What is actually corporate approved?

A day we never thought would come, Julia starts her first big girl job!!! We are on this endeavor together ladies. yay, yay, yay, yay....... I am bouta become an office siren and run corporate America. But the question is, are office sirens even real?? I just watched the Devil Wears Prada for the first time ever a couple weeks ago, and firstly, I ATE it up, and secondly, there was this one character who was the epitome of office siren. Little glasses, slick back buns, perfect skirts and heels. No, not Meryl Streep even though she was iconic in it. And with the office siren trend emerging, it made me wonder, is this even realistic for girlies working in corporate America? As someone who OBVIOUSLY never worked in an office or really had any family who have been in business, business apparel is foreign to me. The fear of turning into the masses of corporate minions or the secretary that works at your local high school in the same khakis and floral blouse MAKES ME SICK. How am I supposed to live in these conditions??????? I'm just joshing with y'all, but seriously, as a lover of fashion and clothing, how do I find ways to be unique and express myself in the work place. I definitely can't wear what these "professionals" in selling sunset wear to work (apparently bodycon dresses and mini skirts work in real estate:) ). The other ideas floating in my head are from subjection to media specifically tik tok and what it's business "influencers" have said are business casual. Some of these influencers have shown collared dresses running four inches above the knee saying these are approved as well as basically crop tops as seen with the tik tok intern going viral wearing a crop top under a blazer to her first day of work. There has been serious criticism towards these creators with their unrealistic takes on clothes for the workplace. While it appears the workplace may be changing as seen with some companies integrating new clothing policies like jeans being allowed, the question becomes what can actually be worn when business casual is becoming so hard to identify and quantify. It has become this gray area to people in and out of corporate america. As someone needing to literally update their wardrobe for this reason like TODAY, I AM HAVING A PANIC ATTACK TRYING TO PICK SOME PIECES OF CLOTHING. Now this leads me to my interpretation, or what I am bouta buy. The plan is some tailored pants, cardigans, sweaters, blazers, button ups, ballet flats. The typical stuff. But the places I want to look at are GAP, Aritzia, Abercrombie, and Target. GAP came out with this Doen collab recently, and it looks fabulous. Abercrombie jeans fit me the best, so I am hoping to find a nice ankle cut jean there. Target also has a new collab recently with tailored vests that look perfect for the workplace. Aritiza, a given, will have nice basics, great midi/maxi skirts, and great tailored pants. In the end, I am hoping to play it safe at first and integrate my style later on. I will keep my trusted ladies in arms updated. But from this, I hope you realize when you search up business casual on tik tok that you are cautious of its accuracy of fashion in the workplace.

Are Luxury Brands basically fast fashion?

Hellooooo ladies. Long time no see. Literally. I have been quite busy as of late, you know softball and those shenanigans, BUT I wanted to give you all an update on my experience in Paris and some things I learned while away. Basically, I attended a conference that covered the topic of circularity being integrated by luxury brands if possible. The questions arising are is it actually attainable, how would they do this and uphold brand image, what are the effects on the supply chain, etc. As you can tell, it was really cool as I was surrounded by professors who had worked in the industry and now in academia and people who still work in the industry in areas like consulting. I was the youngest person there, so being surrounded by so much knowledge I had never heard was amazing. Every attendee basically presented their intended research for the upcoming year, and it was fascinating to say the least. Obviously, I keep up with as much as I can in the industry, but alas I am but one woman. At the round table one of the craziest things I heard about was how Burberry in 2018 was caught burning excess inventory to uphold value. Sometimes called Burn-berry. HOW CRAZY IS THAT for a brand to burn inventory, I mean this is just the dirty side of luxury that is being exposed. I'm not going to go too deep into issues of advertisement of sustainable products and the use of this terminology in Luxury, but the one thing we have noticed is that the younger consumers are more willing to see luxury brands use more recyclable/ sustainable efforts and not see a decrease in value of the luxury goods but rather love the initiative being taken by the brands. Younger consumers may even be more willing to utilize buying from resell/ refurbish/ vintage platforms as well. Meanwhile, the older consumer tends to not want to exchange real leather for vegan, for example, because it takes away from the legacy of the brand. They may see these as inferior goods and buy less if any over time. Legacy holds a ton of weight for many consumers, which I mean is of no surprise because it builds trust in the goods. You may say, julia why are you talking about this it doesn't relate to fast fashion, but my ladies, it does. One of the issues of including more circular practices into luxury is the divide between the shareholders at the top (money men) and the people producing at the bottom of the supply chain. The working conditions are not as good as provided on the websites for these brands, but this is not a new idea in the industry. Workers at the bottom of the supply chain, as Hakan Karaosman noted in his presentation after stepping and integrating into their daily lives for his study (hopefully I am correct in remembering), have solutions as to how to make the supply chain better and more efficient. I mean think if your teacher came up to you and asked for honest feedback, would you give it? no, but if it was anonymous or you had a better relationship, you may. Now, if you knew your feedback would actually be implemented because of how sincere your relationship was, you would without a doubt right? This is a common theme for workers as yes there are inspections of working conditions and so on, but why speak up when no change occurs. His bottom up strategy spoken of could provide a solution, yet in order to use this solution, financing is needed because why would shareholders/ the board of directors change something that is already providing profit? That may put them at a deficit, even though they already have enough consumers to purchase goods with the current supply chain/ business model? This is the same idea as fast fashion. As much as we say we would "never buy from brands with bad supply chains, working conditions, etc" we still do. So why would people with a plethora of funds just stop buying from luxury brands either. Now we know in terms of fast fashion and luxury this tends to stem from trade offs and opportunity costs as well as price discrimination, but in the end all initiative to be more circular hinders upon finances, as all things do. Think, if we want new products like Prada's re-nylon, we need to procure financing for R&D, advertising, suppliers and production, etc. It is costly, and again, an idea present in both fast fashion and luxury is that when you have a strong consumer base, why change? Take this information as you will, I know I missed some things I wrote in my notes from the day of the conference, so let's cross my fingers I made no error. But just something to consider when determining ethicality of brands in the future.

