J Crew Polka Dot Popover – how to love it (a Pinterest re-do)

So can we all just agree that I’m pretty much the worst blogger ever? Okay, good. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…

Hi kids. I’ve missed you. You can blame at least part of my absence on this:

The beach, not the beer. Although the beer certainly didn’t help.

You  can blame the rest of my absence on a lack of inspiration and/or infuriation (and, yes, I think I just made up that word) that was worth blogging about. But now I’m officially back at work which means I am officially wasting time on Pinterest. And today, I was inspired – by this:

Here is what I like about this outfit: that sweater. Here is what I do NOT like about this outfit: everything else.  I applaud the effort to make a sequin skirt work for daytime by pairing it with a more casual and conservative top, but this combo does not work. Throw in the baby pink jacket and shoes with the out-of-left-field red bag and this outfit makes my brain hurt.

But I do think that sweater is totes adorbs and polka dots are right on trend for Spring. So let’s take a look at how I would wear this sweater. Here’s how I would wear it to work:

You know what else is on trend for Spring? Bright colors and florals. So let’s start off by pairing this neutral-colored top with a pair of brightly-colored crops. Now we’ll add the AWESOME floral pumps – I LOVE, LOVE them. More importantly, I LOVE, LOVE mixing them with polka-dots, too. Next we’ll pull an accent color from the shoes to be the color of our bag, add a dainty pendant necklace and gold earrings that are completing to and not competing with the look, and we’re done. See how simple that was?

Want a similarly simple demonstration of how to wear this sweater on the weekends? Here you go:

I know, I know, I dissed the red bag paired with the original look above, but I think this particular red bag works here. For those of you who are fortunate enough to be able to wear really high wedges without being seven feet tall, I added these cute mint green ones. And how perfect are those bracelets to tie all of the accessories together? SO perfect, that’s how.

And with the end of this post I finally feel like I’m officially back from the land of sun and sand, and back in the world of judgment and critiques. I hope you missed me as much as I missed you!