September 30, 2024
Have you been forced to start going back to your office? I hear from heroines all the time who are suddenly expected to be their office two or three days a week, and who are NOT amused…
Two issues I hear often:
- Business clothes from the “before” days just don’t fit, or don’t suit, and
- Quite a few people have received promotions (sometimes multiple promotions) in the interim, and feel that they should dress to a higher level than before.
SO… let’s start with this very lovely scarf, and see what we can do! If you’re only going to an office twice a week, you really only need a small wardrobe…
I saw four accent colors right away, as well as white…
Even at this late date in the world, I still feel that a suit is the easiest and most versatile way to look like you’re in charge:
But then, just to cover your bases, you definitely want a good looking pair of jeans that you can wear with less casual things so that you fit in with the gang – some days…
If you’re going to buy a suit, and there’s a skirt available… You know what I’m going to say – buy it! – unless you absolutely, positively, CERTAINLY will never wear it. And be certain to send it to be laundered every time you send the jacket and pants, even if you’ve not worn it…
This next piece is sort of tricky – you could wear your suit pants again, but you may want a second pair of pants. Black and white tweed, or pinstripe, are possibilities, if you can find them. Also, if your suit pants come in two different cuts (these do!), you can get both of them, but then you’re sending FOUR pieces of your wardrobe to the laundry at the same time… So I’ve opted to give this heroine a pair of black chinos. I have these, and they’re indispensable!
These four outfits come together into a tidy wardrobe, which would be easy to pack for a week or longer… Yes, it’s lots of shoes; maybe you could forego the sneakers, or the boots?
This wardrobe is certainly close to being foolproof; you may not want to wear a red tee shirt with a lime green cardigan, for example. Or maybe, when you add the scarf to your outfit, you won’t mind….
In that case, you would have 64 outfits from twelve garments. 4 times 4 times 4….
Every wardrobe makes me want to start packing for my vacation! And I’m not leaving until Halloween…
love,
Janice
p.s. Well THIS is timely – I share with you my opinion of what I packed for a trip to Paris! And how I didn’t need nearly as much as I had packed. But this next trip I have very little shopping planned… A side product of my ongoing closet nightmare, which I will share with you soon!
Sheila Harden says
I really like this. I never stopped going into work although when there were only a few of us in the building the dress code (not that there is one) didn’t seem to matter. I could pick any of my scarves and build a wardrobe like this. I love having different accent colors. Thank you Janice, and looking forward to your closet reveal!
Ezzy says
I’m now required to be in the office 4-5 days/week instead of 2-3 … To be honest, its fine. As long as I have the theoretical ability to work from home (it’s a matter of principal!). Although I do miss the extra time to exercise…
However, I definitely noticed a shift in my style from pre-pandemic to immediately post (with less people in the office) to now. Things that used to work just don’t anymore (more of a vibe thing, less of a size thing) I also cant wear dresses or skirts to work.
In the fall/winter: sweater + trouser “uniform” every day gets boring, even if the colors change. My solution at the moment – mix the look a bit especially with accessory type and 1st layers. sweater + trouser + scarf. sweater + trouser + weighty necklace. sweater+ layer underneath + trouser. (layer underneath: cowl-neck shell under a v-neck sweater; collared shirt under a crew neck sweater, maybe plus a necklace). Maybe a cardigan in there. I may need to look into vests for another option – I do have a black velvet v-neck tank that, to me, could be worn as a vest… I mean, why not?
Janice, in this wardrobe you’re varying the uniform more with bottoms (pants vs skirt) and 2nd layers (cardigan vs suit jacket) while keeping the 1st layer pretty stable (long-sleeve tee for the most part). It’s a good variety :) I think the pant vs skirt change really lends to a very different vibe/feel, but I’m not sure how to achieve that with just trousers.
Good luck to all the heroines out there – especially if you’re trying to go back to non-sneakers! You have my empathy
Debra Indy says
Would totally wear this wardrobe as the four bright accents all work for me.
Even before I retired, the suits I have just didn’t get worn as our office was business casual. So I decided to lose the matchy-matchy approach and dress the separates down by wearing the pants with just a blouse or sweater or the jackets with casual pants. Similar to Outfits #3 and #4 and Remix #2. Another approach is to mix jackets with pants from different suit.