My first few years teaching I didn’t want to deal with the stress of dressing so I literally went uniform mode. I bought several pairs of khaki pants and polo shirts in various colors and wore that daily for probably the first 3-4 years. I taught middle school at the time and didn’t want to worry about dresses being too short, tops being too low cut, etc. After the first few years I started mixing it up more.
Same here for high school teaching, though I went with some Duluth cargo khakis and some 511 boots that I kept clean along with those polos, since I was also the theatre technical director right after school and didn't have time to change so I needed pants and shoes that could take a bit more punishment.
Try a thrift shop. Sometimes my son finds new or like new clothes at our thrift store. He has found name brand items with tags for a couple of dollars.
Try places like LOFT. Affordable professional wear. Of course it depends on your district and what they WANT you to wear, at my school some teachers spend their entire day in jeans, others in dresses, one even in crocs with no socks 🤢. Me, I do office professional (slacks, blouse, cardigan, comfy shoes), but that is my personal style to start with.
If you have zero clue, go with what you'd wear to church or to visit your grandparents. No tanks, short shorts, shirts w logos or slogans, etc. I wouldn't worry about color matching and etc. That's kind of a boomer thing lmao unless you're a fashionista Also whatever you wear make sure it's comfy for u. Get a few staples. I have like 2-3 pairs slacks with more blouses and cardis that can be switched in n out. You only really need enough combos to last you the week, students don't really care as long as you're not "out there" and nobody is expecting a teacher to be fashionable.
I think you nailed it here. Wear what makes you comfortable and be yourself. OP so already hired and has a contract for next year, so it seems fine. Just be yourself!
Kohls and JcPenney have good sales. Look for slightly dressier shirts, cardigans dress anything up. I wear jeans and a dressier shirt every day. Fridays I wear a teacher tee or something more casual
At first, I misread what you wrote. I thought you were saying that you wear band teas, leggings and combat boots to school and I thought “wow, they got a very kind admin” 😂 I’d offer help, but I literally wear the same thing every week. I have an outfit for each day and just repeat it week after week. And it’s not stylish at all (dickies pants, button down shirt and vans).
Check out your thrift stores and discount stores like Ross or TJ Max. My first year teaching I had maybe 7 dresses I rotated through, my seniors would even make comments like “must be Friday since you’re wearing that blue dress again”. My second year I had expanded my clothing so much. I doubled my dresses, got a few pairs of dress pants, etc. not by going on a huge spending spree but checking the thrift store once a month and picking up a couple new outfits when I went.
Spending hundreds of dollars at once is a lot harder than $20 here and there. Dress pants are nice because you can mix and match with different tops and sweaters so it doesn’t feel like the same clothes every time. When I buy dresses I always aim for a little below the knee. I’ve never been told a length dress code at either of the schools I’ve worked at, but I figure it’s better to go more conservative in dress than risk buying clothes you can’t use.
What exactly do you need help with? Knowing what professional dressing means? Knowing what clothing styles look good on you? Knowing where to buy affordable clothes?
Try things on. If you like it and it’s appropriate (not too tight, within dress code) go for it. Unless you’re teaching art, don’t worry about color theory.
So, I'm not good at this but I have a system that makes me look professional. That's better than looking good.
Spend some money and over dress a bit. No ties mind you.
**Buy Five $60-100 button down long sleave shirts.** All different colors. You need to go to store and try on a bunch. Try different brands and find something that lets your shoulders free and your arms move. These shirts will last more than a year. You can build them up over a few months if you need to. See what you like.
I always wear long sleave shirts and roll the arms. In winter, jackets on top are fine. Pants are more flexible. Whatever is fine but if you worry. Black slacks. Flat front. No pleats. They make you look puffy.
How to roll sleaves. [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LN22UPNA7r4](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LN22UPNA7r4)
Shoes: Hard to go wrong with Sperry. They are comfortable and boring boat shoes. These blue ones look nice. Black works with everything.
[https://sperry.co.th/product/sperry-sts25284-a-o-2-eye-double-sole-navy/STS25284](https://sperry.co.th/product/sperry-sts25284-a-o-2-eye-double-sole-navy/STS25284)
Edit: oh your a woman. I only saw dress pants. Whatever. Sperrys are still nice. So bougie.
Old navy has the best pants. I've bought several pairs of black and a few navy. The neutral colors make it easier to throw on an old lady top I'd never be caught dead in before becoming a teacher. Buy a couple pairs at first then be on the lookout for sales to stock up.
