Dressing the Team with eBay and Our Night on the Town

After almost eight years of blogging basically every weekday, my have things changed in my work environment. Eight years ago if you asked me what I would be doing for a living I would have never believed you (nor would I have taken you seriously) if you said that I would be running a full-time blog/lifestyle/editorial site with four full-time employees and a handful of freelancers. And although we don’t need to take a trip down blogging memory lane I say all this to let you know that there are many, many wonderful hands that go into creating the content that you see every day with me (a few of which are new – that you might not be familiar with). I have been meaning to introduce them all to you through a big blog post (which has unfortunately been put off just due to other shoots and editorial content) so when eBay (yes the auction house we are all so very familiar with) reached out about having me create some content to showcase their fashion site, rather than putting you through another “fashion post” of me modeling the clothes on my own I thought it would be a very fun excuse to treat all of the people that work in the office every day to a new outfit via the site as well as a little holiday get together to celebrate the season.

That is all of us together – starting from the left: Sara, Brady, Me, Julie, and Jess. I’ll let them get into what each of their roles are a little bit lower in the post, but before that let’s talk about what brought this post together and why I wanted to promote a brand that many of you may already know and are familiar with. When someone says eBay, typically that means (myself included) the idea that you will be scouring through pages and pages of vintage and used items (all of which I love) to find that perfect score. But in addition to that, eBay is a one-stop online site where you can shop the latest brand names and newest trends – NEW. As you know I have a lot of my favorite brands: Rachel Comey, Frame, The Great, Mother, Doen, Ulla Johnson, Paige among just a few which are always so timeless but are often a splurge for me which makes it a little hard to justify buying new pieces. This is where eBay and their fashion site comes in – you can search through those brands amongst the thousands of others and find countless new items from the brands at a fraction of the cost.

When they reached out about partnering together we had asked them for some more info on how much is actually new on their site and we were all very delighted and surprised to find out that 81% of all merch sold on eBay is brand new with tags and from current or very recent collections. That means something that you can find in the store right now may be online on their site as well. The majority of these items are “buy it now” which means you don’t have to deal with the auction format and most items ship for free and have free returns so you can check your sizing and try items on before fully committing. Not to mention there are 1 Billion products on eBay, which means you have plenty to choose from to add to your wardrobe. So I tasked my team with finding outfits that are buyable on eBay from places and brands that they typically love to buy and shop at and this is what we all came up with.

We decided to do an office-to-holiday-party post to make it more interesting. Here is my ‘daytime’ or ‘office’ outfit.

For my “work” look I’ll typically go with some sort of jean that is comfortable and gives some room for movement, a top that feels fun and a bit fashion forward (read: has some sort of interesting cuff or collar detail) and then some sort of jacket (depending on the weather). The pants are Madewell (which is a denim I love), the shoes Rachel Comey which I am always into and loved finding, and the shirt is from Frame. Because some of the pieces were individual pieces that we purchased from the site we pulled together a get the look of very similar if not the exact items that we each picked. Rachel Comey shoes and Frame are two brands that are more expensive in the store so finding them on eBay is definitely a good thing. I often love their past seasons as much as their current. That duster is from the Target + Who What Wear collab and everybody always thinks it’s much more expensive.

I’ll let the rest of my lovely team talk about their own outfits and jobs. Here it goes!

Hey friends, Brady here. When it comes to office attire I typically lean more towards the “how comfy can I get while still being somewhat fashionable” which is why my go-to typically consists of an oversized white tee, tucked into jeans and some chucks or Birkenstocks depending on the season. As both the editorial director and the producer for a lot of the shoots that means wearing a lot of hats as well as a lot of time on my feet, styling for shoots, running to the flower market, shopping for props or prepping out our sponsored blog content. And while all of that would be most comfortable being done in sweats and sandals I can’t expect to be taken seriously wearing that to work, so I will typically opt for a casual t-shirt some fun cropped pants (either dress or jeans) and then maybe a few accessories like the gold watch or handkerchief around my neck. I have always loved chucks but recently cant take these leather white ones off my feet as they give you the comfort of chucks but the leather material helps to dress them up just a bit.

