An Affordable Basic Blouse
Apr 3, 2013
Calvin Klein Modern Essential Blouse ($69)
Whenever I find a great basic piece that could work for casual attire or office attire, I’m excited. If I can buy said piece for less-than-$100, I’m thrilled to pieces.
I bought this Calvin Klein blouse, a less expensive version of this Equipment blouse, last week and I’ve already worn it twice. I tucked it into a geometric-print pencil skirt with some stacked bangles for Casual Monday. And I wore it with frayed skinny jeans, high heels and a retro black lace bra underneath for a friend’s birthday party.
The colored bra choice was not something I would recommend for regular wear, but for this occasion, on a smaller busted woman, with the pockets where they are, it worked. Besides, I was feeling a bit daring that night.
I know some of you are anti-chest pocket, so try this blouse from Vince, this $125 version with waterfall collar or this under-$100 version at Shopbop instead.
It’s available in plus size, too: https://www1.macys.com/shop/product/calvin-klein-plus-size-top-roll-tab-sleeve-button-front?ID=833775&CategoryID=34832#fn=sp%3D1%26spc%3D75%26ruleId%3D25%26slotId%3D10
I just got this Joe Fresh blouse from JCPenney. It’s silk, and was only $10 more than a polyester one I’d just gotten from Express.
https://www.jcpenney.com/dotcom/view-all/joe-fresh%25e2%2584%25a2-long-sleeve-100%2525-silk-shirt/prod.jump?ppId=pp5002360215&catId=cat1002360013&deptId=cat1002360005&pageSize=96&dimCombo=null&dimComboVal=null
and there’s a short sleeve version for $39, too.
I have this shirt in royal blue and I love it. In fact, I wore it yesterday! A small word of warning – after owning for a few months the fabric on inside of the armpits have begun to darken. This seems to happen with synthetic fabrics reacting to deodorant. The discoloration is not currently visible when I’m wearing the blouse but I have to go after those stains with some oxiclean soon before they are.