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Faux or Real, That is the Question

Whew, we’ve been welcomed to Fall with lots of rain and brisk temperatures. Leather jacket season is upon us, y’all. There is no denying it any longer. To be honest, who even wants to deny it. Just speaking for ourselves, but nothing ups your cool factor more than throwing on a leather jacket to finish an outfit.

We’ve been resisting the pull of Fall because our temps held out and graced us with warmth. While all other style bloggers have integrated their cool weather wardrobes you’re left looking at us and wondering when it’s going to happen. That day has arrived, and I’m woefully huddled under a blanket at home as I type this.

Caitlin spent the weekend at her alma mater in La Crosse, which does a huge Oktoberfest celebration every year. She packed well for the cooler temperatures and she got into the spirit of the festival with this fun hat. Beware on sizing if you’re considering a purchase, but rejoice all big heads because this hat is for us!

Tim and I celebrated his Dad and Stepmom’s anniversary by scarfing down giants steaks. It was a fun night with family and standing around a giant grill in a restaurant cooking your own steak to perfection. Has anyone heard of Prime Quarter? I hadn’t before this last weekend but my husband has had some great memories of celebrations there, including his bachelor party.

We also finally sat down and watched Season 7 of Game of Thrones in one sitting. Let me just tell you, it was a great night. Very interesting watching the show diverge from the books, but I did just see this book pop up on Amazon to preorder and got super excited. It makes even more sense with how the show left off on why this book took precedence over Martin finishing his next in the series.

Onto the reason we’re here: tall leather jackets. We all know they are a hot topic, because the leather jacket is a stalwart piece in most women’s closets. As a tall women growing up, I admired all the variations I saw on shorter friends and resigned myself to eventually finding my unicorn jacket.

Enter my husband, who was then my boyfriend. He bought me the most beautiful real leather jacket from Long Tall Sally. The arms were the perfect length, as was the body, and I didn’t have to sacrifice the fit to get the length which was the ultimate luxury. Suffice to say, he was a keeper and that jacket has seen me through six years and hasn’t shown any wear or that it will go out of style.

Some women might be thinking, I can’t afford to buy that expensive of a leather jacket. It truly is an investment piece that will serve your closet in countless ways. If you’d rather save, there are many other options at our favorite, Asos. The two options we’re wearing are from Asos.

Since I received my real leather jacket I’ve been able to fill in other faux leather options that are a bit more trendy but will still be keepers for a long time to come. This grey jacket, which unfortunately is from Asos own line and if you’re browsing in the future considering one of their jackets, the sleeves have been a great consistent length for me at 6’4.

I have to talk about these jeans for a second. I snagged these on a KILLER sale for $36 which is unheard of at Madewell. I figured I’d give them a fair shot, after trying to ask several different associates in several different stores what their tall and taller inseams were without getting an answer. GREAT NEWS tall women. These jeans are a new must in your life. The inseam has to be 36, because they fit my leg length perfectly and they are so dang comfortable, while still having a control panel to keep you sucked in. Wait on a coupon if you must, but definitely give Madewell jeans a try and do it soon. They are high quality and true to size!

Caitlin’s jacket is from Y.A.S. via Asos and is real leather. According to the site it’s completely leather but the underside of the sleeves has a panel of soft fabric, but once she received it she realized it was a welcome deviation. It is a buttery fabric, and almost looks suede like and feels delicious. For sizing reference, I tried the jacket on as well and found the fit to translate well for up to 6’4.

Her jeans are from Gap and like we’ve mentioned before have really made a comeback in quality and updated options. If you’re in between sizes for this pair, she would recommend sizing up. The high waist is so good, I feel like neither of us will ever give them up now!

Y’all know we can’t live without our Mei Li bags right now and the leather on leather is the ultimate topper. We’ve both been getting compliments on our bags from friends and family, because they can tell the bag is high quality by how well the structure holds. If you haven’t checked out Mei Li yet, they’re a startup quality handbag company.

Tell us, do you have any leather jackets? If so, any favorite brands to share? If not, tell us why!

Outfit Details

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Fall Skirts Re-Worked

Surprise, you get a bonus post this week, hitting you up with three! Contain your enthusiasm please, think of this more like two and a half posts because we both wore the same skirts as this post, but dressed them up to be office appropriate for work.

