Must-Have Fall & Holiday Fashion For Every Body With Evereve

Narrator:  Welcome to the “For the Love Podcast” with bestselling author Jen Hatmaker.  Come on in, and join us for a chat with Jen and friends about all the things we love. Now, here’s Jen.

Jen: Hey everybody. Welcome to the For the Love podcast. It’s Jen Hatmaker–super glad to host you today. We’re in the middle of a series that I’m loving. It’s called For the Love of Fall & Holidays and it’s awesome. We have so many interesting experts coming in to talk to us about all things fall, all things holidays, and so today is no exception. I think you’re going to love today’s show because we tackle a super important topic that I care about and you probably care about; fashion. Right? Fashion. First of all, what are we wearing? How do we dress? What’s on trend, specifically; what are we wearing during this season? During Christmas? During parties? New Year’s Eve? All of this.

So you’re going to love my guests today. I have Megan Tamte and Kristina Klockers. These two powerhouses are the cofounders of an amazing company called Evereve. It’s this fashion company that started 13 years ago in one storefront. Now it’s in over 80 stores across the United States. Not only do they have this incredible in-store experiences, but they also have an online option called Trendsend, in which stylists work specifically with you and they send you clothes in the mail, you try them all on, you keep what you love, you mail the rest back. I do both. I am a TrendSend member and I have had amazing in-store experiences with the Evereve stylists and staff. They really, really do something special here.

So Megan is the co-founder–it was her dream in her head twenty years ago–she’ll tell you the whole story. Then seven years later it was finally on the ground and she was a stay-at-home mom. She was actually a third grade teacher. This dream took shape. Now she’s built this amazing company; you’re going to love the way they operate. You’re going to love the way they approach fashion, and specifically the way they approach women. It’s actually absolutely changed the way that I think about fashion. They have dressed me for everything I’ve done this year in a way that does not make me feel awful or gross about myself. In fact, it was a very empowering and very wonderful experience. I do not say that about clothes very often, you guys.

Kristina Klockers is the vice president of merchandising and she’s also a founding leader. So basically she is buying all this awesome stuff. Her job is so cool. Wait till you hear her talk. She’s like such a pro on fashion. She’s going to give us so many tips today on outfit ideas, things to wear, trends that we can be watching for, how to dress your body type. It’s really amazing. Her energy is so contagious.

She and Megan are going to be on today telling us all about Evereve and how we can learn to love fashion and learn to love our bodies and not approach this all with a sense of dread. We talk about so many things today. So just keep this in mind, I’ll have everything on my website that we mention. Every single pair of boots, every pair of jeans; don’t feel like you’ve got to try to remember everything we say. We’ll make sure that you have everything at your fingertips.

These two girls are amazing and you are going to love this conversation. I am super super happy to bring to you today; Megan Tamte and Kristina Klockers.

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OK so I’m so happy to welcome Megan and Christina. Hi girls. Thank you for being on today.

Megan: Hey Jen, we’re happy to be here.

Jen: Now listen, these girls just slay, you guys. You just don’t even know how amazing they are at everything; at life, at business, at fashion, at friendship. We’re going to kind of jump all into it for sure.

So I wanted to have you guys on for a million reasons, but I definitely wanted to have you in this series. You know, we’re in For the Love of Fall & Holidays because, well, for several reasons. Fall is absolutely, in my opinion, the best time of year for clothes. I’m down here in Austin, for example. It’s November right this minute and yesterday it was 85 degrees. So don’t even imagine that I care. I do not care what that number says. I will wear a scarf if I want to. Obviously you’re the perfect duo to talk to us about fall clothes. We’re about to get into it. But also the two of you actually really really deeply care, obviously, about outfitting people well; making them feel empowered and beautiful.

I have literally experienced this my own self. So I’m excited for my for my listeners to experience sort of your philosophy on this, and your approach to women and to fashion, and maybe even trying out some of your style experiences; whether it’s online or it’s in stores. You’ve just got the absolute best clothes. So before we sort of jump into trends, and fashions, and holiday wear, and all the fun stuff we’re going to talk about, can you guys tell us a little bit more about Evereve, your company, and how you both got your start there? Megan do you want to jump in and talk to us about the beginning?

