In case you hadn’t noticed … it’s hot … melt in a black suit hot.  It’s this time of year every year (AKA August) that my one grey suit makes a grand return as the greatest suit ever. Because the last thing you want on your body – even if it is all season wool – is BLACK wool.  #trustme  And my grand return I mean every day (or at least four days).

My grey suit is fabulous … the only downside becomes evident when I travel. I don’t have as many pieces for this suit as I do many of my others and my travel generally requires me to be gone for a week.  I have pants and a skirt, the end.  So in trying to make my gray suit go farther – I’ve come up with a few tricks and techniques. You can use these if you travel or if you simply want to make your closet go further. #canihaveyourtravelfreejob

If you want to see the inspiration for these looks – check out this Travel Capsule post.

The Grey Suit Day One

First up, the classic suit. The trick here … the bling. Get everyone to look at your necklace and the next day they won’t even remember what color suit you were wearing. #truestory



Theory Suit Jacket and Skirt | Halogen Pleated Blouse (similar) | Bling from Rocksbox | Stuart Weitzman Wedges (similar)

The Grey Jacket Day Two

For Day 2, remix the jacket with a dress. The conference I was attending was business casual but had it been more formal, I would have worn traditional pumps.  I opted for fun wedge sandals because I could.  #anychanceIget  Any color works for the dress – just don’t try to “match” the jacket but rather contrast or coordinate. I opted for contrast but I have also worn a charcoal grey dress with this same jacket for something coordinated.

 

Theory Suit Jacket  | Halogen Dress (stunning alternative without the pattern or a patterned alternative with limited sizing) | Hinge Sandal (similar or alternative)

The Grey Suit Day Three

For Day 3 I opted to pair the traditional suit pants with a coordinating blouse and a pop of color. Had I not been traveling, I would have repeated the pop of color with my shoes (I need a bigger suitcase). Since, my conference was business casual I could have gotten away with no jacket but I did have a customer meeting so it made an appearance for part of the day. #ILikeNoJacketDays

 

Theory Suit Jacket and Pants | Target Blouse (alternative here or here) | Stuart Weitzman Wedges (similar)

The Grey Jacket Day Four

Day 4 was half conference, half travel so I wanted to be comfortable as well as work appropriate. For a more casual (read travel-friendly) suit(ish) style I opted to wear the suit jacket with different pants (this would work with a different skirt as well). Keep the colors contrasting rather than matching so it doesn’t look like you have a mismatched suit. These burgundy pants provided the perfect pop of contrasting color.

 



Theory Suit | Target Blouse (alternative top or dress) | Halogen Crop Pants (similar) | Hinge Sandal (similar or alternative)

Shop Grey Suits

My Theory suit is a few year’s old but below you can find some alternatives currently available in a range of price points.

Here’s to the summer temps dropping soon and the return of darker suits for Fall … until then I’m going grey.  #OnRepeat