Cheugy or Timeless!!!

Hello viewers!! Welcome to today's game show brought to you by the Jewel Archive. This idea was asked by miss Meg Schulte to be talked about, so without further adieu, welcome CHEUGY OR TIMELESS!!!!!!! WOOO WOOO YAHHH

I had started this post, LITERALLY at the beginning of January sooooo sorry for the delay my friends

Let's explain the rules. Basically, we are going to show some trends/clothing items from 2023, decide if they're cheugy or timeless in the coming year and provide a brief descriptor as to why I believe that. When we say something is cheugy, we mean it will go out of trend or is similar to something like, per say, galaxy leggings or the gold G Gucci Belt. When we say something is timeless, we mean that the item will be either held in closets for extensive periods of time or be used as staple pieces in outfits. Overall, these pieces will still be seen

in the next couple years.

DISCLAIMER: I still very much enjoy some of these pieces that I have labelled cheugy, but if I have to say if they're going to be in style for over a decade, I can't say I would; HOWEVER THEY MAY COME BACK IN STYLE

NOW LETS BEGINNNNNN

Trend/Item	Cheugy or Timeless	Why
Samba	Timeless	As much as I think the samba has been commercialized and mass produced, I think we are going to see this shoe stick around for a little while. Especially as women have latched to it. It almost has a similar effect as the Jordan craze. So while it has caught on and will last a while, I do think it will eventually go out of style, just not for a little bit.
Boxers	Cheugy	I do love the boxer trend, I did participate last summer, and I will again this summer. HOWEVER. I unfortunately cannot see it lasting :( It's just going to become fast fashionized (i made that up) and become very cheap looking
Jean Midi/Maxi Skirt	Cheugy	AGAIN, I do enjoy the jean midi skirt I do, and I would love to make an outfit with one, but I think it's running its course and we're gonna see it die out as they have become mass produced and introduced into stores like Forever 21 and HM
Ballet Flat	Timeless	Corporate Baddies love this. They are just such a timeless shoe and with the rise of female empowerment and representation, I think we will see a lot of feminine pieces lasting, and who doesn't love a ballet flat?
Sheer Clothing	Timeless	As long as it is done well, it will last. When it becomes cheap looking, well that's gross.
Oversized Blazer	Timeless	For some it may not, but think of Princess Diana and her iconic era. Yeah, they will stay.
Cargo Pants	Cheugy	This is not all cargo pants, BUT, I think we have seen the parachute pant/ cargo pant worn a ton by the college girlies. It just has become a symbol like snake skin tops for millennials.
Claw Clips	Cheugy	MAAM, this is basically the vsco girl aesthic and while fun, it is not lasting sorry; we may see it in use, but its not ingrained in an outfit like it was in the past, it is more so for convienence than style
High Rise Jeans	Cheugy	if you know your proportions, high rise may be better, but as an over arching theme of these suiting everyone as a trend, it will dissipate like the Zara straight leg Jean
Wide Leg Trouser	Timeless	I just love a wide leg SUE ME, I may be biased, but I think we will always see this in some form
Clean Girl Aesthetic	Timeless	While, the rat girl/ grunge phase seems to be reemerging for teens, young 20s, I still think there is such a timelessness to the clean aesthetic for people in the professional world
Hypebeast Streetwear	Cheugy	unless there is a rebranding, which there just may be as we see new creative directors encourging change in luxury wear, we are going to see a drop as we have been in things like skater streetwear and items like Dunks as they have become more accessible
Bows	Timeless	While it is peak time for them, I am biased cause I love it, I still think there will always be a bow seen in fashion, it just may not be as saturated