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D Living Last Month: How to Elevate Your Personal Style

A roundup of everything we covered on the Living and lifestyle page in June, from robot manicures to picking your poolside ’fit.
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Courtesy of Clockwork Robot

When I was in graduate school, I worked as a research assistant in my university’s basement. It was a casual office—you can’t be too uppity when you’re surrounded by cinder block walls and uneven floors that may have been made of lead—but I still wore slacks or a pencil skirt and a plain button-down most days. I’d be questioned by my athleisure-clad undergrad coworkers for my outfit, asking if I had a class presentation later. I’d get odd looks as I trudged across campus after work. I even had a professor comment on how many skirts I wore to her class. 

The truth was that I wanted to wear all the cute clothes I bought that weekend while expressing my personal style—but I also wanted to look professional at my job. And sensible, albeit boring, business-casual was the only way I knew how. 

I am by no means alone in that angel-versus-devil-on-my-shoulder struggle of balancing dressing cute but still office appropriate, especially post-pandemic. “I had no idea what to wear for my first day at D Magazine,” wrote D Home intern Ellen Daly last month. “I’d only worked remote internships, and I dreaded surrendering the bold prints and bright colors I don in my day-to-day life for solids and neutrals.”

In June, Ellen chatted with Rent the Runway Style Director Blaire Walsh about just how we can make workwear fun this summer. Bring back the wrap dress, Walsh said, or channel your inner Meghan Markle in a trench dress. Find bold-colored two-piece suits and mix and match. You can even wear a Y2K-esque tube top, as long as you pair it correctly with a tailored bottom and a blazer. Best of all, she said I could keep my button-downs, as long as I traded my boring pieces for more statement-worthy looks. 

“I even found one with a built-in bra top,” Walsh told Ellen. “It’s great for the workday, but then on the weekend, you can open it up and wear it with little jean shorts.” 

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D Living Last Month: How to Elevate Your Personal Style

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Personal style was a big theme for D’s Living section last month. I tried out a robot manicure at Target in the name of science. Freelancer Kimber Westphall talked to La Vie Style House co-founder Lindsey McClain and Roller Rabbit Chief Product Officer Michelle Smyth about how to elevate and slay your poolside looks this summer. We even got a peak at Kendra Scott’s new engagement ring collection. 

But personal style is way more than just the clothes, accessories, or even nail polish you wear. Over at Home and Garden, we sought out everything we needed to revamp our spaces, from candles that smell like Matthew McConaughey to a backyard decor shopping list. We chatted with two interior designers, Jessica Koltun and Brooke Moser, about how they transformed their personal homes into something they loved.  

That’s just a taste of what we were up to last month. As for what’s coming next, we’re exploring a luxury resale shop in Plano, talking to some turtle experts, and rounding up our favorite castles for sale in Dallas. 
Have a story idea? Email me at [email protected].

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Catherine Wendlandt

Catherine Wendlandt

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Catherine Wendlandt is the online associate editor for D Magazine’s Living and Home and Garden blogs, where she covers all…
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