Style and clothing should make you feel good, right? It should make you feel confident and put together. But so many times we say “I don’t have time to pick out my outfits” or “I’ll just throw this on.” This leads to negative thinking about how we look and ultimately impacts how we feel. It doesn’t have to be this way! One of my biggest goals in life is to put an end to the mom-frumping thing! Just because you are a mama doesn’t mean you stop caring about yourself use it as an excuse to not care how you feel about your clothes. Getting dressed can be fun, simple and you can totally have a stellar style! Let’s dive in!
In This Episode Allie Discusses:
Understanding your season of life and what that means for your wardrobe.
Keys for dressing your shape, with your style in mind.
Her everyday style must haves (and she definitely shares all of them!)
Why it is super important for you to get rid of the things that don’t make you feel amazing.
Mentioned in this Episode:
Nellie Taft (Use code ALLIE15 for 15% off!)
Allie’s Instagram
Allie’s Courses (Use the code PURPOSESHOW for 10% off!)
All this talk about style and the core aspects of building a wardrobe that you love and that serves you cannot be done if your home is totally cluttered. Clutter gets in the way of you feeling the way you want to feel and you living the life that you want to live in all aspects. Especially when it comes to things that can feel ‘extra’ like getting dressed for the day and liking the way you look and feeling good. And that’s actually not an ‘extra’ – that should be a given – and for a lot of moms it’s just not.
Clutter is Step One to getting rid of all the stuff that’s in your way so that you can live a life like this. So you can feel good. So you can have some white space in your brain to even be thinking style and your wardrobe!
If all this talk about your closet is making you wish you were in a place where you could focus on this, maybe it’s time to declutter your home. This is the first step! Your Uncluttered Home is everything you need to get there!
Mom life. We are surrounded with the message that it’s the tired life. The no-time-for-myself life. The hard life. And while it is hard and full of lots of servitude, the idea that motherhood means a joyless life is something I am passionate about putting a stop to. I’m on a mission to help you stop counting down the minutes till bedtime, at least most days. I want you to stop cleaning up after your kid’s childhood and start being present for it. Start enjoying it. I believe in John 10:10 “that we are called to abundant life” and I know mothers are not excluded from that promise. Join me in conversations about simplicity, minimalism and lots of other good stuff that leads to a life of less for the sake of enjoying more in your motherhood. I’m Allie Casazza and this is The Purpose Show.
Mamas! I am so excited to be recording this! I have been wanting to talk about this for a long time. I have been begged to talk about it for even longer, which of course makes me even more excited to share it because I know that it’s something that you want.
We are going to talk about style. We’re going to talk about getting dressed and having simple, stellar style. Every Day Must-Haves! This is going to be a golden episode and I’ve got a few things I want to say before we dive in to these style must-haves.
First of all, one of my biggest goals in life is to put an end to the mom-frump thing. If you are a simple person and you don’t care, that is your prerogative. You go! You do you. As long as you feel good, who cares?
But more than almost anything, I hate when I hear women, moms, talking about getting dressed like it’s some extra thing. “Nobody has time for that,” or “I just threw this on.” They have this mentality of excuse making where it’s somehow okay that they don’t feel good.
Everybody has seasons where you’re not sleeping, you’ve got a newborn, you’re breastfeeding, whatever, and you just threw yourself together and we need to have grace for each other in those seasons. I absolutely had those times in my life. I had days where I had a nursing bra on, threw on a t-shirt that I didn’t know had breast milk stains on it, threw on some concealer in the car while I drove and got to mom’s group or the park day or whatever it was and just looked like a complete hot mess. And the only thing saving me being my oversized sunglasses to hide the bags under my eyes. I absolutely had those time. I am out of that season now.
But it’s not about that. It is about when you are using motherhood as an excuse to not care about yourself and to not feel like your best self.
Having said that, I’ve got to tell you, this episode is loaded! Loaded, loaded, loaded with my secret favorites after years of spending thousands of dollars finding the best of the best in my opinion.
I am a person who likes clothes. I do not do the capsule wardrobe thing, although I do have a very intentional, minimalist for me, wardrobe. The things that I have in my closet, I actually wear. They have a purpose. They serve me and my body very well. I have found what are good investments and what are not. I have bought and had to donate or give away a lot of pieces of clothing.
And so, the things listed in this episode are not random, cheap junk. They are my true favorites after lots of searching. They are the things that I’ve continued to buy when the originals wear out. They are the things I have come back to over and over because they’re that good. This is like Allie’s Faves.
