Who’s Who

Andrea‘s ultimate fashion goal is that when she looks back at pictures 25 years from now she won’t have to laugh hysterically at too many poor fashion choices. A few years ago she decided to give away her beloved high school, college, and sorority t-shirt collections in hopes that her weekend attire would resemble something less of a college student slacker and more put together young adult. It mostly worked. Working in higher education means she has a lot of freedom in what she wears to work, so while you’ll almost never find her in a suit, the stuff she wears is mostly business casual or a notch below. Generally a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl, her fashion sense leans heavily to classic styles. When she finds something she loves, she buys it in multiple colors and always wishes she’d have bought more. Follow Andrea on Twitter @andreaunplugged or check out her blog.

Becky is an attorney in the Upper Midwest. Her mom makes fun of her, in a loving way, for being so preppy. She is still struggling to get back into shape after having two kids, and she is working on figuring out the best ways to dress her “new” shape. (It’s not really so new considering her younger kid is almost a year and a half old, but please humor her.) She never says “lippie” instead of lipstick, and she does not mix plaid with florals. She does, however, wear sequins.

Buster is a new mom and a research attorney in Minneapolis. She used to practice law and wear boring pinstriped suits every day. Now she works second shift doing legal research in a cubicle farm at a company that is definitely on the casual side of business casual. Her biggest fashion struggles are: (1) dressing for her current lumpy shape, and (2) getting too lazy and wearing her schlumpy clothes and bug-squishing-dog-walking shoes to work.

Charlie is a former banker from San Francisco who hit the work lottery jackpot and now works for a major fashion retailer and will tell you too much about how she loves it.  The suits from her former life are shoved to the back of her closet since her coworker’s attire runs anywhere from Prada heels to yoga pants. With no real policy about what to wear, she is a dresser of opposites: flip flops one day (sigh, too many days), blazer the next.  While she thinks accessories and lipstick are awesome, she has trouble thinking she can pull off either.  Likes: cotton, sequins. Dislikes: animal fibers, itching, full price. You can find Charlie blogging sporadically at Repeat If Needed, interrupting Twitter conversations as @charliesue or working on her second favorite job (Charlie Sue Photography).

Raised in Northern California, Danielle has lived in Oklahoma City since 1998. After years of working in Human Resources and Customer Relations, she traded in her skirts and heels for jeans and ballet flats. In addition to chasing after a very busy son and writing her personal and lifestyle blog, Danielle is the social media manager for a local retail business. This past year she also co-founded Engage OKC, a collaborative community of bloggers, businesses and social media users in the Oklahoma City metro. They specialize in social media outreach, with a focus on event planning and content campaign design and management. Danielle is a dedicated OKC Thunder fan and has recently taken up kickboxing. Yes, really. In the blogging world you can find Danielle at Elleinad Spir as well as on Twitter (@elleinadspir), or you can reach her directly at elleinad.spir@yahoo.com.

Hillary is a features editor at a newspaper in Florida, as well as mother to two small boys. She blogs with her best friend and can be found on Twitter (@HillaryCopsey) talking about kids, books, journalism and other randomness. She likes short hair, pencil skirts and classic cuts with splashy prints.

Jenny J. is 30-something, living in Houston, raising two children and working hard to overcome a nasty addiction to Bravo’s Real Housewives franchise (and by “working hard” she means, “not at all attempting to overcome”). She’s the person at a party, sitting on the floor in the corner, talking to the family dog, cat, goldfish or guinea pig — and not because she’s drunk — but because she’d always rather be with animals than humans (present company excluded, naturally). She’s a little afraid of wearing prints, her bra straps showing and pleats. On any given day, you can find her in a group exercise class at her gym, thinking that her PE-hating, 7th grade-self would be scratching her head at the fact that she now pays people to bark at her to run faster, do more burpees, and push herself harder. She is not a lover of chocolate, which befuddles many of those close to her, and she’s still holding out hope to one day run away with singer/songwriter Bob Schneider. Follow Jenny J. on Twitter @veggiejj.

Jessica is an auditor in the Midwest. She’s a big fan of clearance sales, can’t seem to figure out accessories, and thinks any outfit can always use a belt. She blogs at Jesabes.com and spends entirely too much time on Twitter (@JesabesBlog). Jessica has two kids who dress more stylishly than she does and a husband who can’t understand why she now thinks shopping is necessary for “research.”

