so you have to wear a uniform to work?
A friend of mine recently took up a part time job as a server at our local Cracker Barrel. She also works as the manager at Liberty’s rock wall. I have always admired how she works in her own pieces into her uniform she has to wear to the rock wall. She still looks like herself. She took on Cracker Barrel’s uniform just the same. Thus commenced #AGcracksthebarrel. We wanted to see how to take the bones of her Cracker Barrel dress code requirements and make them authentic to her. The colors she had to work with were pink, blue, yellow, and white - so essentially think a baby’s nursery. Luckily she rocks and rolls with pastels! Describing her style is so much fun: think European effortlessness. A lot of ribbed turtlenecks, slacks, practical and chic sneakers, and flowy silhouettes. Since she is equally a fan of the ‘turt’ as I am, it was easy to crack the barrel if you will. Turtlenecks add the most versatility and wearability to your closet.
Here are some takeaways from styling Kylie while cracking the barrel if you will …
layering. obvious answer, but it’s key.
following a color scheme? think outside the box with the silhouettes you’re choosing. square neck tops with peasant style sleeves, high neck athletic tanks under blazers, different fits and sizes of button ups, or boxy but your true size tees corner tucked.
accessorize. adds that extra element of chic personality and on purpose feel. or in her case, really really good irony.
black pants and black shoes? don’t just stick to versatility on top. vary your pant styles and shoe game if possible. paper bag waisted pair of slacks with a leather boot on a Monday and an athletic yet streamlined pant with a New Balance sneaker on a Tuesday and a mid rise wide leg trouser pooled at the bottom with a socks and slide moment on a Thursday. the options to break out of the box are endless.
Kylie must wear no-slip black shoes to her workplace so they were a no-budge item. Her bottoms options were blue jeans, khakis, or black pants. Her top options were button downs in the four colors mentioned. She can only cuff her sleeves a certain amount of times, but they didn’t specify how big a cuff so that is where I had some fun. It was tricky, but I like a challenge :)
I mean I’ll close with my own quote from The Champion’s column on AG The Look … make your uniform you! I wore a school uniform for nine years. How did I express my little self? My sock game was strong whether it was a pair of classic knee high socks or crew socks with corgis on them paired with my navy Keds. Funnily enough, I still stress the importance of the sock game to all my clients. It adds that extra “wow he got dressed on purpose today!” without it looking like you tried hard. It’s effortless and completes the look. & this is what we want when we show up to work and our first customer at 8am is like, “dang why do I want to wear your outfit and you literally are wearing a work uniform? go off!” Can’t wait to go visit Kylie and order up that hash brown casserole while hyping her up and tipping her extra!