We’ve spoken before about our personal policy of buying clothes and wearing them in as many scenarios as possible. We’re willing to spend a little bit more on an item, if it’s going to go further in our closet. We are all about getting our cost per wear down to something reasonable. Don’t buy a trendy jacket that will last you one season and you’ll wear it maybe five times and you spent $75-$100 on it. Buy leather boots for $100+ that will last you as many seasons until they wear out, or a timeless jacket that will be reached for over and over again.

In this case we didn’t have to spend more to find versatile pieces. A lot of the skirts at Asos are within the $35-$50 range, which seems to be pretty standard for a skirt today. I give more weight to buying skirts because I know my day to day life means wearing one for 8+ hours a day. Plus there is something so appealing about buying skirts and all the different colors and patterns that are better to me than buying the same print in a top.

We asked y’all in an Instagram poll if you were interested in discovering mainline pieces that will work for tall women, and the majority definitely wanted to hear about these pieces. Good news for us, because although Asos is probably the leader in providing us tall affordable skirts – their selection of mainline options opens the door to many, many more skirts.

The skirts can be filtered by length, and for workwear we always filter to midi skirts and then main range and tall range. There are a couple of mainline skirts that for whatever reason Asos bills as longline – which we interpret as tall! The style are usually just regular cut pencil skirts, but they always have some fun new colors I’m interested in, like the one I wore in this post.

Everyone probably can probably relate to the struggle of finding the perfect white t-shirt and then the secondary issue of making it last. We’re still definitely on the hunt for a perfect length white t-shirt that is great quality. If you have any suggestions, please let us know in the comments! This t-shirt is definitely still in the running for holding up well and being from Gap tall, it is a great length as well. She easily wears her mules to work all the time, they’re business in the front and party in the back.

My shirt is a favorite from Express. I am all about the statement sleeves and this bubble sleeve is no exception. It lets me get away with picking all patternless shirts but keep some sort of visual interest. This shirt was an stretch for me, but I’m glad I tried it on because it is the perfect length to wear with anything highwaisted. I paired it with my slingback flats, which are the perfect work shoe. They look sophisticated without sacrificing your comfort! You can also see how Caitlin paired this top in a different color in an older post here.

Hope everyone has a great weekend, the first full weekend of fall!

Outfit Details

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When You Have Nothing to Wear

That autumnal breeze blows into town every year, chilling our bones more and more with each gust. We desperately try to hold onto the last vestiges of snowless weather by wearing our skirts as much as possible. Unfortunately, it makes for the perfect storm of many opportunities to unwittingly flash your coworkers or strangers, as your skirt tries to rush away with the wind.

Maybe it sounds dramatic or fantastical but I know our city ladies hear us on this loud and clear, and have probably suffered through the same problem. We shouldn’t have to give up on our skirts or dresses in order to avoid battle with the elements. This is where Dress Downs come in.

Sometimes it’s those seemingly unglamorous products that help your life look a little more glamorous. Case in point; when Caitlin and I worked together, the building created a wind tunnel right as you approached the door. Try holding onto your purse, your lunch, and whatever else you might need with you for the day, while also grabbing ahold of your skirt or dress as it lifts from all directions. Caitlin remembers way to many of her personal moments of going from modest professional attire to showing more than a little thigh. Not a situation any of us want to worry about!

They are unobtrusive little weights you can attached to you skirts or dresses and safely resume your life without a second thought to accidental flashes of skin. We came across their page on instagram and as we were going through their page, the more and more we thought about it the better of an idea it became. It something most women have a use for, but probably don’t even know they exist.

They asked us if we’d be interested in trying them out and we couldn’t say yes fast enough. It seems as you’re ordering online, you don’t always fully know what kind of fabric/material you’re going to end up with. This skirt was exactly what Caitlin has been waiting for, the work appropriate length but the lightweight fabric that can be dressed up or down. With that lightweight fabric, comes the perilous relationship with the wind. Instead of worrying about if she should return the skirt, she attached her dress downs and had a worry free day.

This product reminds us of the strap perfects that hit the market years back. All of a sudden, gone were women’s struggles with their bra straps peeking out all the time. In the same way, the Dress Downs should feel freeing to women to wear whatever skirt or dress they want and rest easy that the wind won’t be able to play peekaboo. Another product we can’t quite live without, try as we might, is a slip. Caitlin found this perfect length slip to throw on underneath more transparent skirts and is loving it. Ok, maybe this post should be titled, the way that the industry gets us to spend more money on products!