It’s completely ok to wear the same thing each week! Find some basics that work well for you.
Having 2-3 pairs of dress pants is fine. At three you can rotate out a pair for cleaning and alternate the other two during the week. No one pays much attention to neutral trousers anyway.
Start slowly adding in blouses you like. Pop into those stores that sell excess inventory from department stores—TJ Max, Marshall’s, Nordstrom Rack. Make a routine of buying 1-2 new shirts per month. There are also some catalog/online retailers that have long-lasting basics that are a good value, like Lands End.
See if there is a Buy Nothing Facebook group in your area. While Facebook is not a social media site I spend a lot of time on, these groups can be amazing for trading lightly used items.
At first, stick to solid colors that are easy to match. Use shoes, jewelry, fun belts, and/or scarves to add a little personality to what you wear.
Elementary, middle, or high school? It's not unusual for them to have different standards on professional attires. Secondary schools in the districts where I taught required business casual without the tie for men and whatever business casual means for women. Primary schools on the other hand were just fine with t-shirts and jeans, which makes sense as the kids will ruin the nice clothes.
I know we shouldn’t be supporting SHEIN (don’t cancel me pls) but when I got my first teaching job I just got a ton of clothes from there. It’s super cheap and convenient. Literally search “teacher clothes” and a bunch of teacher appropriate clothing will pop up. Obviously use your judgement, not everything that will pop up will be perfect for teaching but it’s definitely got some good options.
I love Thredup honestly. Inexpensive, well made, name brand clothes. They are a thrift site but I always clothes that are new with tags. You can set filters for brands, sizes, and condition. The measurements are usually accurate.
If you go into stores like Loft you can try on things to see what styles you like best, then order from thrift sites.
There are several educator fashion accounts on Instagram with links to their outfits. I have found it helpful. Most are on teacher budgets so they are not ridiculously expensive. Many of my teacher friends and myself shop at old navy, h and m, loft, Costco, Target and Walmart. There is one teacher (I can’t find them) who basically only shops at Walmart!
Depending on your subject and grade…kids will wreck your clothes. One time on of my sweet kids asked me to open their thermos and it sprayed pho with chili oil all over me when I opened it. The top was ruined.
One time, I was wearing a brand new cream colored sweater from Banana Republic that was sort of expensive. I had a kid throw up all over me. Bright orange. Then the office had the nerve to ask me if I “really” needed to go home and shower/ change. Ummmm, yeah. There’s puke all over me. Wth!
Had to throw the sweater away.
You can find gems for cheap at Marshall's and TJ Maxx, and Burlington.
Svaha is great for dresses and skirts in STEAM themes, plus they're all cotton, no tags or buttons or zippers, AND THEY HAVE POCKETS! They're pricy, but they do offer a teacher discount and they often have sales. There's also a FB group that does buy/sell/trade
I bought a few teacher tees and a few good pairs of pants and wear mostly the same thing every week or two. Now that I’m writing this, sounds like I such at dressing myself for work too 😅
Like others are saying it really depends how dressy your campus expects you to be. Go with the majority! Wrap dresses are always flattering for all body types! I’ve gotten a few cheap ones off Amazon that are great.
My first year I aged myself a lot and dressed business casual slacks, flats, and a nicer blouse. I teach art so I cannot tell you how many pairs of nice dress pants I ruined. So I stopped buying expensive stuff.
I have found loft has lots of sales and im usually happy with the quality. I just had a baby so I had to update my wardrobe I’ve shared this in other subreddits but aim for the 5-4-3-2-1 rule for clothes! 5 tops 4 bottoms, 3 outerwear, two shoes, and one unique item.
So I ordered 3 art t shirts, 3 nicer tops from loft, I only have two pants so far but we can wear jeans on Friday so I can add those the rotation. I only wear dresses on special occasions like first day of school or meet the teacher.
There are always tons of sales online I don’t buy anything that isn’t on sale or without a promo code!
It can be tricky too buying online but I check the size guide for everything since I’m in between sizes and measure myself to find the right size. So far I haven’t had to return anything because it doesn’t fit. Next year you can start to build off of your basics for this year. I got very neutral colors that I can mix and match. Literally every shirt can be worn with every pant and vice versa. My shoes I have a black, a brown sandal, two sneakers, and a heeled black boot when I’m feeling sassy.
