Back to School Clothes Shopping for a Teacher 2015

After my last post on the Stylebook app, I realized it might be time to grab a couple back to school items for myself... Keeping in mind my goal was to find low wedge black sandals that would be easy to wear with almost anything in my closet. 

At Marshall's, I may have stumbled across a few more items than I bargained for (but that's why I love this store!) Starting with this sleeveless diagonal striped blouse (which reminds me of my rug in my bedroom- totally my style!) it fit beautifully and was $16.99.

I also came home with a black and white striped silky Calvin Klein blouse for $29.99. The functional zipper detail in the middle can be adjusted for teaching or date night. I know it seemed crazy to buy something with longer sleeves, but it fit great. Destiny.

This next item was a last minute find that I scooped up. It's a denim, button down, shirt dress by Kenneth Cole for $20. This piece excites me because I can wear it in the early fall as is with wedges or my new boat shoes below, or I can pair it with leggings, boots, and a scarf when it gets cooler out. Only downside is I need to wear a slip with it.

Here's what I went in the store for to begin with: a low black wedge. For $39.99, I left with a comfy (and stylish enough) pair. I may still keep my eye out for all black ones to add to my low wedge collection.

I debated on putting this next purchase back because I already have boat shoes, but these ones were so comfy and were on clearance for $20. I suspect I will get a lot of wear out of them. 

Total: $126.99 (Makes 3 Sep Outfits at least,  w/ items I already own, for a price of $42 per outfit)

Two of my new outfit combos: 

Where is your favorite place to shop for back to school clothing?

Stylebook App Review

For all my teacher-readers, school is upon us.  I go back in one week and I haven't bought one thing for my back-to-school wardrobe.  Except, I came across this app, StyleBook, which is supposed to keep inventory of all your wardrobe items and enables you to create "looks" and add outfits to a calendar.  See the advertising video the company uses from their site to show how the app works.

The price of the app was $3.99.  Not too bad, but more than I would usually spend on an app.  I figured I could always use help organizing my outfits when it comes to the school year.  Here is what I have found out about the app:

The app will allow you to categorize your clothing in pre-made categories and sub-categories.  For the most part, they did a nice job with labeling the categories.  I would have preferred a cardigan category, but I just put all my cardigans in the sweater section.

You can add an item by taking a picture of an item against a white background.  The app then eliminates the background and saves just the clothing item... except for it doesn't work like this all the time.  

Sometimes, as you can see in my photo below, it starts to eliminate part of the item.  For example, some of the brown in the dress near the shoulders and along the left hand side started to disappear.  The background eliminator is awful for light colored items since it can't differentiate what is the background and what is the item.  But you can still save the light colored items with the white background; your "looks" just won't look as nice. (See Below).  I tried putting my white items against a dark background for contrast, but the app still won't cleanly save my white isolated items.  That is my biggest complaint with this app, otherwise, I think it's going to be a tool I use often this year.

Here is an example of a white top against a white background and a white colored shoe against a white background.  See how the look just looks sort of piecey and unprofessional?

Again, this shirt had white stripes and wouldn't have shown up without keeping the background.

Take a look at the shoe below. The app couldn't eliminate the white here either because of the shadow the shoe cast. 

Here is where you can organize your clothing line up for the week/month.

Overall, I do think this app is worth the purchase despite the issue with cutting out the background on some items.  For me, this $3.99 is a way to utilize under-used clothing in my wardrobe and to organize my mornings, days, and weeks a little easier. If I only spend $4 on back-to-school shopping, then I'm happy about it!  

In addition, if you are looking to spend a little on back-to-school shopping, this app will help you see what you might need to add to your collection.  For me, I noticed I was repeating a pair of nude strappy low wedges over and over again because they look dressy and are super easy to walk in all day long.  I don't like to wear the same thing all the time, so I will be keeping my eyes out for low black wedge sandals to give my nude ones a break.

If you use this app or one like it, comment below, especially if you have a trick for taking the best pictures!