We’re both very similar in certain aspects of our fashion leanings and yet we definitely have separation points. Today isn’t a day for the differences, case in point our matching t-shirts. We own very few graphic t-shirts but when you spending hours of your life messaging your sister about various events and having nothing to wear, nothing could be more fitting to buy together. We paired it with our go-to converse sneakers and we had a great casual chic outfit set.  

The silhouette of my skirt really appealed to me for a long time before I purchased it. My concern was if it would make me look too “hippy” because of the cut. We’ve discussed it before on the blog, but I’m pretty selective in which prints I like and I could not deny this skirt any longer. I’m so glad I didn’t let my preconceived notions of my body shape decide for me, because it’s definitely one of my favorite skirts now. My new favorite purse is Mei Li, which we told you about in our last post, here.

Caitlin paired her skirt with her classic handbag from Coach, it’s the Mini Bennett Satchel. It’s been a great versatile bag for her, with the long strap to wear over her shoulder but not too large to carry too much around with her needlessly.

Stay tuned for our workwear version of these two skirts on Friday!

Outfit Details 

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Is it Even Fall without Plaid?

Plaid is ubiquitous when it comes to Fall. It is one of the few prints that can look high-brow or completely casual. We love it’s versatility for that reason and can be found in a wide range of stylings, especially with the temperature drop. Speaking of, our weather has been indecisive on when Fall will officially begin, and I for one am holding on desperately to our Indian Summer.

We both had fun weekends, I gorged myself on all the amazing food Milwaukee has to offer at the Food and Wine Experience. Caitlin’s weekend wasn’t too far off, as there is always good food and nice drinks at parties as well! It seems like people are ramping up their social gatherings before it gets super cold and we all go into hibernation!

A combination of getting a quality product for a great price, are these amazing purses we recently found in a startup company called Mei Li. It is so incredible to receive a high quality product that is such a timeless beauty. Even more impressive, is it being completely up to date with storage compartments and exactly what we need to get through our days. It’s the thoughtful details of the handbags that are really appreciated; like the removable straps to convert from a shoulder bag to a handbag, or the little metal feet to protect the bottom of the bag from the mess we encounter day to day. Caitlin was extremely fond of the water bottle compartment on the inside as she always has a water bottle on hand. Neither of us have ever seen that feature before!

We can’t say enough nice things about these bags, and now is an incredible time to invest in one for yourself, because they are starting an Indiegogo campaign that you can learn more about here. They are planning to get their Audrey mini handbag in production. The Audrey is incredible because it is like having 6 purse options in one, including a backpack or even wearing it around your waist for a hands free option! Talk about a purse that is endlessly versatile and thoughtful. If you support the campaign, you can purchase one of their bags at a discounted cost. We need to see more quality startup companies giving us wonderful product options and we totally believe in Mei Li.

So far, having our Mei Li bags, we’ve been completely impressed with the quality. It’s also a super sleek looking bag and makes us feel endlessly polished. This brings me back to plaid and fall dressing. I’m making my bag go the distance, and it works really well with all of my corporate job outfits, including this one.

I got this blouse from Asos’ tall line last year, because I’m a complete sucker for lace AND victorian style tops. Find me one with long enough sleeves and a reasonable price and I’ll love you forever. It may be more difficult to tell from this picture but the colors in this plaid midi skirt, also from Asos make it easy to mix and match for more outfit variety.

I’m also obsessed with these slingbacks my Mom found me from Nordstrom Rack. They are super chic yet comfortable. I have narrow feet, and sometimes I feel like my feet slip out of shoes, but these hold my feet comfortable but firmly. They might not be comfortable for women with wider feet, depends on your fit preference.

Tell us below, when is the last time you invested in a handbag – if ever? I’ll admit that my first handbag was won off a radio station contest and is a beautiful burgundy Rebecca Minkoff! Caitlin totally has done a better job prioritizing purses than I have!  We hope your week is off to a great start.

