when I get to that point. I love getting dressed up, but rarely have the opportunity (though sometimes I'll make opportunities anyway).

18 years ago

AntjeH

Active Member

I mostly wear smart casual, both in my personal life and at work. I work at a software company with absolutely no dress code: this sadly leads some individuals to come in sweats, but some are dressed in business casual, and the majority is casual or (lightly) smart casual. I find the smart casual style the easiest and funnest to work, so this suits me perfectly.
I rarely ever wear business casual (maybe every few years for interviewing w/in my own company, or when going to a conference), and never business formal.
I actually find the casual look the hardest to get right. I sometimes find myself overdressed at the playground when out with my 6-year old, cause I don't wear sneakers and plain tees. I try feel good about it rather than out of place
I used to own way more real casual things, but then Angie came to overhaul my closet, and I had to fess up that I don't really ever garden, and rarely clean, so we just kept a bunch for my camping trips (which I really do go on :-))

18 years ago

Nicole

Veteran

I'm pretty close to Antje in both age and dress attire. I work at a law firm, but it's a very casual one. I wear smart casual to work, but I don't wear jeans (Unless I'm going in on my "day off" to help my boss out, and even then i wear trouser style dark rinse designer jeans. (I will wear denim skirts, but not faded or worn looking).

When I go out shopping or running errands, I like to wear casual pants with smart casual tops. To me, Casual pants are cords, jeans, and cotton/canvas type pants, usually cargos or some similar military style). In the summer, I used to wear capri's but I'm trying to beef up my skirt and walking short collection for this summer.

The only time I'm casual, is when I'm home and have no intention of going back out. That is when I wear my faded and comfy jeans that I wouldn't wear out in public, or some type of athletic pant.

I only wear athletic sneakers to the gym. I wear boots most of the winter, and sandals most of the summer. I do have a pair of non athletic sneakers that I wear if I'm going to be doing alot of walking.
I definately try to dress according to my plans for the day.

18 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I am VERY impressed with your dress codes ladies. Brilliant!

18 years ago

Sarah

Active Member

Wow this is a great topic! I love the way everyone has broken down what they wear when/where. It's so nice to read for those of us, like me, who are new to all of this. I know I'm a little late for joining it, but I've been gone for over a week and now I'm trying to catch up. I'm still not sure what category all of my clothes fall into, but here's my list. I know it could use some improving, but that's what this group is for.

School (where I spend most of my time): casual (either with a skirt or pants depending on the time of year), or my "nice clothes," or smart casual (on Fridays).

Church: Either smart casual or what I would call my "nice clothes." They aren't really "business formal" or "business casual" so I'm not sure what to call them. Maybe sometime I'll post some pictures and try to get help defining what category or clothing type they fall into.

At home (cleaning, doing homework, and working out): Jeans that I wouldn't wear out of the house (too big and too short) or my one pair of athletic pants with a boxy t-shirt. I'll wear tennis shoes to work out, but other than that I wear mostly ballet flats at home. I do not own any sweats and almost never wear my sweatshirts. When my husband gets home I try to change back into school clothes to make him happy.

Grocery store: Sadly, usual the same as at home, but sometimes I'll go more fashionable casual or smart casual. I know I need improving here.

Restaurants, movies, shopping, etc.: Smart casual or casual, same as school.

18 years ago

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