Megan: Yeah, I would love to.

Well, first of all, Evereve is a women’s retail brand and we have 85 stores across the country. We have a wonderful web site, Evereve.com, and then we have a new subscription styling service called Trendsend.

So the story really began, actually, can you believe it; 20 years ago. We have been around for 13 years, but it took me a while from the time it became an idea to the time it actually became a store. It was a long process, but 20 years ago, I was a new mom and I was looking for…I wasn’t feeling really great about myself. I was sort of kind of stuck in this like motherhood, you know, frump. I loving my family fiercely, loving being a mom, but just not feeling very good about myself and my sense of style. So I went out shopping and had a disastrous trip to the shopping mall and ended up in a dressing room with a crying baby. I was a hot mess. Instead of coming home with some clothing that made me look and feel beautiful and powerful, which is what I was looking for–just a little bit of something. I left the mall that day hysterically crying and with a crying baby and just not feeling good about myself. I was feeling even worse about myself. So on that drive home from the shopping mall, I just thought, “I don’t think anyone should experience what I experienced. That’s really hard.” It was in on that drive home from the shopping mall 20 years ago with my baby in the car that I thought; “someone should really start a company that would make sure that no woman ever feels that way in a dressing room like I did on that day.”

Jen: Love that beginning because all my listeners who are moms; every one of us is nodding our heads. I cannot count how many times I’ve just had a crying baby in a stroller wedged into a dressing room just thinking, “this has got to be the worst possible experience I’ve ever had.”

So from there, it’s an idea.  Then what?

Megan: Yes, so I would say I dreamt about this idea for 5 years: I created this brand in my head. I was like, “I’m going to start a clothing store that’s going to specialize in styling moms and taking care of moms and helping them feel beautiful.” I would say there was a five-year period of just dreaming and creating this brand that was never in a million years ever supposed to happen. I was a former third grade teacher. I was a stay at home mom, and I thought I was going to be home with you know, have a million kids, and be home forever. It was not in my plan at all to ever be an entrepreneur, or own a fashion company. But I just I created this dream.

After about five years of dreaming about it, all I can say, Jen, is that my body sent some clear signals that something’s going on and you need to pay attention to it. I started to suffer with severe insomnia. At this point I have a daughter and a son that came around, you know, Ryan, my son. It was such a confusing time for me because I was loving these children. So grateful to be a mom. Loving my life as a mom. But there was something still not right in it with my soul.

I had insomnia. I was watching a lot of reality TV at night which wasn’t making me feel good, and I was crying at night to my husband. I would not know why I would cry, but I’d put the kids to bed and I would just kind of break down and cry. I discovered, through a probably a year long journey of really getting up early in the morning, writing in my prayer journal–trying to really figure out what’s going on. I discovered after five years of dreaming that there was a dream inside of me that just needed to get out, and that was this brand.

Jen: It’s almost like you had been in labor for too long and that’s why you were sick. Like the baby needed to be born.

Megan: It needed to be born. Then, once I kind of realized that, there was so much fear that overtook me and so there was another probably, I’d say a year of realizing, “Okay, I think this is about this dream that was never supposed to happen.” Then a second year of battling a fear, like real deep fear about this whole situation. So from the time I had that idea on the way home from the shopping mall to the time we opened the doors of our first store was like a seven year journey.

Jen: OK. So, seven years later the first doors open.

?Megan: Yes, we opened the first store actually, which is now 13 years ago.

The first store in Minnesota, my husband was my business partner, and we opened the doors. We did not know what we were doing. We knew nothing about retail. We knew nothing about opening a store.

Jen: I love that because you’ve built this enormous, enormous company, but it started with a dream.

Megan: We went to the library that night. Ed asked the librarian to show us books; “how do you do you run a business? How do you open up a retail store?” The librarian literally walked us to books. We brought books home and we started reading books and just this intense learning journey began.

Jen: Oh my goodness, I love that so much. So Kristina, you have this massive job, every year. Really, really crucial to not just the mission, but how you carry it all out. You’re the vice president of merchandising and founding leader. So which basically means–you’re the clothes shopper, right? This is what you do. It’s like the coolest. Like seriously, do you ever get tired of it? Will you tell us exactly it is that you do?