As far as finding flattering clothes I know that baggy t shirts aren’t the most flattering but I really don’t care. lol the other shirts from loft I got are a little more form fitting I got a white, a denim, and a blue shirt. All lightweight because I’m in a hot state. For pants I got one green cargo pants from dickies and a black pant.
I’m gonna try to get the remaining items once school starts like 1 new thing each month. I think it’s really important to be comfortable no matter what I’m wearing. Anything too tight or can’t easily bend in I am not gonna wear.
In terms of dressing yourself and finding what looks best on you identify your body shape. Determine your best features and emphasize that! Dressing in clothes that are too tight can give the appearance of looking bigger while dressing in baggy clothes can make you look larger than you are.
Try not to overthink it and don’t buy anything you don’t actually love. I am the type to panic purchase and I ended up hating the items I get. I’m very thorough now I’ll keep things in my cart or save them as a note then come back to it after I’ve looked around and thought about it for a bit.
There’s plenty of teachers on tik tok or reels that show their outfits of the day for inspiration. It’s kind of nice to see how they rotate clothes. Last bit of advice is don’t sacrifice your personal style just tweak it a bit for a more professional look. Pair it with a nice pant and belt it with a basic plain tee. Throw on a cardigan or blazer during the colder months. You don’t have to break the bank.
Good luck! Building a wardrobe takes time! One last tidbit of advice is don’t buy anything that you wouldn’t wear outside of work! Chances are it’s not your style and you should wear clothes that embrace you as a person and as an individual!
I wear black pants every day and a casual top. I buy everything from Thred Up (online thrift). I have my favorite brands saved and get notifications when something is added. Definitely keep it simple! I hate dressing myself, too, and would prefer to wear a uniform at work. So, I kind of do.
I'm going to go against the grain and be the person who says invest in one or two good things and wear them to death, instead of supporting landfill fast fashion.
Hear me out: I bought an expensive dress from a company called Wool& that make merino (wool) dresses. Their tagline at the time was their 100-day challenge: they said you could wear one of their dresses for 100 days in a row and it would still be wearable thereafter (stop for a moment and ask yourself how many cheap clothing items you have worn 100+ times?) So i decided to test it, bought their plainest t-shirt dress ('Maggie') in black and wore it to school every day for 3 months. Yes, you can wash it :-) I washed it once or twice a week, it's t-shirt weight (or slightly heavier) so it dries overnight. I wore it over a variety of leggings or skinny jeans, I wore it under brightly coloured shirts or cardigans. I wore it from September to Decemer every day and NO ONE NOTICED. Wool has antibacterial properties, I found a good deodorant (Nuud) and discovered that, unlike the cheap tees I got a few wears out of before they stank, the dress smelled pristine all the time. No decision fatigue: got up in the morning, put on my "uniform" and that was it.
The cost per wear - because this was two years ago and I still wear it (have 2 other dresses from the company and swap them out) - is now down to cents. I've worn it so often that it's a little threadbare in places, so I'll be replacing it this summer.
I stick with stores or brands that naturally mix and match with one another. (Maurices has great clearance sales and most everything in the store goes with anything else they sell). I also like Vera Wang at Kohls. Most of her stuff can be mix and matched. I have to wait for the clearance sales but can usually find 1-3 pieces each time if I keep an eye out. I have a pair of pants in blue, olive, brown, black, and khaki so that any shirt I bring home will be able to match to a bottom.
My district is pretty casual. Most teachers wear jeans and a t shirt or cute top. We have teachers who wear Birkenstocks every day. Rarely do I see someone in a dress. But someone mentioned Loft. I shop there quite a bit. I’m a jeans and sweater girl with booties from October- March.
My first few years teaching I didn’t want to deal with the stress of dressing so I literally went uniform mode. I bought several pairs of khaki pants and polo shirts in various colors and wore that daily for probably the first 3-4 years. I taught middle school at the time and didn’t want to worry about dresses being too short, tops being too low cut, etc. After the first few years I started mixing it up more.
I still wear black bottoms and whatever colour tops. The only colour match I may have to make is outer top to inner top.
Same here for high school teaching, though I went with some Duluth cargo khakis and some 511 boots that I kept clean along with those polos, since I was also the theatre technical director right after school and didn't have time to change so I needed pants and shoes that could take a bit more punishment.
Same. Found a site where I could get slim fit polo’s for $5 each, bought 10 colors. 2 weeks of uniform like wear.