Jenilee’s Outfit Details

Skirt is exact, blouses are similar options. Shoes are no longer available online but check your local Nordstrom Rack – they are Abound Portia Slingback Flats

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Fall is Hitting us Like a Ray of Sunshine

Well I just have to say it. It’s not even technically Fall yet. People are forcing the issue here with all this talk about pulling out sweaters and drinking PSL’s and I’m just glad our faux Fall is having hot temperatures to assert the fact that it is still summer. Don’t come at me with pumpkin flavored anything until AT LEAST October or until the temperatures dip below 50 degrees.

We’re soaking in the warmth while we can, except for Monday night, we had our second Fall sand volleyball game and the mosquitoes are NUTS right now. We had a bunch of rain and they are in absolute heaven, biting everyone hundreds of times. I think both Caitlin and I have over 25 bites each and that was with using bug spray. In fact, we used so much bug spray (with deet) that I could feel the toxins soaking into my skin.

While my heart won’t let go of summer I’m also firmly planted in reality of dressing for the weather. We’ve already had a couple of days where I probably should have grabbed a coat for the morning but I walk out to almost 80 degree temps in the afternoon. I’ve already begun the closet switchover to Fall, which is always kind of fun. I usually wait until it’s cold to do it and then I feel like I miss out on wearing some of those items that are in between weighted clothing but definitely the right seasonal colors.

I’ll definitely be finishing my closet switch over this weekend, and bringing out the sweaters. I always like to use this time to toss or donate stuff as I go, so I’m not storing something or keeping it in the closet for another year of avoiding wearing it. It helps keep me in an abundance mindset that I’m bringing in my other season clothes to not feel like I HAVE to hold onto items just to have extra options to choose from, despite the truth being that I never choose that item! I’ve definitely become more ruthless with purging items and every time I do it, I definitely feel freer.

Do y’all like to separate your clothing by warm weather and cold weather? To us, it just helps simplify getting dressed in the morning to not have to sort through inappropriate seasonal options. We also like to separate out colors in our closet, so everything is easier to find. Especially for me and my crappy closet – which doesn’t have a true light in it. I end up shining my phone’s flashlight in the morning to make sure I kind of match for the day.

I’m still better off than Caitlin’s closet, because her bars have ripped out of the wall and deposited all of her clothes gracelessly on the floor. I think they finally found a solution to that, but I know many of us can relate to the first world closet problems.

We’re all guilty of buying stuff just because it’s cheap or a good deal, but we could all benefit from taking time to thoughtfully consider our purchases and limit our trendy buys. Typically I like to add things to my cart and let them sit for a long time, until it might go on sale or even get low in stock. I can usually tell how much I like it as time goes on and I consider the use that I would get out of it.

Speaking of finding deals, Caitlin found this fabulous jumpsuit in Asos outlet area. We’re not sure if it’s a typo or what the difference is, but there is an identical one for double the price in the non-sale Tall section. We’ll link both of them below. This jumpsuit was a total keeper for Caitlin because it is bra friendly. A lot of times she passes on clothing, knowing that she won’t be able to wear a bra with it and this one was no issue. The wide legged look is comfortable and the inseam is plenty long! Also, the bow is large enough to cover some of the cutout to not feel as exposed.

She paired our new bag from Mei Li with it. This bag is EVERYTHING! We introduced y’all to this company in our last post and we are so excited to be a part of their story and carry their bags. This is one high quality bag, and it is going to go the distance for us while still looking incredibly chic.  They are currently doing an Indiegogo campaign and you can check out more information on it here. We’ve got more to share about it, stay tuned for Monday’s post.

Y’all might remember this top I wore from this post with a different skirt. Mustard is definitely one of our favorite hues right now and it’s pretty much season less but very Fall friendly. It’s a great tank to wear alone or layered and in this case, I had my favorite moto jacket from Asos to throw over it. This skirt is also old from Asos but is definitely my ideal mini skirt length to not feel overexposed! Plus animal prints are definitely on trend for Fall and this skirt fits that perfectly.

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend, I’m super excited to be heading to a Food & Wine Experience this weekend. Is there anything better than tasting a bunch of local restaurants food and high quality wine with your husband and friends? I think not. Caitlin is heading up to Green Bay area to attend a party with her best friends (and our fearless photographer) family.

Caitlin’s Outfit Details!

Jenilee’s Outfit Details (Similar Skirt only)

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