Not a Blogger: A Corporate Fashun Blog

To be honest, we don’t really remember how the idea for this post came about. It may have been over the drinks one afternoon instead of going for a run. Or maybe it was a random idea we thought about on the train on the way home. Or maybe it was because one of us needed something, and we just started asking our colleagues if they had what we needed. Either way, we thought it would be interesting to come up with a list of (non office supply) items that we have in our desks that we find important. And a few items you could share with your coworkers… and a few items we have that you probably don’t need… After lunch, you can always find a person or two in the restroom with their toothbrush and toothpaste. We are not those people. Maybe we should be? I don’t know, but I never find my breath after lunch all that offensive. Instead, we keep a pack of gum. It serves dual purposes: 1) it freshens breath; and 2) it helps with acid reflux (What? We’re old now and you can only eat so many Tums.)...

Sometimes, we come across items that are absurd, either in their lack of practicality or in their price. But something deep insides convinces us that we need them. We have decided that because we have full control over this blog’s content, we may occasionally use this forum as therapy. If there is something completely impractical that one of us wants, we are going to use this blog for the other writers here, and you faithful readers, to talk us out of (or into) buying it.  Katie 2's first item up for debate? These sparkly Kate Spade Keds. There is no rhyme or reason other than they are sparkly and fun, and a great casual shoe that could be dressy if you want! Imagine them with jeans, or shorts (if I wore shorts), or a cute casual skirt, or a dress, or commuting. How cute would they be at a baseball game? Katie 1's response: "No, those are totally adorable. You should buy them. They are also super reasonably priced." (Katie 1 is not helpful.) ...

When writing the Shoes Day Tuesday post on shoes every woman should own , we realized that we aren't as original as we thought when it comes to our shoe collections. Sure, we have go-to brands that show up in our closet often. But what really struck us here at Not a Corporate Fashun Blog is that we have the same style shoe in multiple colors. So here is our post on those shoe styles that we love so much that we bought them more than once: Kate Spade Licorice Pump : So Katie 2 loves this shoe . She has it in 2 colors now, and every time she's browsing she has to stop herself from buying 10 more. Every website or store you go to has these pumps in various colors and patterns- everything from patent leather ( red or black   or hot pink   or black and white polka dot ) to floral , to plain black leather , to black glitter , or suede ( grey , red , green , nude , or look to the right for the navy pair that Katie 2 already has) to crackle  or animal print   or ...

Wedding season used to be summer. But with the rise of Pinterest, fall weddings have become all the rage (Katie 1 likes to think she started this trend as she got married in October 6 years ago). As we finish up the end of the traditional wedding season and enter into Millennial wedding season, we have engaged in quite a bit of research and discussion about what we should wear to the weddings on our calendars. While those of us here at Not a Corporate Fashun Blog believe that you can never be over dressed or over educated, we do recognize that while you should err on too formal, you don’t want to be the girl who shows up in a sequined cocktail dress to a backyard barbeque.  With this post, we hope to help you decode some of the more common wedding dress codes.  We also hope to offer all 3 of you that read this blog some tips for figuring out what to wear when the invitation doesn’t provide you with any rules. First we're going to talk about dress codes that are usually no...

Coming up with the first substantive "Workout Wednesday" post is a bit daunting. There are so many things we can discuss when to comes to working out (where do we shop, what are our preferred workout methods, how do we workout on vacation). As this is a blog by real working women for real working women, we want to talk to you about motivation, types of workouts that are effective, scheduling, and of course, looking good while sweating. So let's go chronologically. Good for you!!! You've decided you're going to work out. For those of you that live in a small city or suburban area and/or work regular business hours, you probably don your super cute workout outfit in the comfort of your bedroom. After getting your sweat on, you come home to your own bathroom, peel off your sweaty layers, and hop in the shower. For those of us that are public transit commuters/have to squeeze a workout into the lunch hour/work out far from home, we need to travel with clothes, shoes...

Honestly, we started Shoes Day Tuesday with hopes that it would be an every other week post for a number of reasons.  First, they can be time consuming because we actually want to provide content not just a bunch of links to shoes we kind of like.  Second, since we're a 2-3 posts a week kind of blog at this point, we didn't want to feel too tied to a mandatory topic schedule as we feel it limits the topics upon which we can write.  Thus, we were not planning on posting anything for Shoesday Tuesday today.  However, in our quest to provide our 3 readers with super important information about current sales, we are breaking that rule.  Why? Because 6pm.com has these amazing Coach Devon pumps on mega sale in a ton of sizes. They are available in black, shell (which looks like a rosy taupe), and fog (a perfect greige).  Which, if you read last week's  Shoes Day Tuesday post , you would know is super exciting because every Real Working Girl should have...

"Only wear a white button-down shirt under your suits to be taken seriously and look professional." Newsflash: women are not men. There is no "uniform" that any and every woman can wear and be perfectly dressed for any occasion. That's why there are a million and one fashion blogs geared towards working women. We are here to tell you that you do not need to EVER wear a white button down under your suit. Here's why: For many women, it's impossible to find a white button down that actually fits, i.e. the buttons don't pull and it doesn't look like a box. It's claustrophobic. Honestly. There is just too much material to move around with a jacket and long sleeve shirt. I sweat and panic just thinking about it. White doesn't look good one everyone. It's boring. As for reason 1, there will be an entire post dedicated to finding the right  button down shirt and making sure it fits. For now, just know that you are not alone. Fittin...