Now let’s talk about dressing for your shape and how do you even dress yourself in the first place? I think that one of the biggest keys for how I live my life and how I dress is I balance dressing for my shape and dressing how I want to dress.
Dressing for your shape means knowing what shape and style of clothing look best on where your curves are or aren’t. Dressing how you want means never saying the phrase, “I can’t pull that off,” or “I wish I could pull that off,” or “I wish I could get away with wearing that,” and doing whatever you freaking want. Wear what you want!
I like to balance those two things. I don’t think that either one is the end-all/be-all. I don’t think that you should just wear what you want, whatever, it doesn’t matter, who cares, there’s nothing else to consider. Because you want to look your best, right?
But I also don’t think that you should think or say to yourself, “Okay, I need a dress for my shape and that means I can’t wear that.” Or “I have bad skin so I can’t wear that lip color,” or “I can’t do this.” I call BS on that. I think that we need to find the balance between dressing for our shape and dressing how we want, wearing what we want to wear.
Here’s an example. It actually is not a clothing example. I should have thought of a better one, but it’s lip color example. I used to love, love, love when women would wear a bold pop of color on their lips. I just thought it was so cute, so beautiful, but I believed that I couldn’t pull it off because I had really bad acne in the past and I have a lot of scars. And I just don’t have incredible lips or anything. I just thought because of those two things I couldn’t pull off a bold lip color. Total BS! I got rid of that belief. I bought a nice pop of pink lip color that went well with my skin tone and I nervously left the house the first day with it on. I could not count how many compliments were pouring in as I ran my errands, did my thing, went to mom’s group that day, everything that I did that day and it taught me a valuable lesson.
Find the balance between what works for you and what you want and run with that. Run with it. Own that. Own your shape. Own what you are. Own your size. Own your skin. Own it all. And balance between dressing for what works best for that and how you want to dress. What you want to put on your face and body. What you want to wear. Okay, so that’s Step 1.
Then next – I think it’s important to mention before we get into the style must-haves that you need to get rid of absolutely everything that doesn’t make you look and feel utterly amazing. Seriously. Just get rid of it now. Even if you can’t replace it right now because why bother holding onto it if it doesn’t make you feel amazing?
I hate when people are like, “Oh, I was just running out to Walmart and wearing this and it looked terrible on me. It looked so bad on my butt. I just ran out of the house in it to grab milk and of course I ran into so and so.” Why do you even have that if it makes your butt look awful and you know you don’t feel good in it? Why do you even have it then? Let it go.
I say this all the time and I mean it 100%. I absolutely love every single thing that I have from my pajamas to my activewear (that being what I work out in) to my fanciest speaking engagement outfit, I love it all. I feel amazing in it. Even the things that I wear around the house for a day of cooking and working on my laptop, I feel amazing. I love it. I love every single thing and I honestly can say that. I want you to get there too.
And I felt that way before… when we were really not doing well financially, so it’s not a budget thing. I mean, that definitely helps now, but I’ve always prioritized that and I’ve always felt that way. I mean, not always but since I learned these lessons in my life, you know, many years ago, I have lived this way and held that belief and stuck with it. You should love everything you own and you should feel amazing in it.
So, if something that you own doesn’t make you feel amazing…If your pajamas are gross, they don’t make you feel sexy, they don’t make you feel like ripping them off and getting it on with your hubby, they don’t make you feel super sexy, super good and ready for a great night’s sleep, if your loungewear doesn’t flatter you, make you feel super hot, cozy, and like a cute mom, get rid of it.
If your church clothes don’t make you feel beautiful and dressed up (I say ‘church clothes’ because that’s what I get dressed up for on the weekend because I don’t do a ton on the weekend.) Your date night outfits…oh, date night outfits…if you don’t even have date outfits – girl, no! You need to have what you need for the life you want to live that make you feel amazing. Okay? So, change that if that is not describing your life and your closet.
Okay, are you guys ready for the gold? (that’s me rubbing my hands together) Take a drink of water and we’re going to get into the gold.
My everyday style must-haves. What that means is the things that I wear on my typical days in my life. I’m a mom. I’ve got four kids. I work at home. I homeschool at home. I’m home a lot. But I also run a lot of errands. I also need to be put together most days because part of my job is to be on camera and sharing my life and the ins and outs with you guys on social media. So, I enjoy feeling put together day-to-day. I like showing up for my life.
When I was a stay-at-home mom, I liked showing up for that. I’m the CEO of my home and my family first, my company next. I like to show up for every single part of my role in my life. It doesn’t matter if you work outside the home or if you’re a stay-at-home mom or whatever it is, I think you should dress for your every day and I think you should show up for your life.