Kristina: Yes, yes so I’ll go back to how I got started because it really is just an extension of Megan’s story. So I think one of the fun things about Evereve, about Megan and I and our relationship, and about this company, is that I’ve actually known Megan since I was 13 years old.
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So we met at summer camp, which was so fun, and went to the same college, and then our lives took very, very different directions. She went to California–northern California–became a mom, had this dream born inside of her. I went to Southern California to pursue TV and then kind of went to a different career. I went all these different directions and then ended up in Chicago as a buyer for a large department store. Super fun, loved it, got such great experience there. Then Megan called me and said “hey we’re opening a store. You need to move to Minnesota and come up and join our team.” I was like, “yeah, no. I’m a single girl in the city in Chicago. No thank you. Like a store for moms? Sounds great. I think that’s amazing.” I was like, “thanks, but no thanks. Pass. Hard pass.”

A couple of months later, Megan called me again and she said, “no, for real. We are going to make this a national brand.” What was interesting at that time frame, as I was kind of reflecting on my life–I was working really hard. Like 60 to 70 hours a week. I hadn’t gone out on a date in years and I was sitting there, and I remember my one of my former bosses said to me, “you know, at the end of the day Kristina, it’s just clothes–like don’t worry about it–it’s just clothes.” I think in her mind she was giving me freedom, or trying to give me freedom from caring so much. But in my mind, it actually negated how much I did care, and how much I believed in clothing as a vehicle to love people. So for me, I came up to Minnesota, walked in the Evereve store and I literally got chills on my arms and I was like, “this is my home. I have found my place.” It was amazing and I’ve been here for 12 and a half years.

?Megan: Kristina just really stepped in–I didn’t really know how to be a buyer. I had to figure it out before we began. Luckily, I reached out to Kristina which was so cool. I reached out to her and just said “I have to go to L.A., to go to New York, to pretend I’m a buyer when I’m really not. Can you tell me what to do? Kristina was so lovely. She guided me and she told me “this is what you need to do; you need to walk into the showrooms, you need to look at clothes you need to take notes.” She was such a good guide and has always just brought that experience to everybody.

Jen: I love that. So specifically, Kristina, what does Vice President of Merchandising–what does that mean?

Kristina: I help lead the buying team, and the visual merchandising team, as well as our merchandise planning team. So basically anything from how product gets into our stores, to how we display it once it gets in the stores–that’s part of my job.

So we go to markets, as Megan mentioned, we go to markets probably about 10 times a year. We’re out in the marketplace shopping. It looks very different depending on where you go whether you’re in L.A., New York, or Vegas, what type of show is that you go to. But we love to say that we curate fashion for moms. So we believe that moms want to be relevant. They want to stay on trend, but they don’t want to look like they are in a costume.

Also, body type always trumps trend, right? Like you always have to feel good in your clothes before you can adopt a trend. So our job is to use a “mom filter” whenever we’re out in the market place and to make sure that we bring in the best of the best of product for our moms that they’re going to love, that’s going to honor her pocketbook, that is going to make her feel amazing, special, powerful, and just allow her to be her best self.

Jen: You really do that.

I remember when I was up with you guys in the store in Minneapolis and you were going to style Shauna and I. The very first thing I said, because I kind of came in to you with bad headspace.

I was like, “Listen. I don’t want anybody in this room to tell me I look good when I don’t. I do not need your flattery. I do not want anybody to say ‘that looks pretty on you,’ when it’s fundamentally not.”

?You all looked at me like I was crazy, like, “we don’t do that. We would never do that. Our goal here is not just to sell you clothes, our goal is to make you feel amazing.” It’s so true. That is literally how you approach it. I’ve worked with a lot of stylists, and so there are absolutely times when somebody will say, “Oh my goodness, that looks amazing on you,” and it just simply doesn’t. Either it is wrong for my body type, or it’s wrong for who I am, or it’s not flattering. I love that you don’t do that.

?Megan: I think as we’ve as we’ve grown, and the thing that I’m most proud of, is the stylists in our stores. These stylists really care about women; they really care about moms. They know the story of our brand.

