Dress up occasions? - YouLookFab Forum

Category

General

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Dress up occasions?

Runcarla

Veteran

I had an epiphany earlier this year. I need enough elevated outfits to cover at least half the time I spend in clothes!

I love travel, and I use it as an opportunity to dress up. When I say ‘dress up’, I mean elevated casual items. (A litmus test for me is to ask: would I post this outfit as a WIW?). If I add up all the travel occaisions, it would total about 70 days per year.

Most of my time (I thought) is grubbing around my gardens, or in home-making activities, with some fitness activities and regular long walks (2 hrs) thrown in for good measure. For these activities I wear practical items that are more about function, and less about style (but not something I would be ashamed to be seen in, in public.)

I also find other occasions to dress up, however. I’m retired, so I don’t have the occasion to dress up for work, but I do dress up 2-3 times a week for:

- dates with DH (dinner, theatre, concert, or movie)
- weekly Bridge at the community centre
- social bridge with another couple (our home or theirs)
- shopping trips (including weekly grocery shopping)
- visit to the stylist or aesthetician
- visit to the doctor or dentist

So, allowing 2.5 occasions per week for the 42 weeks I’m not travelling (105) plus the 70 travel occasions, I need ‘dress up’ clothes sufficient to cover almost half the year - or 175 days/365!

I suspect Angie will post that she dresses up every day! LOL! What about you? I wonder if folks who think they live in yoga pants, actually might not!

General

19 replies

Latest reply was from anchie

The Cat

Veteran

I wear elevated casual outfits every day, at least part of the day.

Brooklyn

Veteran

I go for a long walk every morning with my DH and we have coffee while out and about. I treat that as an opportunity to dress up (in an elevated casual way). So I have some opportunity to “dress up” everyday. Sometimes I will stay in that outfit, without the outdoor shoes, for the rest of the day. Sometimes I will change to exercise wear (or lounge wear) at home. In Summer I generally have to change at least my top after going out for a walk but I will probably stay in my skirt. (I WFH but don’t treat that as a dress up opportunity.)

On top of my walks I have social occasions and the usual errands. I get a little more dressed up for social occasions. For a social occasion in winter for instance I might wear a skirt but for everyday wear in winter I’m more likely to wear jeans just because I can’t be bothered with tights. Also, I will definitely wear make up for a social occasion but maybe not on a regular day…

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Well for me Carla my work days (which are 3 longish days per week, about 8.5-9 hour days) are a constant opportunity to “dress up” somewhat, and I have realised I do really appreciate the compliments I receive there on my outfits, often shoes but sometimes other parts of the outfit.
Many other days I am deliberately dressing down for baby granddaughter care but still feel presentable if I take her out. We are socialising much less than in the past partly because my husband is working like crazy these days, and we have the family living next door so often have family dinners together. If I go out shopping, which is rarer than in the past, I wear similar outfits to my work ones and feel good in those.

Anonymous

I'm not comfortable going in public in less than smart casual, and it's a rare day that I don't have to leave my property at all- unfortunately. Real dress up occasions are rare though- just if I'm going to the theatre, a jazz concert, holidays, or a networking event/doing a presentation.
ETA- any of my out and about outfits would be fine for a WIW.

Dee

Veteran

I'm retired too, but my so- called dressy occasions are getting few and farther between.

I don't consider grocery shopping a real opportunity to dress up. I'm presentable but would never post such an outfit.
My everyday outfit is usually jeans or shorts and a tee. I have a varied collection that I enjoy combining together, but its nothing out of the ordinary.

My dressy opportunities are perhaps 1.5 times a week, meeting a friend for tea, going shopping (not for groceries) or a family occasion. I do miss going to work for the opportunity to dress up more because I'm not inclined to dress up if I'm just hanging around my house in the suburbs. It seems I need an audience to get me to wear my dressier outfits.

unfrumped

Veteran

I agree! Maybe not exact percentages, but that “ elevated casual” and elevated basics are what I WANT to wear in quite a few situations.

What I reach for then are things that have some higher level of polish but still not too “ look at me”. It may be the const, the fabric being not flimsy , the fit being spot- on, slouch if intended but not schlub, fitted where intended but not tight, not a wrinkled mess.

I don’t need loads, but do need a range of “ temperatures “ in all the components- tops, bottoms, jackets, so I’m paying attention to that- for example, I may have a great “ elevated” pullover knit but just can’t wear it in certain weather.

I have at least 4-5 different groups of people on a regular basis so it’s easy to repeat just amongst those different gatherings, partly to make dressing easier- as in, aha, this worked great for that, so let’s do that this weekend- and because I want to get enough use out of things in the right seasons.

Helena

Veteran

My lifestyle ranges from loungey-casual to smart-casual, with extremely rare events for dressy outfits. I like to be able to mix and match across levels of dress so I can easily shift gears (easy example being swapping sneakers for dressier shoes, but the theory applies to tops, pants and jackets too).