So, I’m sharing my everyday style must-haves for the way that I spend most of my days, which is pretty casual.
Okay. Above all else…number one on the list is 2-3 great bras. This is above all else. You can have the cutest outfits in the world, but if the girls ain’t sittin’ where they should be sittin’, it’s not going to look great and you’re not going to feel great. You’re going to look at a photo of yourself and be like, “Why are my kneecaps perked up? Oh, those aren’t my knee caps. Those are my breasts.” Get them up. Your boobs should sit in the middle of your upper arm. That’s kind of the rule, so if your bra isn’t keeping your boobs up that high, it’s not good.
I have had the worst experiences with bras ever. I have paid good money for a crappy bra. I have paid no money for a crappy bra. I have really experienced it all.
I was super, super skeptical to try…Have you guys heard of that company, Third Love? It’s like an online bra shopping. I was so skeptical because I was like, “How can I get the right bra size if I can’t try it on?” I just was really skeptical but I was so desperate and sick of Victoria Secret, sick of going to Nordstrom, going to Target. I’ve tried everything – higher end and lower end – and I just always had the back fat digging in, crappy bras. They would stretch out really fast. They just weren’t good quality. They just weren’t made well at all. So, I tried Third Love out of desperation because I kept seeing the ads in my Instagram feed and I was just really intrigued.
So, I tried them. And I will admit I had to try them and send them back several times. But once I found my size…you guys, you guys…so good! I love their bras. Once I found my size, I ordered three more different styles for the types of shirts that I wear and the types of colors that I want underneath. So…nude, white, black, strapless, criss-cross back, t-shirt bras. I got 2-3 more of the size that I found that I was and this is going to sound so dumb but seriously, it makes my days better. I look forward to getting dressed because I’m telling you their bras have made that much of a difference. I did not put this on the top of the list for no reason. I absolutely love Third Love bras!
It is worth having the irritation of kind of ordering the size that you think you are, trying them on and it not being quite right, trying half a size down because they have half sizes too and it’s so cool about them because I’m a half size. It was worth that. It was totally, totally worth it.
Then once I got the one that was my size, I ordered all the styles that I know I need for my wardrobe in that size and I have never been happier with my bras ever! I am sold. I am hooked – pun intended and planned. You’re welcome. I love Third Love! Like love. I highly recommend them.
So, a few good bras above all else for your wardrobe everyday style must-haves. Okay?
Next, a good sports bra with divided cups. What I mean by that is I’m very anti-uniboob.
You know the sports bras that are like a tube top and it looks like one long rectangular shaped breast. Nope! We say “no” to that.
Get a great sports bra with the divided cup. A lot of them will either have an indention in the middle of your boobs and they give you a regular bra look. You can see you have two breasts, but it’s a sports bra. Or the ones I like by Calia, which is Carrie Underwood’s activewear line. I’ve been really impressed with them. I really like them. They have a zipper in the middle so it opens in the front, super easy to get on, very secure, very high intensity sports bra. It feels a little weird sometimes to put that on when I’m just hanging around the house or cleaning, but I’m wearing sporty clothes and I just feel weird wearing a regular bra.
A good sports bra with divided cups, maybe get 2 or 3 of those as well, depending on your lifestyle. I work out three days a week and I wear sports bras a lot of the time when I’m just at home or just running errands. I really only wear regular bras when I’m dressed in jeans and a top and going somewhere.
I have three of the good sports bras with divided cups. Two of them are from Calia. I do have one from Nike, but I prefer the Calia ones. I would highly recommend those.
The next thing is (and my podcast editor is a dude. So Daniel, I’m so sorry for all the boob talk) the next thing that I would say is I don’t really know what to call them, but laced under things for cleavage covering.
I am a bigger-chested lady (again, so sorry Daniel) and I just am not a fan of my cleavage hanging out everywhere. I have learned that it’s kind of unavoidable and I’m going to have some sometimes and people can just get over it and deal with it, but for me to feel good, comfortable, and relaxed, I do like to have a little bit of a lace covering underneath shirts that go a little bit lower. I really like it when they are lace. I really don’t like wearing two shirts, like having a camisole underneath my shirt. So, I have found that lace tube-top-style under things are the best option.
It’s like a little bit of lace sticking out from whatever top you’re wearing and Freepeople actually makes these tube top style lace things you just put over your bra. They’re so cute and they have a bunch of different colors. Some are neutral, some are bright. I have a cream one, a white one, a black one, a brown one. And then I have a couple of happier colors. I have a green one and a pink one so I can mix and match depending on what I’m wearing.