Because we always come from this real authentic place of wanting to make sure women/moms don’t feel that way that I felt in the dressing room that day, we expect our people to really care. I think that’s what people love most about us that work at Evereve.  ?They can have fun with the fashion and the fashion is so much fun. We really want you to care about the woman, we want you to see your job as serving her. Styling her, not selling to her.

So it really makes me feel good to know that people do experience that in our stores and that you experienced that. I think that comes from a real authentic place. As a brand, we want to, we really want to help women feel beautiful and powerful. That’s our mission. It doesn’t matter if they buy one thing, or nothing or 10 things–it’s just our heart. We really want to help.

Jen: It’s true. I will tell you–from my personal experience—well, first of all, I’m like I’m all up in Evereve. Like I’m in the store. I have my my box that comes to my house.

Megan: Oh good. I love it.

?Jen: I’m on line…I’m all in here.  Two things that I loved about my in-store experience with you and your team. Number one is; I told you my style, because I have a certain style.. You stepped into it. You knew how to style what I liked, but you also gave me just a teeny push–not over-the-top– you did

not try to swing the all the way to some completely different look for me, but you were like, “we’re going to work within the lane that you love, and we’re going to show you just a little outside of your comfort zone.”

?I loved it. I ended up with a couple of things that I loved. I would not have tried them on. I love that. I like how your stylist in a really, really wonderful way do that.

The second thing that I loved was; you know, when I came in I told her my sizes, and they’re going to bring me some stuff. Very, very quickly your stylists were like, “these are too big.” This is too big, this shirt is too big, these jeans are too big.” I’m like, “no, that’s my size.” Everybody made me—like, “will you just trust us to try one size down?” I didn’t even really know that I was doing that. I was kind of hiding under extra layers of clothes, and extra fabric, and not really wearing anything that fit me. I was shocked by that. So what I’m wondering is; in both cases you see that women are sometimes hung up on their size, or body type in general, and also that they are a little bit afraid to take any fashion risks. Am I normal??

Megan: You are so normal. The two things that you said, I mean, I struggle with every day. I feel like there isn’t one woman that doesn’t struggle with those two things. I do feel like our customer wants to be dared, just a bit. Most of the women that come through our doors are hiding a bit in their clothes.

Jen: Absolutely.

That was my exact experience. I went in intimidated, and just not feeling great, just not in a great place right now. I’m thinking of all the things right now, trying on a bunch of clothes. “This is just going to be so discouraging,” and it was actually the opposite. In fact, as you guys know, I’ve been on tour this fall for the Moxie Matters Tour and I don’t know if you guys have seen picture, but virtually every single thing that I put on my body was from your store.

Jen: So when I walked out of the doors of your store, I had a completely different experience than what I expected. It was empowering, and I felt so excited. You literally dressed me for this entire season in a way that helped me feel confident, and not just devastated to have to pack a suitcase full of clothes. So everything that you’re saying is the exact user experience. That was precisely how I experienced it. Your stylist had me in sort of cropped jeans, which are not anything I ever would have bought.

I’m really tall, so I’m always the one looking for length–long. I’m always wanting them to be longer, right? She brought over cropped jeans and I was like, “I don’t know, I’m 5’ 8” and I don’t..” but when I put them on with the shoes, I’m like, “well, there it is.” That is a great look. I thought it was going to make me look chopped, and it really didn’t. It actually had kind of an elongating effect because there is just so much ankle. That is clearly expertise driven because I would not have chosen that on my own.

Kristina: I think one of the things you did, Jen, that’s the most important thing, is not only did you find an expert, but you trusted the expert; which I think is really, really important. What we believe in too, is making sure that you see the full outfit. It’s like when skinny jeans came out; I remember that we put women in them, and they would come out, and they’d be like “this is like horrific, like this is the worst look ever.” But then you put the boot on, and you put on the tunic. You know, you get things going, then all of a sudden it makes sense. I think really seeing it to completion is important. How you’re actually going to wear it day to day, because you’re not just going to wear a pair of jeans with a T-shirt pulled up really high, you know, whatever that might be, when you’re coming out of the fitting room.

Jen: Totally. That was helpful, actually. You forced us to say, “no, put on also the shirt, and the jacket, and the shoes, and boom–there it is–a full look. It looks different–it looks different than if we just had it on piece by piece.

