How Are We Getting Dressed for Semi-Casual Holiday Events

This morning, I had a call with my Intentional Style Founding Members, centered around how we’re getting dressed for those semi-casual holiday gatherings we have this month. I really wanted to focus on the aspect of “shopping my closet” because it helps strengthen that styling muscle instead of reverting to going shopping and buying a bunch of holiday pieces we won’t wear next month.

Most of the women who are part of ISM Founders live semi-casual lives (and you probably do too). Meaning we’ll have a few holiday parties, maybe a dinner or get together at home but it doesn’t require a high amount of fanciness that needs a special dress code. So I thought, Why not build up off of some basics we have? and asked them to give me some suggestions. So for the purpose of keeping this easy, we’re using:

  • A black pant - full length - pull on (casual piece)

  • A pair of jeans (lighter in wash, more casual)

  • A leather pant (slightly elevated)

Let’s dig in. Now, when we’re using some of the more casual pieces, it’s helpful to remember this little trick of 3’s.

(1) Start with your base (mostly simple, casual) +

(2) Add color in some way (nails, lips, bag, shoe, layer, in a print…) +

(3) Add interest of some sort (texture; velvet, sequins, fur, knit or prints: stripes, floral, animal print, or layered jewelry in different shapes, sizes; gold with silver, pearls with rhinestones…)

= Holiday Outfit

Build and play from there. Here’s what I mean.

The Inspiration - Black Pants

In this first outfit, I’m using a casual full length black pull on pant with a casual turtleneck. The vibe is monochrome, chic, and elevated but semi-casual (pant). I want to pull in a velvet blazer and a studded boot (interest with texture), then finish off with a print (color). Here’s how it turned out:

The Inspiration - Jeans

For the second outfit, I played with color a little more, using a sweater that I bought last spring, it’s red, so it plays into the holiday well. You don’t have to use red (color), per say, it just worked in this situation. I paired with silver and gold accents (who says you can’t mix metals?! there’s the texture/interest) and really layered the necklaces for a more interesting vibe. Here’s how it turned out.


The Inspiration - Leather Pants

The last outfit was built around playful styling. I used a pair of leather pants from Sezane I purchased two years ago or so. I wanted to play with unexpected color so I brought in an oversized ticking stripe vintage Ralph Lauren button down from Estella Vintage NYC (I bought iy when I went to New York last month). To me this is interesting on so many levels because it’s all about comfort and style and not about being fitted or proportionate. It’s says holiday without being overly holiday and it plays with pops of silver here and there to bring in some interest. Here’s how it turned out:

A lot of what I used was already in my closet, so you may be able to source inspiration from your own closet or secondhand too. If you’re a paid member, you’ll get access to our community style call we had today. It will be in the resource section on Monday! In the meantime you can also see the outfits in “reel” time here. The outfits that are "linkable” are in ShopMy here. Next week, I’ll try to pull together some more elevated holiday outfits for you too (using what I have in my closet, of course!). Hope this gives you some holiday styling inspo!

xx, Conni

Conni Jespersen