I’m not a mom, but I’ve styled more than my share of mothers and today I’m going to teach you how to create fashionable mom looks.
Styling moms is totally different than styling women for the workplace. There are three goals I keep in mind when I help mothers look better: versatility, ease and price. Versatility is important because, while a good majority of a woman’s time as a mother is spent with her children, there are often parts of her day where she is child-free. With little time for outfit changes, it is important that a mother be able to change her look with little to no fuss. Ease is obviously important because these clothes need to be comfortable, easy care (dry cleaning is out) and things a mom feels comfortable bending and stretching in. Lastly, price; I don’t care how wealthy a client of mine has been, they are always price conscious of clothing they want to wear for digging in the sand, juicebox stains and grubby hands.
With the goal of versatility being key, below are some looks I put together around the idea that a mom only needs to change up a few components to change up her look. You will see five pieces styled two different ways each. This is to show how easy it is to take a piece that you may wear to the playground and, by swapping out the super casual with few upgraded pieces, a mom can continue with her day without losing speed. Additionally, it’s important that a mom’s wardrobe is versatile. The pieces you wear to the park or on a playdate should be able to also be worn for things you don’t do with your children, you shouldn’t have two completely separate wardrobes.
Before we get to the looks, I also want to stress the importance of accessories when you are a mom. Now, don’t think I can’t hear all you moms out there complaining to me about accessorizing. After all, it’s likely you didn’t even get a shower in today. But, hear me out…your accessorizing isn’t meant to be another chore to do, it’s meant to give you more versatility (there is that key word again) and quicker ways to pull a polished look together…even if you didn’t shower. For shopping information on all looks, click the images below.
Five Fashionable Mom Looks
Look #1
How to be a stylish mom- Look 1 by bridgetteraes featuring square earrings
With warm weather on the way, it’s a great idea to get an easy cotton dress that you can dress up or down. You can see here that I chose a t-shirt style dress that isn’t fussy, doesn’t involve any special bras or adjusting. On the left, the outfit is paired with a versatile metallic diaper bag and popped with a pair of orange flip-flops. Lastly, I chose coral stud earrings because I’m sure you don’t want your toddler pulling on your dangly earrings.
Now, let’s say you’re heading out for a meeting at your child’s school, to meet a friend for lunch or just looking to elevate your look. Without changing the dress, all I did was change the shoes to something a bit more polished, added more dramatic accessories and changed the bag. Again, I can hear the collective ugh. First of all, if changing a handbag is not something you want to bother with, note the metallic diaper bag that looks just as good dressed up as it does dressed down and, secondly, if you want to change bags quickly, do what I do, keep smaller bags of the contents inside your larger bag to make the swap-out easier.
Look #2
How to be a stylish mom Look 3 by bridgetteraes featuring a bracelet bangle
I’ve seen more moms wearing easy skirts like this one at the park or around town than I care to count. It’s a great easy style. On the left, I imagined the woman who wants to run around doing errands quickly. Here I chose a fun sneaker a cute (non-precious) rubber bracelet and that same metallic diaper bag. On the right, the base of the outfit stayed exactly the same, but, let’s say this woman wanted to meet up with a friend for coffee while her kids are at school, with just a quick shoe and accessories change the outfit looks more elegant.
Look #4
How to be a stylish mom Look 4 by bridgetteraes featuring patagonia
Now in every case a mom won’t be able to keep the entire base of her outfit in tact. In these looks I kept the same printed top but with a simple change of the pants, a cropped workout style pant on the left and a pair of white jeans (for when the kids aren’t around) on the right, this top can go from super casual to super stylin’. Pulling out the pops of orange in the print, I chose those same orange flip flops and an easy orange cross-body bag. On the right, this non-child-friendly look has more dramatic earrings and is using that gold metallic tote again. Lastly a pair of easy to slip on ballerina flats in teal round out the look.
Look #5
How to be a stylish mom Look 5 by bridgetteraes featuring jersey t shirts
Who doesn’t own a denim skirt? In this case, I chose an olive skirt but a denim skirt would work just fine. Denim skirts are easy. On the left, is a casual look utilizing the same t-shirt and tote bag from the look above and is paired with my favorite comfort shoes, the Fit Flop. On the right, with just a change of a top to something a bit more tailored, niced sandals and better accessories, the outfit remains mom friendly but with a bit more style.
I hope these new strategies on how to put fashionable mom looks together gives you new ways of looking at your wardrobe and getting dressed! I wish you all a fantastic Mother’s Day this coming weekend!