So let’s talk about some trends. First of all, what are some trends that you’ve seen come and go that you’re glad “went?”  What are some trends that you’re like really, really happy we’re not having to work around that one any more. Do you have any?

Kristina: You know what, I love trends so much that it’s hard for me to choose. I agree, the low rise jeans was a tough cycle–and that one just really did not make a lot of people feel good about themselves. Let’s just be honest. believe a lot of trend goes back to body type too, you know the things that don’t work for you were the things that you have nightmares remembering. Some of those things are things that maybe just didn’t work for who you are. You know what that is. But I think it’s always fun to kind of take a risk.

?Jen: Good point.  On the flip side of that, what are some trends that have had a longer life than you thought they would have, that have kind of classically held?

I would say skinny jeans for sure, and probably leggings as well. It’s amazing, when skinny jeans came out, I remember it took three years in the stores before people really adopted skinny jeans.

Jen: Totally. I was the last one to adopt.

Kristina: Totally. I have some girlfriends, and they said “Kristina, I will never wear skinny jeans.” And guess who’s wearing skinny jeans right now. Those girls. 

Jen: 100 percent.

Kristina:  So I think that’s been fun to see how long that’s lasted. I’ve got to tell you, leggings shifted our culture. It is unbelievable the impact that leggings have had and how long they’ve stuck around. How even, just when we travel, and go to airports I’m just constantly amazed at what we wear now. You know, what we wear when we’re going to the airport and that you’re wearing these

pants that are literally workout pants that now we wear just everywhere. So that’s definitely something that I think has stuck around for a really long time. But I love how designers, and how the brands we work with, are really updating that, and making them feel more like pants, and more fashion-y than ever. That’s been really fun to watch that update.

Jen: Totally.

You guys got me into those Spanx leggings, so for everybody listening, I’ve got the black color there, and more. They look like leather and they’re sort of designed; there’s sort of an imprint within them. Listen, you guys. I’m telling you, you know I finished this tour recently, and I wore those on tour, and every single time somebody would be like, “listen, we appreciate you coming into our town to talk to us about Jesus, but we really want to know about those pants–like we need to know where to get those leggings.”

They’re so cute, and they’re so awesome because they’re Spanx. They come up so nice and tight, everything’s tucked inside, like I wanted a hundred pairs of them, seriously.

Kristina: They are the best. So just to piggyback on that and go back to jeans for a little bit. Two things that we are just obsessed with right now, with denim, if you like the look of a legging or you like a skinny jean.

There is a jean out that we cannot keep in stock. It’s called the Hudson Barbara High-Rise Skinny and we have a couple different washes, and I promise you, that jean will change your life.

You know, you talk about keeping your bits and your everything tucked in, that jean is nice and high, and it just feels so good.

I wore them the other day, and I’m a very curvy, very athletic girl and I was like walking around telling everyone how skinny my legs were. I’m like, “girls look!” These jeans are amazing. So that pair is like a must have.

Then we’ve also got these Free People denim leggings in that have a little raw hem and they are 58 dollars. Every time I say it, I’m like “they’re free.” It’s free for a pair of like really cute little denim leggings, and they’re stretchy and just…I can go on and on obviously.

?Jen: Listen you guys, my Trendsend box just got here today, and seriously, I hope a pair of those leggings is in there. That’s right in my wheelhouse, so I cannot can’t wait to tear into this when we are done here.

