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I’m so excited to share today’s outfit! I’ve been imagining this white collared shirt layered under the floral dress for a while now, but I wasn’t sure how the combination would look in person… It happens more often than you’d think that I have an idea for an outfit, finally try it on, and am disappointed by the results. I’m pleased that this was not one of those cases!
The styling-a-dress-as-a-jumper look is not my typical style… I think jumpers have a negative connotation for me after years of wearing school uniforms—I always hated our school’s red and navy plaid jumpers, and I would opt for skirts instead whenever possible. But I don’t know, something about this floral dress inspired me to layer a shirt underneath.
As a side tangent, I find it interesting that the word “jumper” refers to two different articles of clothing, depending on if you are using American English or British English. I always knew a jumper as a sleeveless dress that you wear over a collared shirt, but I have a few British blogger friends and met people while studying abroad in Scotland who use the word jumper to refer to sweaters. I once was dancing with a boy during Scottish Country Dancing classes who had a very thick accent, and it took me way too long to realize he was telling me he liked my “jumper”.
Anyway, I was glad to give the jumper look another try. I think the cut, fabric, and sleeve width of this dress make it ideal for layering over a shirt—the square neckline and thick straps perfectly frame the collar of the blouse, and the fabric of the dress is thick enough to hide any bunching of the shirt underneath. The jumper style wouldn’t work nearly as well with a dress that has a lower-cut neckline or one with any sort of details on the straps.
The style of the shirt also makes this look work. The slight puffiness and shorter length of the sleeves make it a much more flattering combo than if I wore a white blouse with longer, straight cut sleeves. Even though the lightweight, flowy collared blouses are trendier right now, I think a more structured shirt works best for this layered look. Funny enough, my collared top actually used to be part of my school uniform from middle school! It’s the only piece I kept that I figured might have a place in my non-uniformed closet. It looks super cute paired with this skirt.
I thrifted this dress while I was in Scotland to wear to the Scottish Country Dancing ball near the end of the semester. I decided to keep with the secondhand, old-fashioned theme and paired the dress with vintage collar clips from Etsy, secondhand green clip-on earrings (which get lost in the background of these pics), and a sage green clutch that belonged to my grandma. The purse even has matching gloves inside.
As if I didn’t love the outfit and accessories enough already, I topped the look off with these new bow heels from Vivaia, which were recently sent to me by the brand. How stinking pretty are they?! I’m not usually one for bows, but I love the princess vibe of these shoes and how well they pair with the floral dress. They’re extremely flattering on and the perfect height for walking around. The best part about these heels? The bows are detachable! They are just like any other shoe clips, so you can move the bows around to the back, take them off completely for a simpler heel, or even use them to dress up another pair of shoes. You can use the code VIVAIAHOT for 10% off your order and shop the heels here (they come in three colors—I hope they come out in more soon!).
This is my second pair of shoes from Vivaia, and while I love their styles, I’ve had a really hard time with the sizing. The first pair is the black booties that I wear all the time. When I first ordered them, I got my regular size 7 after reading the sizing charts, and they were huge—fit more like an 8. I had to exchange them for a 6.5, which are still a bit big. So when I ordered these bow heels, I knew I wanted to size down even more and ended up ordering a 6… which are way too small! All this to say, make sure you pay close attention to all the sizing charts and actually measure your feet—and do this for each shoe because it seems to me like the sizing is not consistent across their brand. I understand that these heels are pointy whereas the boots are square-toe, but even considering that difference in shape, the variation in sizing is surprising. I still love their shoes, but just be thoughtful when ordering.
What do you think of today’s outfit? Do you love the preppy look or not your style? I was planning on wearing this outfit to work on Wednesday but decided I was feeling too lazy to dress up this much, ha. Nonetheless, this look is a fun reminder that office style doesn’t have to be boring.
Miles of smiles,
Grace
Collared Shirt: Old school uniform, last worn here | Floral Dress: Thrifted, $10 ($3.33 per wear), last worn here | Beige Bow Heels: Vivaia, gifted by brand, buy here | Green Clutch: Vintage from my grandma, last worn here