With the menswear trend being strong for fall, you may want to consider investing in a few blazers for work. Not only are blazers a professional way to finish a look, they are great pieces to wear as outerwear jackets during transitional weather. In addition, a blazer can easily work with jeans in a casual manner on the weekends or to upgrade denim at the office.
If it has been a while since you bought a separate blazer (the past few years have been all about the cardigan as a jacket replacement), here are some styles to consider along with tips on how wear one.
Blazers for Work
Look #1
If you work in a conservative workplace and want to invest, Reiss’ Beckley blazer will set you back a few hundred dollars, but its versatility will be worth the cost. The flattering coral shade is professional, yet feminine, and works with any neutral shade of pants, skirts or dresses you may own, like black, brown, camel, olive, navy, denim and grey, as shown here. In this outfit, I paired this blazer with J. Crew’s Hutton classic trousers. Next, while an ivory or white top under the blazer would work just fine, to add a pop, I used Tahari’s Gigi top in soft green, one of my favorite work-wear brands. If you’re looking for interesting layering pieces in feminine prints and colors, Tahari is great label to check out. Speaking of Tahari, don’t forget, I am hosting a shopping charity event to benefit the Melanoma Research Foundation at Tahari’s 5th Avenue store on September 19th where you can get 25% off all new arrivals! You can click here to find out more!
To finish the look, I added a simple tan peep-toe pump by comfort brand Sofft, paired it with a versatile taupe-y gray satchel bag from MICHAEL Michael Kors and a classic pair of drop earrings by Evelyn Knight. To feminize more classically tailored looks, try using softer feminine colors.
Look #2
Don’t forget to use a blazer to bring your sleeveless and short sleeved dresses into the fall season. Plaid will be another big trend for fall, especially for the workplace, so investing in a plaid blazer will be a great way to knock off trends with one stone, so to speak. Boden’s British Tweed blazer comes in a variety of patterns, but I particularly liked this one for its versatility and the fact that it can go from weekends to workdays with ease.
To give the outfit a classic look, I paired it with an olive shift dress from Modcloth that looks good with or without the blazer. An important point to keep in mind when pairing a dress under a blazer is the dress should be able to stand alone when the jacket is removed. The outfit is next finished Buxton’s shoulder bag that says work without being boring, as do retro Nine West navy suede ankle straps. The outfit is set with a pair of Betty Carre leaf earrings.
Look #3
A tip about solid colored blazers to always keep in mind: Even if a solid blazer looks like the top half of a suit, never try to force it to be a suit with a separate pair of pants that match in color. You will never get the colors to match exactly and the fabrications will most likely be different. On the other hand, you can wear the top half of a suit jacket as a blazer. Just one word of caution: Be sure to always dry clean your entire suit together, not just the jacket. Over time, if you dry clean one piece of a suit more heavily than the other, the color of the more often dry cleaned piece will change and the suit won’t match any longer.
A navy blazer is never a bad investment, if it fits your style and you know how to style it. Here are some other ways to wear a navy blazer. In this outfit, I chose to style a casual snap front navy blazer by T. Tahari (Tahari’s lower priced line) with a pair of Mango khakis, a commonplace way to wear it.
To give the outfit a richer, autumnal feel, I chose a burgundy sleeveless wrap top by Vince Camuto to wear underneath the blazer. For a punch, Dunbar’s paisely handbag ties all the colors together, and then some. With nude pumps by RSVP, a pearl and gold necklace by Lolita Jewelry and studs, it’s off to work you go.