Let’s talk about, and you guys taught me a lot about this when I was up with you in Minneapolis, Let’s talk about some of the trends that are in this year, specifically for fall and winter fashion. Of course I know right now you guys are already buying and planning for spring, so you’re going to have to roll back in your brain right now to think about where the rest of us actually live. So what are your very favorite trends that we should be looking for that we are thinking we can take a little bit of a fashion risk on this year?
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Kristina: I think one of the fun things is, you know, right now it’s full swing holiday. So Thanksgiving, we’ve got all the holiday stuff right on top of us, that’s so fun because there are so many different occasions to find outfits for, there’s running around getting presents, there is shopping for food, there is meal prep, there is holiday concerts—all of those things.  Parties…all of that stuff that you can shop for. One of the things that is is really cool is this day to night look that’s happening right now where all of the details you see that normally you might look at, whether it’s a lace or a velvet and you might think, “I’m gonna wear that to my holiday party, or to my date night, or to my girls’ night out.” Those things are totally relevant for daytime too. That is really cool to me, because again, it gives you a little more stretch with the items that you buy, so you don’t feel like you’re buying something for just one event—I’m gonna buy a lace top or a lace cami and wear it with a pair of destructed jeans, and a cardigan sweater for the daytime, and at night I’m gonna put it on with a pair of really clean pair skinny jeans and a blazer and I’m gonna feel really cute and amazing to go out, or even throw it on with a skirt or a blazer, something like that. So those are some fun things that are definitely here, and in the mix that we are believing in and really liking.
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Jen:  I like that, because that works for a grownup person’s body, right? I mean we’re not shopping the junior section anymore.

?Talk to us a little bit about shoes, and boots, and heel size. One thing that I do like about the way that you handle fashion and talk about fashion is that you’re not too precious about it. I like that you’re mixing and matching and that you’re not beholden to rules. That actually gives me freedom to be like, if you want to wear stripes with embroidery, do it. Or if you want to wear this with heels great, if you’d rather boots, great. I do love that you have a lot of flexibility in your approach. Can you maybe just give us a handful of thoughts on shoes in the season, and boots, and heels, and when do we reach for which?

Kristina: Megan kind of mentioned this; fashion right now is sort of anything goes and more is more. I kind of like this idea…

Jen: I like it–more is more.

Kristina:…of, you know, “you do you.” There’s just a lot of opportunity to wear a lot of different things in a lot of fun ways.

So I’m a heel wearer–I love heels. You will very rarely find me in a flat, but I’m wearing heels pretty much all the time. Whether it’s in a boot, whether it’s in an actual heel. Jen, I know you bought those leopard, the 1 State Leopard Pumps that we have–I’m wearing those today. I love them; obsessed with them.

So I think heels go with kind of everything, so I’m wearing them with skirts, I’m wearing them with my cropped pants, I’m wearing them with my jeans, I’m wearing them with everything.

?On the flip side of that, slides and flats are having a major moment and that is coming back big time, and you’ll see that this spring. Whether it’s just like a shorter block heel, or a slide that’s a flat. But this whole slide and flat movement is definitely coming back. So that is something that you can also wear with a skirt, you can also wear with a crop pant. You can also wear with your jeans.

?You know it’s sort of really thinking about your lifestyle and about your day. You know, what you have going on like; how much running around are you doing during the day? How much sitting are you going to be doing during the day? Do you have a day to night that you want to bring a pair of shoes with you to throw on at nighttime?

?Then boots; I just think boots are a mainstay. So one of the things we talk about is “mom-must –haves” and I have been using this language this fall of like, “frosting.” The thing that’s your “icing” or your “frosting,” the things that you need that are really fun, but they are those special things. It’s not necessarily your “must-have” that you wear all the day.  I look at boots as a must. A “mom-must-have.” Those are just your staple. It’s everything.

So whether it’s Sorrell boots, which is one of our favorite brands–they do amazing, amazing boots. If you live in a place like we do in the north, you love them, because they’re waterproof, snow proof, all that stuff; or whether it’s just a really, really cute booty. Those are types of things that you can wear again with a wide variety of looks.

Jen: I got so tickled when I was with you guys, because I went through all these shoes with you, and I loved the leopard heel, which we all bought–every single one of us that was there–and called it “neutral.” That just thrilled me to no end; like, this is a neutral. Like, is it? OK. I’m fine. If you want to call glitter and leopard neutral, I am so here for it.

Let’s go through a couple of occasions in this season, and you could you just, like down and dirty, just tell me; this is maybe an outfit that I would pull together for this, currently what’s in your store, with what you love. You could just say “grab grab grab grab” like visually put it together for us.

(By the way, listeners, we’re going to have all these things on my web site. So we’ll have links to the products were mentioning. It will be a treasure trove for you. So don’t feel like you have to remember all this. We’re going to have it all.)

So let’s say that a woman is going to go to a football game, like, it’s this season. It’s a sport. They don’t necessarily just want to wear a jersey. They’re going to kind of want to be cute. What would you put together??

