Casual Friday

     Most offices back home in the States have casual Friday (if not casual everyday), but here in Tokyo? Not unless you work at a super -hip boutique IT/game/design company, or if you're doomed never to see a client in your working life. Which is a source of shame in most Japanese companies, since no matter what industry, every company seems to have an army of demanding customers who need to be humored, cosseted, and wined and dined every week. If you lack the cool or social skills to do that, then sucks for you (and your salary). But for most of us cogs in the uber-conservative and formal Japanese business machine, the idea of being able to sport jeans, or, heaven forbid, unstockinged legs, is so alien an concept that most Japanese workers can't even visualize it.
     But on Fridays, I can usually get away with it, mostly because I work on-site at a client's in the morning and just pop back to the office for one hour before I'm done for the day. While I can't wear jeans (though I definitely do if I'm lucky enough not be needed back at the ranch for that one annoying hour), I do wear casual everything else plus a pair of work pants, and then put my favorite pair of jeans in my handbag to pull on after work if I want to meet a friend for lunch or go shopping. Which is what I did yesterday...

Blush cardigan (Japan), blush and navy top (F21), white chemise (Zara), jeans/jeggings (Zara), brown suede boots (Aerosoles)

     As you can see, I like to layer. A lot. I have about four going on here, undershirt plus that ruffled-hem chemise, a silk blouse from F21, and a blush cardigan over all of it. Which is a good thing, since despite the sun it was freakin freezing that day. And yes, I have tights on under those jeggings, tucked into knee-high boots. It's kinda like being ensconced in a fashionable sausage casing, which, while necessary in winter, is not necessarily fun when you have to go the bathroom!