I wear them almost every single day. Anytime I wear a top that goes a little bit lower, I have that on underneath. And that’s how I get that lace little peek out, peekaboo top, without having to wear two shirts because once summer comes here in southern California and it gets to be like 120+ degrees, I’m not wearing two shirts. Okay? That’s not happening. So, I love those. Love them. And I’m linking to all of this stuff in the show notes, okay? So that will be there and I’ll give you guys the link at the end of the episode. So, lace under things for cleavage coverage. That’s my favorite.
Okay, let’s talk about denim cause I’m a jeans wearing girl. Here are the basic types of jeans that I like to have. You guys, remember, these are my must-haves. This isn’t all I have, but these are if I was rebuilding my wardrobe again from scratch, knowing what I know now, these are the must haves. Okay. Distressed jeans for sure.
I prefer a boyfriend style but that might not work for your shape or you might not prefer that for your shape. It doesn’t matter. You can do skinny jean whatever, but distressed jeans, which means they have rips and tears and they look lived in and cozy.
My favorite is from Brooklyn Denim Co. They’re a really light wash and they’ve got random rips and tears on the knees and a couple on the thighs. They’re boyfriend style, super easy. I can wear them with heels. I can wear them with tennis shoes. I can wear them with my clogs. I can wear them with anything, dress them up or down. They’re a very good basic distressed jean. So, a distressed pair of denim is for sure one of the things I would put at the top of my list in my everyday must-have style list.
Next is a pair of basic denim skinny jeans. So basic denim, meaning it’s a medium shade of denim. It’s not too dark, not too light, and there’s no rips or tears, just regular denim, skinny jeans. I prefer some with some stretch.
I wear these with tennis shoes. I can dress them up or down, same as the other jeans, I can do whatever. But they’re just basic and skinny style. I can pair them with different t-shirts, blouses, sweaters, or whatever.
My favorite pair of skinny jeans ever…I have bought these twice and they last forever. As I have lost a little bit of weight and they have more than a little bit of hole in the thigh from wearing them for years, I bought them again, the same ones. And I think that says a lot because I didn’t feel the need to go and look for something better or try something different. They are from Madewell. I will link to them. They’re amazing.
So, distressed jeans and a basic denim skinny jean.
Next would be a black high-waisted pair of skinny jeans. I would prefer high-waisted because I have an hourglass figure and my waist is smaller so I want to highlight that whenever I can. I love the look of high-waisted skinny jeans with a flowy blouse tucked in kind of coming out the top a little bit. You know what I mean? I dress like that a lot. If you guys follow me online, you will probably know exactly what I’m talking about. I would say that black, high waisted skinny jeans are the most flattering for me and would absolutely be on my everyday style must-have list if I had to rebuild my wardrobe from scratch.
The ones that I love the most are also from Madewell. There are two that I have loved. One is a distressed blackwash. There’s no rips in the jean. It’s just a distressed color of black, you know what I mean? Where there’s like gray parts of it? It’s a very faded black.
The other pair is stark black.
These are excellent for dressing up. My stark black, high-waisted skinny jeans from Madewell are my go-to for speaking engagements and for photo shoots because they’re super flattering.
Those are the three pieces of denim I would start with, if I had to start over. Distressed jeans, basic denim skinny and black, high-waisted skinny jeans. There are more that I think are great, but those are the ones that are my must-haves.
Hey, beautiful friend! I know right now we’re talking about style and the core aspects of building a wardrobe that you love and that serves you, but I also know that there’s no way I would’ve ever been able to even begin to wrap my brain around this and definitely not start to do this if my home was totally cluttered. If I was always cleaning, but the house was never clean. If my closet was super overrun with clothes that weren’t fitting me anymore and serving me.
Clutter gets in the way of you feeling the way you want to feel and you living the life that you want to live in all aspects. Especially when it comes to things that can feel ‘extra’ like getting dressed for the day and liking the way you look and feeling good. And that’s actually not an ‘extra’ – that should be a given – and for a lot of moms it’s just not.
Clutter is Step One to getting rid of all the stuff that’s in your way so that you can live a life like this. So you can feel good. So you can have some white space in your brain to even be thinking about stuff like that.
And I want you to feel better. I want you to live a full, good, abundant life that’s not just barely getting by and not feeling good about yourself.
So if all this talk about your closet, your wardrobe, and style is making you wish you were in a place where you could focus on this, maybe it’s time to get the clutter out of your way so that you can. My online program, Your Uncluttered Home, is exactly why I created that. It’s everything that you need to get started. It’s everything that you need to go all the way, not just get started.