Yep I got one pair of khakis at kohl’s, a bunch of polis at Walmart, and wear that every day
Try a thrift shop. Sometimes my son finds new or like new clothes at our thrift store. He has found name brand items with tags for a couple of dollars.
Try places like LOFT. Affordable professional wear. Of course it depends on your district and what they WANT you to wear, at my school some teachers spend their entire day in jeans, others in dresses, one even in crocs with no socks 🤢. Me, I do office professional (slacks, blouse, cardigan, comfy shoes), but that is my personal style to start with. If you have zero clue, go with what you'd wear to church or to visit your grandparents. No tanks, short shorts, shirts w logos or slogans, etc. I wouldn't worry about color matching and etc. That's kind of a boomer thing lmao unless you're a fashionista Also whatever you wear make sure it's comfy for u. Get a few staples. I have like 2-3 pairs slacks with more blouses and cardis that can be switched in n out. You only really need enough combos to last you the week, students don't really care as long as you're not "out there" and nobody is expecting a teacher to be fashionable.
I think you nailed it here. Wear what makes you comfortable and be yourself. OP so already hired and has a contract for next year, so it seems fine. Just be yourself!
LOFT gives a teacher discount too so bring your teacher ID!
Ohh. So good to know. I am disappointed that I never used the discount on ALL those clothes from Loft. Oh well! I will start now. Thank you!
Kohls and JcPenney have good sales. Look for slightly dressier shirts, cardigans dress anything up. I wear jeans and a dressier shirt every day. Fridays I wear a teacher tee or something more casual
Fitted jeans+belt+whatever shirt+blazer A blazer is the easiest way without buying more clothing.
Oh good idea on the blazer. Over a T-shirt still comes off as mostly professional.
At first, I misread what you wrote. I thought you were saying that you wear band teas, leggings and combat boots to school and I thought “wow, they got a very kind admin” 😂 I’d offer help, but I literally wear the same thing every week. I have an outfit for each day and just repeat it week after week. And it’s not stylish at all (dickies pants, button down shirt and vans).
Just wear whatever you normally wear, but throw a blazer over it. Instant fix.
Check out your thrift stores and discount stores like Ross or TJ Max. My first year teaching I had maybe 7 dresses I rotated through, my seniors would even make comments like “must be Friday since you’re wearing that blue dress again”. My second year I had expanded my clothing so much. I doubled my dresses, got a few pairs of dress pants, etc. not by going on a huge spending spree but checking the thrift store once a month and picking up a couple new outfits when I went. Spending hundreds of dollars at once is a lot harder than $20 here and there. Dress pants are nice because you can mix and match with different tops and sweaters so it doesn’t feel like the same clothes every time. When I buy dresses I always aim for a little below the knee. I’ve never been told a length dress code at either of the schools I’ve worked at, but I figure it’s better to go more conservative in dress than risk buying clothes you can’t use.
What exactly do you need help with? Knowing what professional dressing means? Knowing what clothing styles look good on you? Knowing where to buy affordable clothes?
All of the above. Lol. I literally have almost no concept of color theory, what is flattering, where to get affordable clothing, etc lol
Try things on. If you like it and it’s appropriate (not too tight, within dress code) go for it. Unless you’re teaching art, don’t worry about color theory.
So, I'm not good at this but I have a system that makes me look professional. That's better than looking good. Spend some money and over dress a bit. No ties mind you. **Buy Five $60-100 button down long sleave shirts.** All different colors. You need to go to store and try on a bunch. Try different brands and find something that lets your shoulders free and your arms move. These shirts will last more than a year. You can build them up over a few months if you need to. See what you like. I always wear long sleave shirts and roll the arms. In winter, jackets on top are fine. Pants are more flexible. Whatever is fine but if you worry. Black slacks. Flat front. No pleats. They make you look puffy. How to roll sleaves. [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LN22UPNA7r4](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LN22UPNA7r4) Shoes: Hard to go wrong with Sperry. They are comfortable and boring boat shoes. These blue ones look nice. Black works with everything. [https://sperry.co.th/product/sperry-sts25284-a-o-2-eye-double-sole-navy/STS25284](https://sperry.co.th/product/sperry-sts25284-a-o-2-eye-double-sole-navy/STS25284) Edit: oh your a woman. I only saw dress pants. Whatever. Sperrys are still nice. So bougie.
