The Corporate Catwalk by Olivia

Friday, April 1, 2016

Featuring CoverGirl + PureWow | The Age of Elegance

In Partnership with CoverGirl + PureWow, today on Corporate Catwalk, we're celebrating women and the Age of Elegance!

As working women, we are confident and great at what we do. No longer do we view our age as just a number but rather an asset and something to be proud of. We look good! In partnership with CoverGirl + PureWow, we’re celebrating women and the Age of Elegance.
Since entering the business world, almost a decade ago, I went from being a young soft spoken girl in the workplace to a highly-skilled (sometimes outspoken) woman. When I started my career, there were very few highly visible women working within the corporate setting or founders of start-ups. That has of course changed. We’ve all seen the rise of successful women in the business world – Sheryl Sandberg, Safra Catz, Marissa Mayer, Payal Kadakia, and so many others from both large and small companies. These are the women who are paving the way for my success, for my niece’s success and hopefully one day my daughter’s success. These women are not always the women we see dressing up in suits to make it to their 8am meeting. It’s also the full time mom, the entrepreneurs and the philanthropists out there.

Before graduating college, I remember asking my mom if she’d trade her age for being 21 again and she said, “No, because I love the woman I’ve become.” That was powerful, especially for someone entering the workplace. She truly defines Age of Elegance. Growing older means becoming more confidant, embracing your flaws and gaining wisdom and experience along the way.

PureWow and CoverGirl have joined forces to relay this message to women through their new line of foundation. In the video, I’m wearing CoverGirl + Olay Simply Ageless 3 in 1 Foundation. As a long time user of Olay (for day and night cream), the foundation hydrates and covers fine lines and wrinkles. It also helps to improve your skin tone over time with the formula used in the foundation. It gives medium to high coverage, which I love, to conceal some of my freckles and even out my skin tone. The foundation lasts all day and will get any busy women through her workday.

Thank you so much to the PureWow and CoverGirl team, it was a pleasure working together and I enjoyed sharing what the Age of Elegance means to me. Be sure to head over to PureWow to see more inspiring stories from women some of our favorite some.
Thank you Covergirl for sponsoring and bringing today’s message!

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

What to Wear to Work | Classic Trench Coat

In the rainy spring months, you can typically spot me wearing a trench coat with an umbrella tucked away in my bag. For years, I've considered it a staple piece in my closet. It's a classic and never seems to go out of style. It also makes most outfits look polished and effortless (the same goes for my camel coat that I wore this past year).

There are several ways to wear a trench (as seen in this post). I prefer wearing a trench with the belt tied in back. It gives the illusion of a smaller waist. When it comes to perception with my petite frame, I need all that I can get to make me look taller and slimmer.

You might remember me in this Zara trench worn here and here (ps. the stripe dress is currently on sale!). It's been a personal favorite for a few years, but it's starting to show a lot of wear and tear. The lining on the inside is starting to unravel and I don't like the thick material as much as the new styles that are available. A few weeks ago, I wore this LOFT trench with a black pencil skirt and stripe top. Another style tip, striped tops go with almost anything - skirts, denim, trousers and can also be worn to work or on the weekend. If you feel like you never have casual to wear this spring, consider a blouse like this for work and a top like this for the weekend. If you want to mix a trench and stripes, this one is also on my "want" list.

The most recent trench was purchased from Ann Taylor. It's currently 40% off the sale price and since I had been eyeing it for a few months, I thought it would be a great addition to my closet. I love the mocha color and the mid calf length of the coat. I'm wearing a petite size, which is another plus about buying from Ann Taylor.

Ann Taylor Dress fits true to size (similar here & here)

Ann Taylor Trench (similar here)

Coat Satchel (old, worn here and similar here)

Aldo Pumps

Photos by Lydia Hudgens

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Day to Night Denim | Featuring NYDJ

When the NYDJ team reached out to me to work together on a collaboration, I was thrilled to try out something new and share with my readers. I naturally gravitated to black trousers, but after seeing the selection of petite denim, I wanted to share a few of my favorite styles that could be worn day to night.

Finding the perfect “work jean” has always been something that I’ve struggled with during most of my career. While most of the office wears denim on casual Fridays, I’m typically found in my trousers or a pencil skirt. It’s not that I find anything wrong with denim at the office, I’ve just never found a pair of jeans that were appropriate to wear in front of my colleagues. Most of my jeans are either distressed in the legs or a little too snug to feel comfortable wearing into a meeting with my manager.

While browsing through the NYDJ dark wash denim, I found the Billie Mini Bootcut jeans – also known as the perfect work jean! These jeans work for a casual Friday at the office because they’re a dark wash denim and they’re slightly narrower leg than your typically bootcut jean. I’m wearing the Billie Mini Bootcut jeans in petite. The jeans fit true-to-size and allow for a little for movement with a blend of cotton, polyester and spandex. I chose to wear my signature look – cami, blazer and stilettos to complete my Casual Friday office look!

I also wanted to try NYDJ denim for an evening look. I paired the Alina Leggings in Petite with an off the shoulder top and statement earrings for a night out with your girlfriends. The Alina leggings hit my foot at the same place as the Billie, so I decides to roll up the denim for a less structured look.

They have a wide selection of denim for all shapes and sizes, they have dedicated sizing available for petite (YAY!), plus and tall. Typically I’m hauling 2-3 pairs of jeans to my seamstress to get the hem taken up a few inches, so most jeans automatically have an 25% markup after I buy them from retailers. The petite selection offers a variety of washes, styles and selections.