This course is my signature program. It is what I’m most known for. It is a deep, deep dive into the stuff that is clogging your life, clogging your home, clogging your brain and causing you more stress. It’s not good. Studies show us that clutter has a serious effect on us.
Your Uncluttered Home will take you through every single thing that has to do with you becoming a more minimalist mom.
And we’re not talking about unrealistic, perfect minimalism that’s not going to serve you. That’s going to take up all your time. That’s going to take you months and months to work through. That’s going to have you analyzing every single thing in your home and doing things that you’re not comfortable with to try to decide whether you should keep it or not.
No. This is by a mom, for moms. That’s what’s given me the fame that surrounds how I speak about minimalism. Because it’s realistic. It’s doable. It’s actionable. It’s simplified. And it’s going to work for you. It’s relative to you, who you are and what is important to you, not what somebody else says is important for you.
To learn more about this amazing program, why it’s awesome, what’s in it, all the details about that and how you can enroll, go to alliecasazza.com/nomoreclutter. And do not forget – everyone who listens to The Purpose Show can use the code at checkout PURPOSESHOW and get 10% off of this program at any time.
Go check it out. I want to see you in there. I want to help you make a difference.
Okay, next on the must-have list is V-neck t-shirts. I would do black, white, and gray in the Whisper t-shirt from Madewell. Madewell makes a very light, easy to tuck in the front t-shirt that comes in V-neck shape. I believe they also come in scoop neck, but with the way my shoulders are, being bigger breasted, and the way my shape is, V-neck is the best choice for me. It’s just much more flattering. I love regular scoop neck t-shirts and you will see me wear them, but I know that a V-neck t-shirt is my best everyday look.
I do have black, white and gray in the Madewell Whisper t-shirt. I will, of course, like I said, link to that in show notes. That is what I would get for my basic t-shirt must-haves if I was going to do it over again.
Next on my must-have list are loose-fit graphic tees. Loose fit meaning these are not form fitting. They are a little bit looser. I could tuck them in the front to highlight my waist. Maybe there’s some that are a little bit longer and I could wear them with leggings. These are just loose fit, graphic tees.
I really like “band” tees, although, I won’t wear any from a band that I don’t actually love. So, I have a couple of Def Leppard tees cause if you know me really well you know that I love Def Leopard and I’ve been to like four concerts with my mom and that’s a piece of me. So, loose-fit graphic and “band” tees like that. I think they’re super cool, super relaxed, very casual, very cute, easy to dress up or down.
I have worn a graphic tee tucked into skinny jeans with high heels for date night and I have worn them with a shirt tied around my waist and leggings and tennis shoes. You can do whatever you want.
Those are my favorite types of clothing – the ones you can do whatever you want with.
I also really love loose-fit tees in general, especially loose-fit tees that have purpose, like they have words or a message behind them or they’re from a company that I believe in.
I’m going to link to all my favorite companies, but I really love Ascot + Heart. I love Three Bird Nest. I love Nellie Taft. I love All Good Things Co. And I love Bando. Those are my top places to get my t-shirts.
The next on the must-have style list are loose-fit tank tops. You noticing a theme and loose fit? So, while I do have a small waist, I don’t always want to highlight that and have everything clinging to me. It’s not comfortable. I want to be comfortable. So, I compliment that by tucking in my t-shirts, tucking in my loose fit tops in the front to highlight my waist. Even if you don’t have a small waist you can do what’s called The French Tuck. You tuck in just the front of your shirt and it is flattering, so flattering.
So, loose fit tank tops for layering under oversized cardigans (which is one of my favorite things to do in the fall and winter) and sweaters or a jacket. What I love about doing that is that because it’s a tank top, it won’t leave a line on your arm, because if you layer a t-shirt with a cardigan the shirt sleeve bunches up and leaves the line and it’s super annoying. It’s a pet peeve of mine. I hate it.
I like to have several basic colors of loose fit tank tops for layering under oversized cardigans. This is the only cheap, like really cheap, kind of like everywhere option that I think I have on my list, but I do love the Luxe tank tops from Old Navy. You can get them online. I have them in cream, olive and black and I wear them often, so I will link to those as well.
