How thrilling to be a guest on StartCloseIn! I was so flattered
to be asked to contribute something about my point of view on style this
week. You'll probably recognize some serious Ella-influences in my post
(ahem, three elements to an outfit...)
You won't be surprised to learn that the question is: what the
heck do I wear for this job?! My role is a lot about setting a tone for
my staff and our guests. It's important to me that guests who might have
a problem (a hopefully rare occurrence!) immediately recognize me as a
responsible, professional authority in the restaurant. In a more formal
restaurant managers wear suits to work everyday. In my restaurant a suit
would be totally tone deaf. I'd look more like a clueless undercover
cop than a manager. In my vision of a great restaurant, the staff are a
seamless part of the dining ambiance. So the criteria are: 1)
recognizably professional, 2) not corporate or formal, 3) fun! (but not
too sexy or casual).
Tough right? I have developed a strategy for
creating appropriate work outfits. You could say that it's a sort of
equation based on the criteria above. Take one piece that is formal, one
that is casual, and one that is fun, combine, and hope that you have
shoes to go with it!
In the first outfit, the formal piece is a blazer.
This one is a sale find from Urban Outfitters and has a racy leopard
print lining. In my book, blazers read as serious no matter what. For my
casual piece I chose my favorite summer maxi dresses with a beautiful
batik print- totally hippy, casual. For a bit of fun I chose these long
black feathered earrings.
They're dramatic but not over the top and add a
bit of dressy-going out fun to the ensemble. This outfit also uses lots
of different dark tones. The navy/black of the blazer and the
brown/black of the dress. I love not having to choose just one! I'll
wear this on a weekend night when our guests tend to be a bit more
dressed up.
In the second outfit I have the "business on the
bottom" with a navy sweater knit pencil skirt. In the past I have styled
it with a blazer and and it comes very close to looking like a suit.
Next I add a super easy going denim, cowboy-style button down. It has
snaps! The most casual of all fasteners. Finally, my fun element is this
green and silver statement necklace. A dear friend got it for me years
ago and the color is so vivid. It breaks up the blue on blue of the
skirt and top a bit also. This is a great outfit for a Tuesday or Wednesday evening.
Et voila! Two outfits ready to welcome guests, open
wine, fix toilets, interview cooks, compute sales, and all manner of
other tasks that might come at me in a day.
In a perfect world, my equation would mean getting
dressed in the morning is a simple, stress free enterprise. But in this
imperfect world, we have to wear shoes. 90% of the time I end up wearing
the boring, unsupportive black ballet flats that live in my office.
Hopefully Ella will devote a post to cute/professional/comfortable shoes
soon! ;)
Thanks, Rose! What fun to get a glimpse into your life-and your wardrobe! Congratulations on the new job! -Ella
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