Maura is a lawyer-turned-teacher who has a passion for sharing her love of food, fashion and fitness with anyone who wants to listen (and even those who don’t). After years of dressing like a business woman, she is looking forward to showing her more playful side of her wardrobe. Maura lives for 40% off coupons from The Gap and Banana Republic, and gets her luxury window shopping fix from Rue La La. She believes strongly that accessories can make the woman, but they don’t have to break the bank. Maura lives in Philadelphia with her almost-too-good-to-be-true boyfriend, Will, and their two rescue dogs, Matty and Ollie. Follow her on Twitter (@MauraLessa) or send her an email at agirlruns@gmail.com.

Michelle is a journalist who lives in Ohio. Her style can be best described as whatever dress was on sale as she really likes dresses (comfort, convenience, ease) and was brought up to never to pay full price for anything. Seriously, it is a family past time to get the best deal possible. She blogs with Hillary and is on Twitter (@notraisingbrats).

N is another lawyer, though she is currently working as a paralegal at a law firm with a business-casual dress code. Her husband’s job has required them to move pretty frequently, so she really has lived all over. She will probably return to the suit-life in a few years, but right now she is enjoying the fact that her firm lets her wear jeans once a month. In her mid-thirties, N is the mom of an almost-one-year-old boy. She grew up in the Midwest and has a classic and clean style.

RA is a Pennsylvania-based medical writer, and her style is basically classic with a twist, in that she has a lot of neutral clothing staples, but she really enjoys bold accessories and the occasional statement piece. Even though the pharmaceutical industry is traditionally kind of formal, RA’s company has no dress code. She usually lands on the dressier end of the spectrum, even in her typical uniform of jeans, flats, and a cardigan, or a dress and a cardigan. Spoiler alert: RA wears a lot of cardigans. Her other fashion go-to’s include bright flats, colorful scarves, big necklaces, and the local tailor, because she is incredibly short and always needs something hemmed. Follow RA on Twitter (@DefinitelyRA) and at her blog.

Rebecca lives with her husband and two children in Southern California. By day, she works as a software marketer and wears a casual, tried-and-true formula of jeans and cardigans. By night, she dreams of the perfect sheath dress and super-high heels, and she has never met an accessory she didn’t like. Rebecca is getting dangerously close to 40, and therefore strives to hit the right balance of cute/trendy with age-appropriate. She buys things in multiple colors, owns an embarrassing number of lip glosses, and doesn’t believe in Botox despite living in Orange County. You can email Rebecca at thomrebecca AT hotmail DOT com and follow her on Twitter @bearca. In her spare time, she also writes for Style Lush.

Sarah is an elementary school counselor in rural Virginia. Her job has taught her all kinds of things she never knew about professional wrestling, livestock judging, and raising chickens. Her style is a balance between professional educator who attends administrative and parent meetings, and busy teacher who spends the majority of her day on the floor talking and playing with kids. She is always covered in something, whether it’s chalk dust, glue, or ketchup. She is a new mom who is still trying to figure out how to dress all of her leftover pregnancy pounds and fight the working mom so-tired-all-the-time frump. She is a sucker for horizontal stripes, flip flops, and layers. After being puked on by too many kids that weren’t her own, she’s learned the hard way that you always need to have an extra pair of pants in your office. You can follow Sarah on twitter (@sarah_is_fab) where she spends the majority of her time talking about her amazing baby and asking for advice.

Stacey is a wife of one (thank goodness!), mother of two small boys (whew!), and a student (an old one!). She’s been a stay at home mom since 2009 while attending college and just recently went back to work as an intern in Human Resources in a health care facility. She’s gotten a little too used to flip flops and as a result of that her feet have been swimming in their own blood since mid-June when she started her internship and actually had to wear heels. Just as her feet are finally getting used to the business woman shoes, the internship is almost coming to end (maybe! she’s been asked to stay so we’ll keep you posted!). Stacey likes to be comfortable but put together, and her favorite pieces are usually found on clearance in the following colors: navy blue, gray, white, black, and cream. But she does like polka dots and stripes (party animal!). Stacey lives in West Michigan, so don’t be surprised if you see her in shorts one day and a sweater the next. Stacey also like parentheses but that has nothing to do with this.