Next is let’s talk about blouses real quick. I do think that it’s important to talk about blouses and that is something that I of course would rebuy if I was rebuilding my wardrobe. But I don’t have any specific ‘this blouse’ or ‘this brand’ but I’m more focused on what are the features that I need in a good blouse. And when I say ‘blouse’ I’m talking about shirts that I would wear on date night, to church, when I’m speaking, when I’m dressed and going and doing something for the day, having brunch with a friend, you know, whatever it is. So, when I’m not super casual and wearing a t-shirt.
The features that I look for in a blouse, being an hourglass shape, are I normally want it to be a little flowy in the sleeve and a little more form fitting in the waist. That’s my favorite look. You’ll see in my photo shoots often I have a form fitting shirt in my waist, but the sleeves are either puffy or flowy, are a little loose. Or sometimes they’re not. Sometimes they are just tight all the way around, but they’re just flattering tight. They’re not like sucking me in, line from my bra, hanging out in the back really bad (sometimes that’s unavoidable), but it’s not unflattering.
Sometimes there’s exceptions to those rules, but typically my favorite features in a blouse are flowy sleeves, fitted around the waist. And when I pair that with skinny jeans or flares, whatever it is, it’s just a win for my body type. So that’s where you have to come in and know your body type, know what looks and works best for you.
If you’re not sure, research that. You can find that out online by looking at other people and other fashion bloggers and then know what your go-to is. This will also help with online shopping because if I know what my size is in my favorite stores and I know what my favorite, most flattering type of blouse is, it can enable me to shop online more confidently.
I know that a medium of that style blouse from Madewell is going to fit me perfectly where I’m at right now so I can get that online confidently and know that unless there’s something really strange about that top, it’s going to fit and I’m not going to have to return it. It just takes time and experience to build that up to where you can do that.
Next on the style must-have list is clogs. I love clogs. I wear them basically every day. I love them. I have several pairs that are very basics in neutral and different styles that go with different types of outfits that I wear on a regular basis. There are a ton of other pairs of clogs that I would love to get, but I don’t because I know that I’m not going to wear them very often. And clogs are a little pricey. They’re an investment. They are good quality, they are comfortable. I have worn clogs when I was in New York City and I knew I was going to be walking a lot. They worked great for me. I love clogs.
My favorite brand and the only brand that I buy is Lottas from Stockholm. Again, I will link to them. Lottas are incredible. They are so well made. I do have a bit of a wider foot and they fit me great. They’re never too narrow. They’re comfortable. They are good. They seem weird if you’ve never worn clogs before. It feels weird that they are wood; they’re clogs. But they’re super cute, super trendy right now. They’re very comfortable, especially once you wear them a couple of times and break them in. They have real leather tops, Lottas do at least. They’re just really beautiful, really well made. So cute. You can wear them with skinny jeans, boyfriend jeans, flare jeans, dresses, whatever.
They are the perfect option for adding a little bit of style and a little bit of something to a plain outfit. I really, really love clogs. I am a huge clogs girl. I wear them basically every weekend. Definitely at least three times a week. I love, love, love clogs.
For me the style must-haves would be a pair of brown leather clogs and a pair of black clogs. If I was going to just get one, I would get brown like the cognac brown color. You can get whatever style you prefer, the Mary Jane Style or they have a slip-on style. Whatever that is for you. I have several pairs now, but I would start with the brown cognac in one of the styles if I was rebuilding.
The next thing on the style must-have list is flattering flats. I don’t really like ballet flats. It just doesn’t really fit my style, but I do like flats that have a little bit of an edge and are flattering. Believe it or not, your shoes can be flattering. I have these pair of cognac brown faux leather flats that I got on Amazon. They were like $25 or $35, I forget which one and I will try to find them and link them for you. Hopefully they still have them. I checked a while back for a friend and they didn’t. But if they don’t, I will find similar ones for you. And they kind of have this slit down one side.
You might know what I’m talking about if you follow me on Instagram. I wear them all the time. They are a little bit edgy. They have a little bit more of my personality in them to me and they’re super flattering on my legs and ankle. That is important to me because I have very muscular legs and very muscular calves, so it’s easy for my calves to look really big, especially in photos. And part of my job is to do photos all the time, so it’s important to me that when I wear flat shoes that don’t have a heel that they’re still flattering and these just get the job done. I love them.
Even if I were to get other styles and types of flats, I would still look for some that had those features, maybe a little pointed toe, a space between where my jeans hit my ankle and the top of my foot. When you show skin there, it is more flattering. That’s a little tip for you guys. I will link to my favorite flattering flats, but that is something that I would absolutely get as part of rebuilding my wardrobe.