Irina

Veteran

I wear dressier clothes twice a week for the office, plus on weekends when we either go to a gallery or go out for lunch, walk downtown. I also wear nicer things to go mall shopping, maybe once in a few weeks.

I wear some sweatpants, old jeans and hoodies to a gym, grocery shopping or our daily walks in our neighborhood. I don’t have a problem posting those outfits either because they are real clothes I wear. They are more practical than my dressier pieces I have but I don’t go from yoga pants to sparkly things on a same day, it’s just not me.

cat2

Veteran

We are on the dressier side of casual; neither of us really likes to wear athletic clothing for anything but working out or puttering in the yard. And we try to have fun events on the calendar every week; last week a concert with friends, this week a fun art exhibit, etc. And our town runs cute seasonal events that also get us out and about.

Indigoprint

Veteran

I work with infants and toddlers so my work clothes are casual. Similar to Carla my home activities call for sturdy "work" clothes. So I "dress for dinner" I have aprons to protect but have found this habit to work for me. I can try out new outfits, and wear some of my "dressier" items on a more frequent basis.

RobinF

Veteran

I would say I am a pretty casual dresser. I work 5 days a week but in an all male shop/office so they really don't care or notice what I wear. I don't wear jeans except on Fridays but casual pants with a top and some sort of sweater. Definitely comfy joggers and sweats at home in the evenings. I like to be a little bit nicer when we go out and do something on weekends but still mostly jeans. I probably don't have enough lounge wear since I do spend a bit of time in it.

Bijou

Veteran

I dress up every day for my work from home meetings because I prefer wearing my nicer clothes, when I am at my desk they are not likely to get ruined. I change into gear for exercise and cleaning and get out of it as soon as the task is completed and back into my preferred outfit. It is not unusual for me to wear three different sets of clothes in one day before I put on my pyjamas at the end of the day. How I am dressed impacts my happiness levels. I would hate to have a closet of lovely clothes that were going unworn because I did not think it was appropriate to wear them because I wasn’t doing very much that day. I like to think a potential adventure may pop up and often it does!

Joy

Veteran

I am retired like you and mostly wear washable pant outfits, but try to wear a dress or skirt twice a week, on Sunday to Church and for a meeting or outing during the week. Casual dresses are helpful like tee shirt and sweatshirt dresses. Most of my winter dresses are sweater dresses that can be dresses up or down. Getting really dressed up can be daunting, and I wear those clothes the least. But I have what I need and do not go shopping, including accessories. Sometimes I update items, usually shoes or a topper for these occasions. I would like a dressy pant suit for midwinter. Someday I will find the right white tuxedo.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I wear my beautiful clothes and pearls EVERY DAY!!! I also style my hair and do my make-up

I am dressier when I WFH - and those are my more casual looks! - than most people who go to the office each day. Dressing this way makes me happy. It's authentic! I am always comfortable, and lead a doggie life! So as long as the feet are happy, I can move fast in my outfit, and my clothes don't get in the way of Sam and Jo's needs - I wear dressy clothes daily!

That said, I don't wear heels at all. I dress down items with denim, and sport a crossbody. These casual elements relax my style.

I dress up more when I work with clients or go out for dinner. But not much more because I'm dressy any way!

I'm high fiving Brooklyn and Bijou who have a similar dressing-up routine to me.

Roberta

Veteran

It's all about the season for me. Summer is six days a week in shorts and a tee, with a simple dress once a week for variety. Cool weather clothing is much more interesting and WIW-worthy, as Runcarla says.

Although I wear dresses less often once it cools off, I start to wear layers and accessories, and that automatically feels more dressy to me. The textures and patterns have lots more variety too.

Style Fan

Veteran

Elevated casual is a good term.
My dress-up occasions are about twice a week. I wear nicer clothes to go to the grocery store or run errands. I do something extra if we go to a movie, concert or dinner.

Jonesy

Veteran

I dress up for work (I teach a few days a week, plus have in-person meetings on other days) and when we go out, maybe a few times per month, to movies, the symphony, to dinner, museums, and so on. In the summer, I am much more casual, since I am working from home full-time and doing lots of gardening in my spare time. It's funny: Last week we were invited to a couple's house for dinner and I dressed up a little bit, but they were both in what I would consider gear (t-shirts, tech fabric pants, sandals with socks). I didn't feel too weird, but I did notice the difference! I reminded myself of Angie and other fabbers who are typically the most dressed up within a group :).

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

If I am leaving the house to go further than the little grocery two doors down, I wear elevated casual - meaning I gave it some degree of thought. I notch it up one more degree for holiday dinners (frequent). At home I wear my house clothes - but they were chosen with some thought too!

anchie

Veteran

I dress up every day. I dress up 5 days to go to the office. Saturdays are errands days and we usually socialize on Sundays. Actually, I dress up every time I leave my apartment, even if I only go for a walk in neighborhood. We live in urban area and nobody is wearing yoga pants or sweats unless they are actually running or doing yoga in park. I am actually looking forward to dress down - I have so few opportunities to wear my jeans.