Get Ready for Fall: The Pencil Skirt

The central element of this outfit is the pencil skirt. A classic element to every wardrobe, this would be the perfect outfit to wear to university or to work. The pencil skirt is a real basic for any university girl or working professional, and the particular one in this outfit is really fun because it provides a punch of color and is a great variant on the traditional black or grey pencil skirt that everyone has in their closet.

Why this outfit works:
The emphasis in this outfit is on the pencil skirt and on playing with dimension to give everyone their most flattering shape. The tailored waist and hips on the pencil skirt (I picked this one because it can fit girls with a variety of sizes - up to 2X) are balanced out by the looser fitting top from H&M. What you're doing with this outfit is accentuating the waist and making it the smallest part of your figure by adding more volume up top. What this does is give you the illusion that your waist is very slim and it will give you that perfect pear shape. The jacket keeps the look work and school appropriate while breaking up the dual-tone color palette of skirt and top. The embellishments bring in small elements of the top so that it 'matches' with the outfit while adding some unexpected flare. The great thing about the jacket is that it's versatile enough that it can easily be carried over into another outfit.

The accessories were chosen with care and balance. Personally, I would wear the rings on one hand and the bracelet on the other to give a subtle poise to the outfit and avoid having one side of your body look off-kilter with a bunch of jewelry. I didn't add earrings but I'd probably just do some simple pearls or small gold hoops, which don't take anything away from the outfit or other accessories. The real key here is the pendant color wheel necklace. This should be a staple in every girl's wardrobe because the beauty of the color wheel is that it can match any outfit but it also ties in everything together in a very simple, unobtrusive accessory. It adds a bit of a splash and allows you to be more creative with accessories like shoes and bags. I think that the key to any outfit is balance and if you're going to do a pop on the bottom of color then you need to replicate that on your top half, even with something as subtle as a necklace.

The nailpolish is just a light neutral. Most workplaces don't allow anything too dramatic in terms of nail and hair creativity, unfortunately, and so I tried to keep this a nice, light color, but you can feel free to use any color that you think would go. A dark purple or a deep blue would also be great to add some flare and probably still fit into dress code rules!

Personally, I don't wear heels all that often and I prefer to wear flats for ease in the workplace, but really any black pump would work. I would even pair this outfit with my Nike high-top sneakers to dress it down a little bit. The peach purse is a nice offset from the red and ties back into the color of the bracelet and the gold chain harmonizes all of the other accessories.


Items:
Color Wheel Pendant, Yellow Owl Workshop, $44.00
Raw Diamond Ring, Poketo, $18.00
Cute Bow Enamel Ring, The Red Bow, $18.95
Werrani Bracelet, Aldo, $12.00

Beaded Embellished Jacket, Topshop, $141.50 (UK 2-14)
Red Pencil Skirt, Pin Up Girl Clothing, $48.00 (XS-2X)
Black Crepe Top, H&M, $39.95 (2-14)

Quilted Cross-Body Bag, ASOS, $43.03
Ormelle Shoes, Aldo, $65.00
Nail Polish in Marshmallow, Essie, $8.50

Total cost: $438.93

The jacket is really what makes this outfit expensive. The good thing is that, like I said above, you can easily use it with other outfits, same as the jewelry. I think that the key to building a jewelry collection is making smart decisions and purchasing pieces that have a lot of versatility and can be easily incorporated into several outfits.