Next since we’re still on shoes are tennis shoes. I’m a big Nike girl. I Love Phil Knight and his story in founding Nike and what he went through in building that company. It’s a heart thing. I love them. I love Nikes. I really like the Tanjun. They’re a soft mesh tennis shoe, but they don’t look like it. They look really cute, sporty, stylish and you can wear them with skinny jeans or leggings, whatever. You could work out with them. They’re just a really nice active lifestyle shoe for busy people.
But I also love New Balance. New Balance has this one tennis shoe, I actually don’t know what the name is, but I will link to it. What I love about these shoes is that they’re black on the top and white on the bottom, which is my favorite colors for tennis shoes. But they added this detail of faux leather at the front of the tongue of the shoe and the same color of rubber at the front of the toe of the shoe, giving it this very cool, trendy lifestyle look in a tennis shoe. Those are the shoes that I wear when I’m out running errands, when I want to be super cute and look put together, but also sporty and just having a normal day.
Those are my two favorite tennis shoes and I will link to both of them so that you can go in and look at those. And there’s a couple other Nikes that I have and love and highly recommend. I will just link to all of those for you guys.
Next on the style must have list would be leggings. I have gone through so much with leggings. I am a bootylicious person. I’m very curvy. I don’t have small thighs and I definitely don’t have a small butt so leggings have been hard for me, but I was determined to figure it out because I love that look of leggings, a loose tee and a flannel shirt wrapped around my waist. I love that. That’s my go-to outfit. Basically every week it’s my go-to.
The leggings that I have found that work the best are Spanx. Spanx makes fashion leggings, they make activewear leggings. I have their faux leather leggings and I have their full leather moto style leggings and I love them both. I hate when they’re in the wash. I wash them immediately, almost every time that they get dirty because I want to wear them all the time. Every time I posted a picture wearing my faux leather Spanx, I get a bunch of comments asking what I’m wearing because they are so flattering. They have the Spanx shapewear technology or whatever and it makes a difference. Spanx is one of the only companies that I have found that makes good quality stuff and they don’t have that seam down the front of the crotch area (giving you awkward issues that I won’t name.) I love, love, love my Spanx leggings. If you can make the investment, do it. They’re amazing.
The next brand that is incredibly cheap that you can get on Amazon, I read so many raving reviews about these leggings, but they were so cheap, I was really skeptical. The brand is called Oalka. I will link to the ones that I have cause there’s different ones. The ones that I have are the best ones. I will link to them in show notes. I use these to workout, but I also will wear the black and charcoal ones day-to-day running errands and being a normal mom person. They are the highest quality, the best, most flattering leggings that I have found that are cheap. I own the Spanx ones and I still bought several pairs of the Oalka ones because I do work out multiple times a week, so I need to have some leggings in my rotation. I also wear leggings day-to-day instead of jeans a lot of the time, so I needed to have some good quality flattering leggings that will work well for what I’m doing that day.
So, Spanx and Oalka are my favorite ones. I love them both. I can’t say enough. I feel like I’m going to be annoying and go on and on about these leggings and I won’t do that. But there are a lot of types of leggings. I have Lululemon leggings that I have had for a while and I would prefer the cheap Oalka ones to those. I honestly would. Oalka is cheap and they are amazing. Spanx are worth the investment. And they give a little bit more of a stylish edge because they are like faux leather and stuff.
The other thing that I will say about being a curvy girl and loving to wear leggings is that there is something to having your shirt that you wear with your leggings work well with what you’ve got going on. I don’t want to have a short t-shirt and my bottom area totally exposed when I’m wearing leggings, even if they’re super flattering and the Spanx cover cellulite and all that. I just don’t want that because they’re so tight, it’s just not comfortable for me. I like to pair leggings with a really loose, a little bit longer shirt and I often will wrap a chambray or flannel shirt around my waist, which brings me to my next style must-have… a flannel shirt to wrap around your waist.
If you have a shape like mine, tie it up higher where the smaller part of your waist is. Loosely tie the flannel shirt there. I tie it once and then I tie it into a knot and I let the sleeves hang down in my front, like in front of my crotch. It’s so flattering. It’s super easy, super relaxed, really trendy right now and flattering on your bottom and your front when you’re wearing leggings.
Right there, what I just described, my tennis shoes, my leggings, my flannel wrapped around and a loose white tee and a baseball cap, that’s go-to Allie almost every day outfit. And if you follow me, you know that.
So, a flannel wrap-around. You can get those anywhere. I don’t have a favorite. I have a couple of them just from Target. Just a flannel shirt that will work to wrap around your waist. I like to get them in my size so that if I get cold and I want to put it on like a light jacket, then I could. It would fit me and I won’t look ridiculous and it’s still long enough in the back to still cover my bottom if I’d take it from off my waist. Does that make sense? That’s kind of how I think and what I do.
