I’ve been looking forward to this blog post for a while now. Since I started Teaching in Heels, trends have changed and evolved, but there are many closet staples for teachers that remain constant. I always get questions from educators asking me for my favorite black pants, denim jackets, teacher work bag, etc. I recently polled my audience in stories on Facebook and Instagram asking what they consider to be a teacher wardrobe staple, and I rounded up the top 10 votes!
Black Pants
Black pants are always on the most requested list, and everyone always wants to know my favorites. You can shop my personal favorites here.
Denim Jacket
Top Left | Top Right | Bottom Left | Bottom Right
This is probably my number one wardrobe staple because I pair a denim jacket with so many teacher outfits. They’re perfect to toss over dresses, which is one of my favorite ways to wear them. I gave all the details on my go-to denim jackets here.
Neutral Dress
First Outfit | Second Outfit | Third Outfit
If you’ve followed my social media pages for a while, you know that I’m a big dress gal. For me, dresses are my go to because they’re comfy and stylish. If you’re new to wearing dresses, I’d definitely recommend starting out with a great neutral dress that can be styled multiple ways. A plain black shift dress or maxi dress is a great start! I rounded up more of my top teacher dresses here.
Supportive Sneakers
After the wave of remote learning, I started receiving more requests for more casual teacher outfits, and a large portion of my audience wanted to see outfits with sneakers. Sneakers have become a teacher closet staple and I’ve listed many of my go-tos here.
Comfy Flats
While many teachers enjoy wearing sneakers to school, I understand that not every teacher’s dress code allows sneakers. I get a lot of requests for comfortable flats, so I dedicated an entire blog post to my favorite pairs here.
Practical Work Bag
Nothing is worse than when your trusty teacher work bag breaks in the middle of the year. And yes, that actually happened to me early on in my teaching career. I found a few amazing teacher bags on Amazon that lasted me for years. I also polled my Facebook audience to see what bags they have and love!
Leggings & Joggers
Gone are the days where just the PE teacher wears joggers to work! Professional athleisure has definitely become a go-to look for so many of my teacher friends. As long as your school approves, why would you not? Leggings and joggers are super comfy, and you can dress them up too!
My favorite athletic leggings: CLICK HERE
My go-to leggings for work: CLICK HERE
My favorite joggers are hands down this cotton pair with no drawstring: CLICK HERE
And this more athletic looking pair: CLICK HERE
And of course, my all time favorite splurge leggings are these faux leather ones that I’ve had for over five years! CLICK HERE
Professional Jeans
Jeans can be tricky since everyone has their specific preference on style, but I figure you can’t go wrong with a good pair of non distressed dark denim. While Old Navy is my go-to for jeans, I’ve also had a lot of luck with Levis and Amazon Essentials. I also think everyone should have a good pair of black denim in their teacher workwear rotation too!
Fun Lanyards
Most teachers can’t resist a fun lanyard. There were a few teachers at my school who changed theirs out monthly with seasonal or holiday lanyards. When I started working at my school, I was given a generic school lanyard but quickly changed it out for something more fun and colorful!
Comfy Cardigan
Every teacher is looking for what I like to call a “desk chair cardigan.” That’s that cardigan that you keep on your desk chair and throw on when you classroom gets chilly. Walmart, Old Navy and Amazon are always my go-to retailers for cardigans. You can see more of my favorite cardigans here.