One of our favorite things to emphasize here at Not a Corporate Fashun Blog is our real working budgets.  We love to discuss where we spend and where we save but occasionally we see an item that we fall so completely in love with that we very much wish we had the clothing budget of the bloggers we love to hate.  Katie 1 had that experience today with this  Ralph Lauren equestrian dress (image taken from the Ralph Lauren website). She loves the equestrian print, the movement of the fabric and the general "I've arrived" look of this dress and can imagine it styled a million different ways.  Dressed up (like in the picture) with cognac or oxblood pumps and a belt! Dressed down with tights and riding boots!  Obsessed!  So what if it costs more than her mortgage.  Actually that is a problem. She really needs to win the lottery.  In the meantime, she will definitely be scouring the intrawebs for a more affordable option. 

[A note to the reader: Katie 2 thought it would be super easy to come up with a list of basic shoes every Real Working Girl needs. A few additions to this list were in fact super easy. Others created some disagreement and debate. So this post will be divided into sections: those shoes we all agree should be on the list, and those in which we didn't necessarily agree but weren't willing to compromise on. We're all lawyers- what do you expect?] Shoes We All Agreed On Black Pumps:  Because duh. Katie 1: I'm pretty sure Elizabeth is also going to discuss the L.K. Bennett Stila pump as her go-to black pump and for good reason. They are classic and comfortable. Nuff said. Also, please note that the inside of my shoes have been replaced and don't look as pretty as Elizabeth's. Apparently my foot stank was too delicious to resist for a certain 4 legged member of my household who is very lucky he's cute.  While the L.K. Bennett's are my go-to, I also own...

If you’d believe all of the fashun bloggers out there, real working girls have unlimited budgets and vacation days which allow them to take 3 week vacations to Europe mere weeks after spending a fabulous week vacationing in Miami.  While we’re super jealous of that lifestyle, it’s not realistic for those of us stuck in economy with traditional jobs and limited vacation days.  So… how do real working girls make the most of limited vacation days and airline experiences that resemble cattle calls?  Well pull up an uncomfortable airport chair, put down your copy of Tatler (because we know we’re not the only ones who pick up this British staple at the airport newsstand), adjust your leggings, and listen up because we’re about to share some of our favorite tips on how to maximize vacation days.    With Labor Day on the horizon, this seems like a great time to discuss how to maximize vacation days by using holidays to your advantage.  Before we launch in...

Everyone loves a good bargain, right? I assume that even super fancy, no-longer-works-in-an-office fashun bloggers love a good bargain when they have to spend their own money. Since this blog is for real working girls by real working girls, it's only fair that we pass along any good deals/awesome cheap products we discover in the normal course of business. Today's recommendation comes from Katie 1 who recently discovered the  Sinful Colors SinfulShine  line of nail polish. It's one of those DIY gel-like two step polish (color+top coat) products that guarantees super shine and durability. Katie 1 picked this up at Walgreens the other day with low expectations given her previous experience with DIY gel-like polishes. In her experience, these products don't stay shiny as long as they claim and they chip like regular nail polish yet cost a whole lot more and are a pain to remove. However, she decided to give it a try. Even if the product was crap, she only spent a...

Along with Shoes Day Tuesday, we've decided to start another biweekly feature we're calling Workout Wednesday. Because Real Working Girls workout from time-to-time. Before we jump into product recommendations or more substantive health related posts, we thought that it would be beneficial to first provide you with some background about our workout habits and preferences. Full disclosure: we like pizza, wine, and tacos way more than we like working out. However, we don't want to die when we're 50 so we try to eat  crap in moderation (easier said then done, as we are sitting here looking at quite the breakfast spread at the office celebrating another retirement) and workout somewhere between 3 and 5 days a week. So here's how we like to attempt to keep fit: Katie 1: I'm lucky enough to have a very enthusiastic 4-legged running buddy who makes me pound the pavement at least 3 times a week (the post run snuggles totally make it worth it). Other than after work ru...

Unlike the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale which was discussed to death by literally every fashun blogger ever (seriously? Eleven posts on one sale?), L.K. Bennett is quietly having a very nice end of season sale.  Items are significantly marked down with an additional 30% off.  Not bad.  Only caveat: many of the items are lucky sizes only so happy hunting!  One of our favorite purchases?  This jersey dress feels like a t-shirt but looks so much more work appropriate  It’s also super versatile.  We’ve paired it with snake print pumps, bright pumps, red pumps, nude pumps, and navy pumps. Want to see how we’ve styled it?  Well, check out our Instagram (notafashunblogger)!  Surprise!  We started an Instagram account for this blog.  Follow us!  We post terrible #ootd pictures, good pictures of cocktails, and random photos of crap that we think relates to the blog and our lives as real working girls!    

Desk to dinner outfit posts are a favorite topic of most corporate fashion bloggers that we read  hate read. Some are helpful, some aren't. Some are so insufferable that you just want to smack the blogger (sorry, but we don't believe that your life is so glamorous that, except for the sponsored Banana Republic dress, you would have to pack an evening gown  into your bag). The one common theme we've noticed is that corporate fashion bloggers seem to think that the lives of Real Working Girls are significantly fancier than they actually are. As a result, most of the "Desk to Dinner" posts we've read tend to show items that can easily be dressed up for a cocktail event/special dinner/gala. They never seem to address the opposite- how to dress down your work clothing for a casual after work event. Katie 1 noticed this precise issue when she recently realized that the MLS All Star Match v. Real Madrid is on a Wednesday (she originally thought it was a Saturday). ...