The next thing on my style must-haves is loose lounge pants. These are not really sweat pants. They don’t have that sweat material inside, but they’re not linen either. They’re just regular, hanging out pants. I’m wearing them right now. My favorite brand is by Calia, so again that’s Carrie Underwood’s activewear line. I love them because they’re high waisted and they’re flattering. I have a charcoal gray one and a light gray pair and I wear them both every single week. I love them so much. I’ll wear them to bed. I’ll wear them around the house.
Today, for example, all I did was prep food and work on my laptop and then do a little bit of language arts with the kids, so I was very much at home today and I wore them with a Nike tank top tucked in. I love them. They’re amazing. I cannot say enough about these pants.
Here’s my story with these pants. I was at Dick’s Sporting Goods and I was waiting for Brian to get the boys something for baseball. And I was like, “I’m going to go and look and see if I can find some regular lounge pants that don’t suck.” I went over to that Calia section at Dick’s Sporting Goods and I found these pants and I was like, “These look pretty good. I’m going to just try them.” Go them home, put them on and basically didn’t take them off ever again because they were amazing, super flattering. I could throw on some flip flops and wear them out of the house to run errands or tennis shoes, whatever.
I love these pants, love them so much. I went online and ordered a second pair. They were about $49. They’re worth every penny. And then some. I love these pants. I’m going to link to them in the show notes.
The last two things are hats. I didn’t want to get into accessories, jewelry, purses and all that, but I do want to mention hats because baseball caps are part of my regular life. I love Nike’s baseball hats. They’re really good quality. I also love the 9Forty style caps by New Era. New Era is the company that makes sports logo hats. There are a really popular brand. They make the LA and New York Yankee hats.
I love baseball. I grew up watching baseball. I like three different teams. I like the Yankees, the Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds. I know it’s weird, but I have a different connection to each of those teams. I grew up watching baseball with my dad. My Dad was obsessed with the Reds, but I also loved the Yankees because they have all the most famed players that I would read about and just fell in love with from the 1940s and 50s. And I love the Dodgers because I’m from LA and I’ve been to so many games with my Dad. Good, good memories with baseball in general. So, I’m weird and I have multiple teams.
But New Era makes your regular, good quality baseball caps of teams’ logos on them. And the 9Forty style is the most flattering style for my face shape. They’re really good for women to wear. So, look up the 9Forty caps by New Era. Those are the baseball caps that I get. I have about five of them, different colors, different teams. I kind of switch between those. I love a good quality baseball cap.
The last thing on the everyday style must-have list are wide brim hats. Guys, these make you look like you are so fashionable and really all you’re doing is covering up really dirty hair and it’s amazing. Unfortunately, most cheap wide brim hats like from Target and stuff, they don’t stay on your freaking head and they are not durable. So, when you are driving in your car and you want to take your hat off and you throw it in the backseat, and your kid steps on it, it’s totally smashed and it won’t get its shape back. So, it is important to invest in a good quality wide brim hat.
My favorite brand is called Brixton. That brand stays on your head, stays in place, they’re super cute, they have good colors and they are durable. I can throw that hat all around my car. I can throw it in my house on the couch. I can hang it up on the hook in my closet and it can fall down and get stepped on. It doesn’t matter. It’s going to retain its shape as soon as I pick it up and fix it. It’s durable, great quality. I love the Brixton brand and they stay on your head and they are totally worth the money. I will link to those as well.
I never thought I would do an episode this long about clothes, but you guys asked for it. I wanted to deliver, so I went all in on my everyday style must-haves. To get the links to all of this, go to allie-casazza.com/shownotes/105. That will get you all of these links.
I have them super, super organized for you. Everything that I talked about is laid out. So easy for you to skim through. So easy for you to find, click, and buy what you choose to buy. Again, these are the things that I would buy, that I would have to have, to have a solid, stellar wardrobe if I was rebuilding from scratch.
Hope this was helpful for you guys! Let me know what you think. Tag me on Instagram. Share on Facebook. I want to see you listening to this. I want to see what you think.
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Thank you so much for tuning in. If you are ready to uplevel and really take action on the things I talk about on my show, and get step-by-step help from me, head to alliecasazza.com. There are free downloads, courses, classes, and ways to learn more about what the next step might look like for you and to focus on whatever you might need help with in whatever season you are in right now.
I am always rooting for you, friend!
See ya next time!
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