The past few days have been lovely. J and I have been up with his family since Boxing Day, and it’s very much the sort of house where Christmas means snuggling down, eating a lot of rich food, and not doing a lot – a complete anathema to the house in which I grew up, but I’m really quite enjoying it.
Anyhow, lots of doing nothing means lots of guilt free internetting for me. Roobeedoo’s fantastic post of ten days ago on The Image of a Working Woman has been milling around in my mind a lot since I read it, and the combination of these two things (along with that vague resolutions culture that tends to sneak up around this time of year) has resulted in an afternoon spent mostly on Pinterest trying to work out something of a plan for myself and my work wardrobe.
When I first started out in the workplace eighteen months ago, I had a very limited work wardrobe having spent most of my student years in jeans and hoodies. But I am picky and a perfectionist - I was not going to settle for ‘just OK’ working clothes. Everything I bought had to enhance my look somehow. It had to make me smarter, more confident (but not old and boring). It had to be a ‘piece’ that would work together with others. It had to help turn me into the professional that I wanted to become. In the absence of well-fitting/ good quality fabric/ warm clothes from the shops, I was going to sew EVERYTHING!
Um, yeah.
So eighteen months on, I do have more variety than I once had. I probably dress more smartly for work than I could get away with, and my clothes are eminently suitable for my university administrator role. But in order to progress to my chosen career in the World Of The Corporate*, I will need to do a bit better than that. My plan is to build up a wardrobe of ‘key pieces’ that can be dressed up (in the future) or down (in the present) depending upon the combination.
This afternoon’s musings have produced this hypothetical frankenpattern for the queue: BWOF 02-2009-108 with the neckline of BWOF 11-2012-138, destined for a mustard-yellow cotton interlock that I bought the other day for bargain monies at Abakhan’s. Wearable under a cardigan or a suit jacket. Strong colour, work-appropriate yet interesting neckline, comfortable, and reasonably fitted.
The ‘Jacket, Shoes, Hair’ and the regular wearing of make-up can wait for another day.
Female readers of my blog, how do you get around this?
*eep.
I get given my work clothes, lets say your options are infinately more exciting and attractive! I have a small Christmas present, card and a birthday present that I need to present to you at some point we should get our diarys out. Then I can see all these new creations in the flesh :) xx