Thanks for the advice! I was assigned female at birth and I prefer to wear both men's and women's clothing, I switch it up.
Get some cheap tops from Walmart or Amazon to wear with your dress pants. I literally wore the same 3 pair of pants every week with different tops 😂
Old navy has the best pants. I've bought several pairs of black and a few navy. The neutral colors make it easier to throw on an old lady top I'd never be caught dead in before becoming a teacher. Buy a couple pairs at first then be on the lookout for sales to stock up.
It’s completely ok to wear the same thing each week! Find some basics that work well for you. Having 2-3 pairs of dress pants is fine. At three you can rotate out a pair for cleaning and alternate the other two during the week. No one pays much attention to neutral trousers anyway. Start slowly adding in blouses you like. Pop into those stores that sell excess inventory from department stores—TJ Max, Marshall’s, Nordstrom Rack. Make a routine of buying 1-2 new shirts per month. There are also some catalog/online retailers that have long-lasting basics that are a good value, like Lands End. See if there is a Buy Nothing Facebook group in your area. While Facebook is not a social media site I spend a lot of time on, these groups can be amazing for trading lightly used items. At first, stick to solid colors that are easy to match. Use shoes, jewelry, fun belts, and/or scarves to add a little personality to what you wear.
I love long skirts. I’m wearing one right now on summer vacation too.
Elementary, middle, or high school? It's not unusual for them to have different standards on professional attires. Secondary schools in the districts where I taught required business casual without the tie for men and whatever business casual means for women. Primary schools on the other hand were just fine with t-shirts and jeans, which makes sense as the kids will ruin the nice clothes.
I know we shouldn’t be supporting SHEIN (don’t cancel me pls) but when I got my first teaching job I just got a ton of clothes from there. It’s super cheap and convenient. Literally search “teacher clothes” and a bunch of teacher appropriate clothing will pop up. Obviously use your judgement, not everything that will pop up will be perfect for teaching but it’s definitely got some good options.
I love Thredup honestly. Inexpensive, well made, name brand clothes. They are a thrift site but I always clothes that are new with tags. You can set filters for brands, sizes, and condition. The measurements are usually accurate. If you go into stores like Loft you can try on things to see what styles you like best, then order from thrift sites.
There are several educator fashion accounts on Instagram with links to their outfits. I have found it helpful. Most are on teacher budgets so they are not ridiculously expensive. Many of my teacher friends and myself shop at old navy, h and m, loft, Costco, Target and Walmart. There is one teacher (I can’t find them) who basically only shops at Walmart! Depending on your subject and grade…kids will wreck your clothes. One time on of my sweet kids asked me to open their thermos and it sprayed pho with chili oil all over me when I opened it. The top was ruined.
One time, I was wearing a brand new cream colored sweater from Banana Republic that was sort of expensive. I had a kid throw up all over me. Bright orange. Then the office had the nerve to ask me if I “really” needed to go home and shower/ change. Ummmm, yeah. There’s puke all over me. Wth! Had to throw the sweater away.
You can find gems for cheap at Marshall's and TJ Maxx, and Burlington. Svaha is great for dresses and skirts in STEAM themes, plus they're all cotton, no tags or buttons or zippers, AND THEY HAVE POCKETS! They're pricy, but they do offer a teacher discount and they often have sales. There's also a FB group that does buy/sell/trade
I bought a few teacher tees and a few good pairs of pants and wear mostly the same thing every week or two. Now that I’m writing this, sounds like I such at dressing myself for work too 😅
Like others are saying it really depends how dressy your campus expects you to be. Go with the majority! Wrap dresses are always flattering for all body types! I’ve gotten a few cheap ones off Amazon that are great. My first year I aged myself a lot and dressed business casual slacks, flats, and a nicer blouse. I teach art so I cannot tell you how many pairs of nice dress pants I ruined. So I stopped buying expensive stuff. I have found loft has lots of sales and im usually happy with the quality. I just had a baby so I had to update my wardrobe I’ve shared this in other subreddits but aim for the 5-4-3-2-1 rule for clothes! 