Kristina: Easy. The Spanx Moda leather legging, like hands down. So you for sure. Spanx Moda legging again. It’s just a no brainer to wear. It’s super comfortable, again, and you’re going to feel really put together, but just easy. You’ve got a lot of flexibility with how you’re moving because like you know you’re going to a football game; you’re climbing up bleachers, all of that type of stuff. So for sure, hands down, Spanx Moda legging.

Then my favorite sweater of the season is a brand called Olive and Oak and it’s called the Cozy Mock-Neck Sweater. It comes in 4 colors. I have it in two. I’m probably going to buy the other two by the end of this season. It’s just this really, really comfortable sweater that’s warm, but not too heavy or too thick. So it’s just easy and with those four colors, a lot of times, hopefully, we can find your team colors or something that goes with that.

Jen: Oh yeah!

Kristina: But that’s just a great sweater, and then I’d throw on either a sneaker or a Sorrell boot with that, depending on your weather, and your climate. Then any sort of a jacket. If you can, I’d throw in my favorite jacket of the season is the Blank Cleaned Up Vegan Moto Jacket. It is a-dorable and I’d throw that on with that too.

Jen: OK, I love that outfit, I wish I had that right this minute.

What about; this season gives moms a lot of outdoor activity opportunities. So we’re with our kids at pumpkin patches, we’re going through Christmas fairs, we’re doing outdoor lights, sort of a walk-through. I’m outside with my kids a lot during the holidays, so what’s an outfit for that?

 

Kristina: So there I would go to the Hudson Barbara high-rise skinny jean that I talked about. That’s my fave Jean of the season. Love, love, love that jean. I think it’s unbelievable. It’ll be warm enough for doing all of those activities outside. It’s just a great jean, that no matter what the bending and moving is that you’re doing, you’re going to feel really put together and really tucked in.

Then one of my favorite things that we have on the floor right now is by a brand called Sanctuary. It’s a really cute little plaid Henrik Boyfriend top that we just got in it. It’s a really pretty blue with black. So think about plaid. Definitely plaid is something that has stuck around a while as well, and I think it’s just a fun non-print print. So that’s another neutral, Jen, like we were talking about with leopard, definitely plaid is another neutral that you can throw into your look.

Then I would throw in a cardy over that. My new favorite is a little off white cardy that we just got in. That is really easy you could do—sorry, actually let me change. I’m changing my cardy.

Jen: Change it, that’s fine.

Kristina: We have a maxi-ribbed cardy. We have these longer length cardigans, so no longer should a cardy maybe just cover your butt, it can go below your knee. Anything like that. That is a really great piece to throw on over it and that actually looks really cute. If you throw either a jean jacket over it, or like I was talking about with that leather vegan jacket. You throw that over it. Having that maxi length hanging down below is actually a really cool look.

?Jen: Yeah, that’s super cute. I walked away with, I don’t know, 10,000 cardigans from there because that’s how many I need. I need a thousand cardigans. There’s never enough.

How would you dress somebody, let’s say a Christmas Day.  So I host Christmas, and so it’s a lot of people in the house and I don’t want to just look like garbage. You know, I don’t want to be in my pajamas all day. We’re going to have dinner we’re going to sit down. Our family’s all in. But it’s also a lot of movement. So what’s like a Christmas Day outfit?

Kristina: Well, the pant you need for that, for sure, is a jogger. If you talk about wanting to be in your pajamas, but not be in your pajamas, wear a jogger.

Jen: You’re right. That’s it.

Kristina: It’s like that thing, hands down. It’s something that you can wear where you feel a little bit more put together, but as comfortable as if you just kept your pj’s on. We have so many cute ones right now–there’s a Free People one that just came in; I think it’s 48 dollars–just like a hundred percent no brainer.

We’ve got a really cute leopard one, so doing something like that and then pairing it with another really easy sweater or cute sweatshirt. I love Megan’s callout on blazers. We actually have this awesome blazer program on our floor from a brand named Jamison where they have these really stretchy sweatshirt blazers, but they look super put together. Some of them have hoods actually where it looks like you’re wearing a hooded sweatshirt underneath it.