Hey, friends. My name is Sara and I’ve worn a lot of hats during my stint as part of the EHD crew. Most recently I’ve been spending a lot of time behind the camera. Fun fact: I am also admittedly the schlubbiest person in the office. My co-workers will deny this, but they’re just being polite. Usually I’m in black jeans, sneakers or black boots, and a dark tee or sweatshirt. But my fashion icons are and , who both dress awesome every day, so I really wanted to use this post as an opportunity to introduce color and, dare I say, style into my wardrobe (quick side story – I actually saw Zooey shooting in LA once, but didn’t say hi because, 1.) she’s way cooler than me and, 2.) she’s a very young child, so that would have been wildly inappropriate *boundaries*). In the end, here’s what I pulled together: Sweater with fun puffy sleeves (I love a graphic pop of red, and the loose fit and high neck on this sweater made it super comfortable), a pair of super stretchy, black jeans (photographing interiors involves a surprising amount of crouching, squatting, and jogging so I need to be in something practical, but I think the rips make them feel fashionable. My dad thinks this trend is hilarious and always asks if I paid extra for holes in my jeans), and finally some black boots (which I have worn almost every day since. PLUS, the low heels means they’re real comfortable for all day wear).

Hey there! If you don’t already know my name is Jess and I am the office manager / blog assistant / market researcher / whatever else needs help with gal. It’s typically all hands on deck over here so our “work wear” needs to be pretty versatile. One day I could be working on a post and the next taking multiple and (sometimes not so clean) boxes to a shoot and the next help decorate a Christmas tree. It’s never boring! The outfit I chose was for a “blog style” day. The dress is super lightweight and comfortable which is key to any outfit I wear to work because of said unpredictable daily tasks. I really loved the print of this dress because I knew I could dress it up for the holidays but then go causal and wear it all year long. The shoes are definitely my favorite though and give the outfit little bit of edge. The wrap around buckle is so cute and the pointed toes in my mind elongate my very short legs. WIN, WIN! The tote is also perfect because the color ties in with the dress and I have to have a larger bag for the daytime to carry my laptop and lunch (when I can muster up the energy to make it).

Hey everyone, it’s nice to officially meet you my name is Julie and I’m the newest addition to the EHD crew. I got hired last August, right after what some of you may refer to as “Wild-ing” (you know that Reese Witherspoon movie) I hiked over 700 miles of the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) and got lucky enough to start a job here in my hometown of Los Angeles after having to get off trail due to my feet hurting A LOT. I mainly work on the blog posts full-time and also help to create content (floor plans, elevations, etc.) for the new mountain fixer-upper project and let me tell you I LOVE it. On most days I am in the office working on the blog posts so I try to dress casual yet trendy. But, you never know when you’ll need to carry/unpack boxes on set or go to an impromptu meeting so having an outfit that is flexible (mainly comfortable) for all those things is important. My go-to style is a nice pair of jeans and a cute top, I’ve been wearing heels less and less to work cause those things just plain hurt. These velvet flats are perfectly both functional and fun.

That’s the team, and I would die without each and every one of them (Erik and Emily who are freelance styling assistants who work every so often and couldn’t shoot that day but E and E, I love you, too). I probably need to grow and hire more to survive, but I love that it’s small-ish as a secret thing about me is that I actually don’t love being a boss.

But because just dressing up once wasn’t fun enough I decided to have Danielle (who often does my makeup for big shoots here in LA) come in and give all the girls (sorry Brady – although I did offer and he politely declined) a chance to sit in the chair and get glammed up for an evening out with the team. Then came the next part of the challenge where they had to take their “day look” into a look that felt like it could transition into a “holiday party” or “night on the town” look.