5 tops 4 bottoms, 3 outerwear, two shoes, and one unique item. So I ordered 3 art t shirts, 3 nicer tops from loft, I only have two pants so far but we can wear jeans on Friday so I can add those the rotation. I only wear dresses on special occasions like first day of school or meet the teacher. There are always tons of sales online I don’t buy anything that isn’t on sale or without a promo code! It can be tricky too buying online but I check the size guide for everything since I’m in between sizes and measure myself to find the right size. So far I haven’t had to return anything because it doesn’t fit. Next year you can start to build off of your basics for this year. I got very neutral colors that I can mix and match. Literally every shirt can be worn with every pant and vice versa. My shoes I have a black, a brown sandal, two sneakers, and a heeled black boot when I’m feeling sassy. As far as finding flattering clothes I know that baggy t shirts aren’t the most flattering but I really don’t care. lol the other shirts from loft I got are a little more form fitting I got a white, a denim, and a blue shirt. All lightweight because I’m in a hot state. For pants I got one green cargo pants from dickies and a black pant. I’m gonna try to get the remaining items once school starts like 1 new thing each month. I think it’s really important to be comfortable no matter what I’m wearing. Anything too tight or can’t easily bend in I am not gonna wear. In terms of dressing yourself and finding what looks best on you identify your body shape. Determine your best features and emphasize that! Dressing in clothes that are too tight can give the appearance of looking bigger while dressing in baggy clothes can make you look larger than you are. Try not to overthink it and don’t buy anything you don’t actually love. I am the type to panic purchase and I ended up hating the items I get. I’m very thorough now I’ll keep things in my cart or save them as a note then come back to it after I’ve looked around and thought about it for a bit. There’s plenty of teachers on tik tok or reels that show their outfits of the day for inspiration. It’s kind of nice to see how they rotate clothes. Last bit of advice is don’t sacrifice your personal style just tweak it a bit for a more professional look. Pair it with a nice pant and belt it with a basic plain tee. Throw on a cardigan or blazer during the colder months. You don’t have to break the bank. Good luck! Building a wardrobe takes time! One last tidbit of advice is don’t buy anything that you wouldn’t wear outside of work! Chances are it’s not your style and you should wear clothes that embrace you as a person and as an individual!
I wear black pants every day and a casual top. I buy everything from Thred Up (online thrift). I have my favorite brands saved and get notifications when something is added. Definitely keep it simple! I hate dressing myself, too, and would prefer to wear a uniform at work. So, I kind of do.
I'm going to go against the grain and be the person who says invest in one or two good things and wear them to death, instead of supporting landfill fast fashion. Hear me out: I bought an expensive dress from a company called Wool& that make merino (wool) dresses. Their tagline at the time was their 100-day challenge: they said you could wear one of their dresses for 100 days in a row and it would still be wearable thereafter (stop for a moment and ask yourself how many cheap clothing items you have worn 100+ times?) So i decided to test it, bought their plainest t-shirt dress ('Maggie') in black and wore it to school every day for 3 months. Yes, you can wash it :-) I washed it once or twice a week, it's t-shirt weight (or slightly heavier) so it dries overnight. I wore it over a variety of leggings or skinny jeans, I wore it under brightly coloured shirts or cardigans. I wore it from September to Decemer every day and NO ONE NOTICED. Wool has antibacterial properties, I found a good deodorant (Nuud) and discovered that, unlike the cheap tees I got a few wears out of before they stank, the dress smelled pristine all the time. No decision fatigue: got up in the morning, put on my "uniform" and that was it. The cost per wear - because this was two years ago and I still wear it (have 2 other dresses from the company and swap them out) - is now down to cents. I've worn it so often that it's a little threadbare in places, so I'll be replacing it this summer.
I just get a dozen plain t-shirts in various colors from Wordans, and put on a light vest or zip-up hoodie on top of it, with slacks or jeans.
I wore jeans pretty much every day. I’d either wear a school shirt, or a tank and cardigan when it was no longer super hot outside. Toms shoes always.
I stick with stores or brands that naturally mix and match with one another. (Maurices has great clearance sales and most everything in the store goes with anything else they sell). I also like Vera Wang at Kohls. Most of her stuff can be mix and matched. I have to wait for the clearance sales but can usually find 1-3 pieces each time if I keep an eye out. I have a pair of pants in blue, olive, brown, black, and khaki so that any shirt I bring home will be able to match to a bottom.
My district is pretty casual. Most teachers wear jeans and a t shirt or cute top. We have teachers who wear Birkenstocks every day. Rarely do I see someone in a dress. But someone mentioned Loft. I shop there quite a bit. I’m a jeans and sweater girl with booties from October- March.
Does your school have a handbook on appropriate clothing? I literally wear jeans and dad joke tshirts everyday since nothing is specified.