Jen: Oh yeah, I have this. That works so much for me. That is exactly how I feel comfortable and I like that. I like the fact that we’re saying, “yes you can do that. It’s not against the rules.” That thrills me.

Kristina: I love the jogger.

Jen: OK. All this. We’re going to pull all this and have it on my web site so people can find it and look at it.

I want to talk real quickly, because we’ve got something so neat this week; us three.

You girls are in Austin. You’re coming to Austin on December 6th. We’re doing just a whole fun girl power in-store evening at the Evereve store here in Austin, up at The Domain. It’s going to be from 6pm to 8.pm We’re going to have some wine. We’re going to have snacks in the store.

?Also everybody who comes in anytime while we’re there; you get 15 percent off your purchase.

So whether this means you’re coming to shop for party wear, holiday wear, Christmas wear, or if you’re coming to buy presents. There’s so much great stuff in the store and if you’re shopping for a friend, or a daughter, or a sister, or whatever–it doesn’t matter.

?Kristina: Send your husbands in.

Jen: Oh yes, sends your husbands.

Kristina: There’s nothing that makes me happier than helping men shop for their wives. So fun.

Jen: Great point, he’s going to get 15% off everything.  I’ll be there, I’ll have some books there,  we’re just going to have a blast. It’s like basically a girls’ night out at Evereve.

That’s Wednesday December 6th at 6:30, and we say until 8:30, but really, it’s until we’re done.

That’s what you should do listeners, if you’re local. If you’re anywhere near here, grab your friends and come. You can make just a whole evening of it. Obviously, The Domain is packed full, so you can have dinner. and you can come over and shop with us, and have cocktails and snacks.

?Anyway, it will just be a fun, fun, fun night—we absolutely want to see you. We are all going to be there. You won’t regret it. If this is your introduction to Evereve, you’re going to just say thank you to me. So we would love to have you in the store and let these girls work their magic. It’s so fabulous. I’m so excited. You guys thank you for coming to Austin to do that. This is a really fun thing.

?Girls, you’re just so fun. I’m so happy that we’re new friends and that you brought me into the Evereve world. I love it here. I love your zip code. I’m so excited to have this evening with you in the Evereve store here in Austin, and just thank you for what you do for women. Thank you for what you do for fashion– just all the parts of it that make me nervous, you find a way to remove. It’s like magic. We’re so here for you.

Kristina: Thanks, Jen, that’s so sweet.

Jen: Thanks for your time on the podcast today, girls.

Kristina: Thank you. Loved it.

Jen: Okay. Bye-bye.

Jen: Aren’t they fun? Really fun. Really just dynamic–two dynamic powerhouses.
I loved that conversation and I love what they bring to the table. I love that that fashion matters to them and they have found a way to make it this really accessible, wonderful experience for women instead of a drag. So, I cannot wait for our event, December 6, and we’re going have a great time in-store. So listeners, I wish you could all be there. I really do. I wish I could helicopter all of you into Austin. But for my listeners who are local–my Austin girls–looking forward to seeing you in the store. I’ll be wearing some of my favorite Evereve clothes.

It’s just gonna be a great experience, so everybody else, listening I hope that was helpful. I hope that was useful. Again, I know we talked about a ton of ideas, and brands, and all kinds of stuff. I’m gonna have all of that on my web site. Jenhatmaker.com The transcript feature of this podcast–I hope you guys are using it, because we spent a lot of time building that out for you with pictures and all this additional content. Anything we talked about and then some. So if ever you want just a little bit more from the podcast, you can always go to jenhatmaker.com, and we will have virtually every resource at your fingertips with a click of a button.

Thanks for listening. Thanks for being with me during this series of all of these amazing guests. We have more to come that you are going to love. Guests that are going to bring great content to us;  great food for thought, and really lead us through this season, and give us resources to use with our families, with our parties, with our children,  with our parents–just absolutely everything. So thanks again for joining us. We always, as always, love your reviews, love your feedback, your comments; we are always paying attention. So, thanks for being a great and loyal listener. It’s just a joy to spend a little time with you every single week. So you guys, have a great week, and I’ll see you next Wednesday.

Narrator: Thanks for joining us today on the For the Love Podcast. Tune in next week, when we sit down again with Jen and friends to chat about all the things we love.

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