The only dress you need for the holidays

I love the holiday season. The warmth of friends and family sharing a laugh. The sparkle of twinkling lights glinting off the sidewalk. The epic number of parties. There’s always something to do or someone to visit come the holidays. There are family parties, and friends’ parties, and work parties, and acquaintance parties, New Year parties...the list goes on and on. While I revel in the opportunity to hang with people I love, the holidays can be a stressful time.

According to a 2015 study conducted by Health Line, 62% of Americans found the Holidays to be stressful. The survey recorded that people are most stressed about finances, scheduling, and eating healthy. While I totally believe people are worried about those things I think they missed a key stressor. What the hell do I wear.

On average, Americans attend 3 holiday parties a year. That’s three completely different looks you have to come up with! Talk about the stress. Your outfit has to be occasion appropriate while staying true to your aesthetic. There's no way you can get away with wearing the same outfit to a swanky office party as you would to visit your relatives.

Every year I waste so much time digging through my closet to find just the right outfit. Without fail, I try on a million things flinging clothes left and right until it looks like my room was hit by a tornado. In the end, I hate everything and only feel marginally good about what I’m wearing. It doesn’t matter how great the outfit is because it caused me so much stress the best I can feel about it is lukewarm.  

That’s no way to spend the holiday season. There are way better things I could be doing with my time. Shopping for gifts, eating cookies, or trying to bribe my dog into wearing the cute little Santa Hat I bought.

I’m tired of wasting time. I’m tired of the frustration. This year I’m making a change. I’ve hacked the holiday outfit conundrum. Instead of a bunch of different outfits for each occasion, I’m opting for one outfit to RULE THEM ALL!!! No, but seriously. I found my "perfect dress" to get me through this holiday season. This gorgeous LBD from TOBI.com is the answer to my outfit woes. It’s elegant enough to wear anywhere and it’s simplicity means the styling options are endless.

Here are some quick snaps of outfits I put together using the same black dress.

Going out??

Occasion: Meeting up with your besties at a bar...or two...

For a more "going out" look I slipped on a cute lace bralette underneath the dress to make it pop since the dress has a long v-neck shape to it. I also added my favorite combat boots...black of course to give it a trendy feel to it.

Business as Usual

Occassion: Work, work, work

Since I am so lucky enough to work at place where as long as you don't show too much, you can wear whatever you like. So for this outfit, I added a black/gold sheer short sleeve shirt underneath the dress. Of course, I paired it with my favorite combat boots again...but I added an extra buckle around each ankle to give it an edgier look.

Fun Night Downtown??

Occassion: Reuniting with the Besties

You can't see the whole outfit...but that is not the point for this style. What you can see however, is that I slipped on a new bralette underneath the same dress. This gave it more of a spicer look to the outfit as a whole. I also added a choker as an accessory which helped with the "spicy" look I was going for that night. haha.

Sophisticated Look??

Occassion: Interview or Office Job

Again, you cannot see the entire outfit. However, for this look I was headed to a seminar and needed to dress "business casual." So, I added a peach color, fitted blazer over the dress and added a gold necklace. I created this look mainly, to feel like I fit right in with everyone else. You can't see the shoes...but I do remember that I wore black wedge heels and plain black tights to help me look "sophisticated" as some would say. haha.

Date Night??

Occassion: Dinner with the Fam Bam

For this look I wore the same dress, of course, but added a lightweight blazer over it. I love this blazer because of the colors, the weight of the fabric, and the fact I can also pair it with soooo many different outfits as well. Anyways, back to this look, you cannot tell because of my hand placement, but I do have on a layered necklace that is rose gold color, matched with earrings as well. For the shoes, I kept it simple with my go to combat boots, and this time you can see the buckle on them!

Family Reunion??

Occassion: Funeral

I am the one in the middle in case you didn't know. Anyways, for this look I decided to keep it simple. I wore a black cardigan over the dress and paired the look with sandals...because it was summer. I also added a silver feather necklace as well. For this look, I wanted to keep my outfit simple given the occasion.

As you can tell, I do wear the same thing twice, but never the same way. I love to experiment with layering and accessories from necklaces to tights, and shoes of course. These outfits I showed you may have happened during the summer, but just wait, I already have so many different options for this dress to wear during the holidays. No matter what the occasion is, you best believe I will have something in mind.

So, join me this year! Instead of stressing and spending money on an outfit you will probably wear once or twice...find you favorite piece of clothing and get to styling! It's fun, and saves money so you can buy your friends and family the gifts they deserve this year:)