We are obviously very big fans of cat eye here. Although originally I did have a bright blue eyeshadow and ended up taking it off before we shot the final looks. I also thought I could rock those earrings, but decided with my jacket (which you’ll see below) it was just too much.

 

For my evening look I swapped out the jacket for a cropped and structured blazer, the shoes for a MUCH higher heel, which I think Brian would appreciate but my feet didn’t have the same sentiment. And then my larger laptop bag for a cross body purse that is still big enough to hold my phone and a few other essentials.

Brady: Look how “man about town” I look in that jacket, just prancing around like I’ve got it all figured out (cue collective eye roll). For my “day to evening party look” I swapped out the t-shirt for a white grandad collar button-up shirt (which I just learned the name of – so I know plan to use said word as much as possible to sound fancier), double-monk dress shoes and that camel overcoat. I really took the holiday theme seriously by adorning my jacket with that stag broach from eBay and then dressed my wrists up a bit by losing the watch and swapping it for a few cuffs. The plaid pants of course stayed the same as there is no such thing as a bad time to wear plaid pants – either during the day or into the night.

Sara: For my ‘night time’ look I swapped out my boots for a pair of heels, threw my hair into a quick bun (by which I mean, Danielle expertly pinned it up), and stuck in some gold hoops. The bun and hoops are a strategic, well practiced ‘day-to-night’ move for me. The heels, however, were the real leap of faith. But I knew Issa would wear heels if she was going out, so I decided I needed to at least try them. By the end of the night my feet hadn’t exploded, and they really did make my legs look longer (which is always appreciated when you’re 5’2″), so these ladies are going to be making a lot of holiday appearances this season. Danielle suggested a bright red lip to match my sweater. I agreed, and then promptly made plans to meet up for drinks after dinner with some friends, so as not to waste this look. These lips and heels were going to stay out until AT LEAST 10pm.

Jess: I’ve never been one to go full out Christmas in my holiday outfits. No red and green for me. So instead for my party look I switched up the booties to these awesome suede pumps that are just high enough to make it so I’m not the shortest person in the room but low enough that could dance all night in them (my most favorite party activity). I then threw on these hoops which I am now obsessed with! I always thought that I looked weird in earrings but I think it’s because they weren’t hoops. I am forever changed. The leather jacket gave me my edge back when I lost the black booties and protected from the gruesome 64 degree winter night chill in LA:) I also could not have been more pumped about my makeup. I love a bold lip and this color was awesome. Oh, and we got lashes! I felt so fancy that after our dinner I called my friend and demanded we get a drink saying “But I have lashes on.” Needless to say I love my job, boss and team:)

 

 

Julie: For my ‘party outfit’ I was channeling my inner Diane Keaton (cause we all have one) even our makeup artist Danielle said, “I love the Annie Hall vibe”. I kept the same blouse and blazer as my work outfit and just swapped out the jeans for the matching wide-leg cropped pants. I tend to keep things simple even when going out so adding a silver and gold necklace set, chain crossbody bag and black mules was enough for me to feel festive for our holiday party.

After we were dolled up it was time to head out on the town with our “new looks” and enjoy a team dinner and drinks together.

We headed down to Chinatown to a new restaurant that had just opened up, Oriel and both the food and the atmosphere made the 30 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic VERY worth it.

I highly recommend just about everything on their menu but the French Onion Soup, the Bib Lettuce Salad, and the Fried Gnocchi were definitely ones that you should not miss if you stop by there. Be sure to request a table outside so that you can watch the subway pass over you every couple of minutes (it sounds like it would be annoying but is actually so fun and from what the owner said is one of the main reasons he bought the place).

 

Cheers to these lovely people and thanks to eBay for allowing us to get creative with this shoot and for giving me a chance to treat my team to some clothes, and a fun night out on the town while showing off some of our favorite threads from their site.

 

 

 

 

***Photography by

***Hair and Makeup by