STYLE GURU STYLE: Preppy and Polished

July 25th, 2016 at 2:00am

As mentioned previously in my Style Guru bio, I use to be a “sweatpants every day” kind of gal, but moving to a college town has definitely changed that. Now I feel that there is no better way to encourage my personal productivity during school than looking fresh and polished, regardless of the season. One of the ways I tend to do that is to incorporate preppy trends into my wardrobe.

The Banana Republic spring 2016 ready-to-wear collection featured on Vogue inspired me to create my own simple version of the classic style Banana Republic is known for, in addition to their more recently established cool city look in this new collection. Conveniently enough, I happened to have a Banana Republic button-up that I had thrifted a while back, and based my outfit around that piece. I also stuck with the same color scheme of classic blues and neutrals, adding in a perfectly vibrant pair of skinny jeans with my go-to black sandals. I am a huge fan of the collection’s use of blues in a majority of the outfits, and not just because it’s my favorite color—it adds a tasteful combination of sleek and trendy to any casual look.

My take on styling a preppy outfit focuses on simplicity and corresponding the color tones. In this instance I kept the colors cool-toned by sticking with silver jewelry, different shades of blue for the body and neutral colored sandals with hints of black.

Not too long ago did I start to have a preference for utilizing button-ups to achieve more “mature” and polished every day looks. What’s really great is that you can dress them up or down, whether you’re headed to lecture or an important job interview. Heck, I’d even wear one on a night out with my girlfriends. Of course, you can always add your own uniqueness to this type of outfit by switching to a brighter color scheme or switching the pants with a pair of shorts to accommodate the heat this season.

Get My Look: 1. Button-up shirt. 2. Skinny jeans. 3. Strapped sandals (heels work too!).

Author