Last year Design Mom did a post called “What to Wear to Alt Summit” and I thought it was so fun that I wanted to do my own post. It also prompted me to plan ahead each outfit a week before leaving, photograph the outfit and keep the photos in a folder on my phone called “Alt Summit” so when it was time to get dressed, I didn’t even have to think about it. It really took a lot of stress out of getting dressed each day (silly, I know, but it’s Alt Summit for goodness sake! These things matter*!). Anyway, these are my outfits I wore for the 2014 conference.
Wednesday night dinners are out and about in Salt Lake City, each one about 20 people deep and hosted by one of the sponsors. I went to Tin Angel hosted by Umba (really cool company, btw) and wore this sparkly number and made a sparkly party hat to coordinate since we were all asked to wear something festive on our heads.
Sequined Baseball Tee: Calypso St. Barth (last year though) | Pants: these are from Target, but they are way better than the more expensive J. Crew Minnie pant (in my opinion) that I also have. Shoes: cheap and found last minute in a Hispanic store called “Shoe World” where the isles are separated by price. Ha! | Party Hat: DIY
When I was trying on everything in my closet before the trip, I kept feeling like I was picking outfits I would wear to my old job. I’m a blogger now, and bloggers should have fun, especially at Alt. So I made a point to wear my favorite pair of flare jeans and a flowy white top that was comfortable and a little playful. Also – sorry my blouse is wrinkled. I really didn’t feel like ironing it just to take pictures in…you won’t judge me right? :)
Top: H&M (current but I can’t find online) | Jeans: vintage (similar here) | Boots: Carlos Santana (similar here)
Thursday night is always a theme party and this year the theme was green. It was hosted by Cricut (who has an amaaaaazing new product launching you guys, oh my gosh) and everyone was decked out in their best green outfit. It was really neat to see so many completely different looks in the same color family. I wore tights to the actual party, but couldn’t be bothered to wrestle them on for this picture and now that I look, I think I should have left them off for the actual event. Ah well.
Dress: Cynthia Rowley (but found at Marshall’s on clearance – haaay) | Faux Fur Bolero: Etsy years ago, but she still makes them here | Shoes: same cheapies from above | Necklace: random, but the night before leaving for Salt Lake City, I had to run out to buy a coat since I had donated all of mine in the move and found this necklace at Burlington Coat Factory. It was $7 and a totally justifiable impulse purchase I thought.
Blazers are my new thing. They accomplish so much: 1.) warmth (especially for chilly conference rooms), 2.) they instantly pull together an outfit and make you look a little more polished and 3.) patterned ones like this are conversation starters for other girls because they’re all like “Oh my gosh, I love your blazer!” and then you can tell them how it’s from H&M and only cost $40 and then you keep talking and become instant BFFs. True story. Happened like 12 times at Alt. :)
Blazer: H&M (though I don’t see it online, sorry!) | Jeans: Target (love these) | Boots: Frye Melissa Button (pricey, but I’ve never regretted it)
Another crazy blazer (and by crazy, I mean crazy awesome) and again with my
bell bottoms
flare jeans. And just to be clear, the white shirt shrank about 2 sizes when I got home and washed it in hot water (whoops) so it was much more flowy and appropriate when I wore it to the Friday night mini parties (sorry for the non-cleavage cleavage). This blazer, with shoulder pads (yes! Shoulder pads!) and beaded chains got so much love that night. SO many people told me how much they loved it. I called it my Michael Jackson blazer and when I first saw it wasn’t sure I could pull it off. But now it’s one of my favorite pieces in my closet.
Blazer and Blouse: both H&M (current, but I can’t find either one on the website) | Jeans: vintage, similar here | Boots: Carlos Santana, similar here | Necklace: Cents of Style, can’t find the exact one, but this one is similar.
So that’s about it! My travel outfits were really comfy, but still trying to be cute just in case I ran into anyone from ALT Summit in the airport. haha :)
What do you guys think? Have you ever planned all your outfits for a trip and recorded what you’re supposed to wear for each occasion? I found it so helpful and will definitely be doing it again. For the first time in my LIFE I didn’t overpack. Hallelujah!
*PS – it really doesn’t matter that much what you wear to the conference. Everyone freaks out about it, but then looks totally normal and nice when you see them. You want to feel confident and pulled together for when you meet other bloggers you admire and potential sponsors, but you really can wear whatever you want.