Eeek new girl...what to wear to work on your first day in a new job?

So as I mentioned in my previous post I have a new job which I am very excited about starting. But of course after 4 1/2 years at my last place it is going to be VERY strange being the new girl somewhere. The usual trying to remember everyone's names (something I am TERRIBLE at) trying to work out where everything is and what the nuances of the office are (do people make tea rounds or just make their own for example?)

And of the course the age old issue of what to wear. In an interview setting you know what to wear (usually a suit or key tailored pieces) and the people interviewing you are usually dressed up to, but in a day to day environment what is the dress code? Is it smart smarts (suits/tailored shirts etc) or is smart casual (smart jeans, or trousers but casual tops?) Is it uber relaxed on Fridays with jeans and sneakers (yes I know I'm British and we wear trainers but the word sneakers is so much more fun!)

I'd been doing some Google searching and reading blogs to see what people wear to work...my last place was super casual so I wore jeans everyday. But the new place not so much, I think, I believe it will vary depending on where I'm based or what I'm doing but essentially a whole lot smarter than what I've been used to on a daily basis. Which is no bad thing as I've missed getting dressed up for work, I mean it gives another excuse to go shopping doesn't it if nothing else!!

But I digress, to day one. Now tricky while this may be I do think going super smart is the only way forward - the last thing you want is to rock up and be under dressed for meeting the MD who just happens to be in that day at a loose end...so here is my plan of attack:

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1. Good black trousers
A wardrobe essential - flattering, good quality trousers are worth their weight in gold. I know that Oasis are my go to place for jeans and trousers. A bit more pricey than some other high street stores (wait for the online discounts or sales as they happen constantly!) but their trews fit me well - they are cut I guess for gals with curves. So find your shop where you know the clothes will work with you not against you - for example me and Zara trousers don't gel, I am too short and curvy for their bottoms. Nothing against them they just don't work for me so why stress myself out?

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2. A nice neutral shirt
Ideally on day one you want something you have worn before and you know you are comfy in. No stress about it being too low cut, or see through or pulling in the wrong places. You want to be put together but also feel comfortable as it will be stressful enough on your first day doing all the "firsts" without fretting about your wardrobe. I swear my Marks and Spencer, Dorothy Perkins and Zara for good office shirts/tops.

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3. The hot/cold element
Currently in Blighty we have snow up North and flooding down South (where I live) no sign of Spring whatsoever...so for my first day to go alongside the trousers and blouse I recommend either a smart blazer/jacket or a colourful pop from a bright cardigan. Keeps you warm, adds a bit of individuality and can be removed if the office is snug before adding back on and facing the elements outside! Again I swear by Marks and Spencer they do the most amazing cardigans I think I have them in nearly every colour and they wash and last so so so well!!

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4. Shoes...walk tall but be able to walk!
Another core staple is a good pair of black court shoes - yes they sound boring but I don't think any working girl can be without a smart but comfy pair of black shoes. These ones from Marks and Spencer are ideal - nice height and super comfy - I love their shoes plus full price they are only £19! Amazing value. They also come in loads of cool colours for when you want to be a bit more daring!

5. Accessories....
Now if you've been a reader for a while you will know I LOVE my accessories...from statement necklaces to a handbags I do think choosing the right accessories helps personalise an otherwise "safe" outfit. However on day one as I've mentioned before it is better err on the side of caution just in case your colleagues don't get your style. Therefore I'd keep accessories to a minimum for me this means - no jangling bangles for example just a classic watch, a simple necklace as I'm wearing a shirt I need something but nothing too large and then a plain bag that won't overpower the outfit....

This bag from Zara is perfect

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6. Make up/nails/perfume
Finally remember we always want to look groomed but try to avoid wearing more war paint than a Vegas showgirl. Less is more as my Mum would say!! I will aim (although not sure if I ever manage it) to look polished but have my make up look invisible like I'm not really wearing any...for me that means good foundation and powder to stop shine, some neutral eyeshadow and neutral lipstick/gloss. Again nothing too overpowering for perfume you don't want to be knows as the newbie with the stinky perfume after all! Finally on my nails I will be wearing Essie's Mademoiselle as I think it is the perfect barely there polish that just smartens up my nails enough to look done but in a unobtrusive way if that makes sense?

I hope you enjoyed this post, if so please comment and let me know...I have a part B planned of how I inject my personality into my working wardrobe - still using the basics above but adding more exciting accessories (shoes/belt/jewellery) into the mix

What do you wear for work? Is it smarts all the way or are you a casual dresser?

Lxx

Monday Tastic

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So another week rolls around, but at least here in my spot of Dorset we saw sunshine last week so I take that as positive hope that Spring will soon be flourishing. I am ever the optimist.

So this Monday what are my Top 5 goals??? Well I failed miserably last week on 1. Go to Gym, 4. Make sushi and 5. Eat more fruit and veg. 4 and 5 were mainly down to Mr P and his superhuman sense of smell that has developed recently so both of these roll over as does 1. I am struggling with when I can gym it at the moment - before work is not an option as my gym in the hometown doesn't open early enough that I can go and get into work on time (due to the 1 hour commute) the post work workout isn't really an option due to getting home for Mr P (well if you were to spend all day on your tod at home even you would be pleased to see me!!) And weekends tend to be a bit hectic with housework and visitors and stuff. However that is an awful lot of excuses!!!

I did however have a very productive week at work and sort of managed the capsule wardrobe-esq idea so not all was lost!!

Anyhoo....the new Top 5 (then +3 from above rolling over) are:

1.  Well seeing as it is Valentine's Day today what else could be number 1 other than make sure I tell everyone who I care about how much I love them this week. I want to catch up with some old friends who I'll admit I've been very lax in speaking to recently as everything has been so hectic. And of course hopefully Mr P will be pleased with a certain V Day Splurge I got for him (fingers crossed I bought the correct thing - I spent far more than I meant to but I'm so easily led by the salesmen in Solutions Inc that I'm an easy customers)

2. It is Capsule Wardrobe week as inspired by The Small Fabric of My Life this week I am rocking only 10 items of clothing and 5 accessories - see here for my mix in a post all about it :0) And find out next week if I cave or if I manage it!!!

3. I am also planning on make up splurge this week - I am finally going to muster up the courage/time to pop into Beales and purchase the Mac Lippy in Girl About Town as seen in this post on Lauren Loves. I also need some new moisturiser - I've been seduced by the promises of Jennifer Garner in the new Neutrogena advert so might give that a whirl. I have been using No7 but it feels too heavy for me so going to try sommat new.

4. Fingers crossed Mr P will have band practice tomorrow (have I mentioned he is in a band?? He is a bassist extraordinaire) This means on Tuesday I could a) go to gym and b) sneakily have Chinese flavoured rice that I have been craving for ages but is smelly and made of rice - 2 things that are persona non Grata in Casa Splucy at the moment...

5. Book haircut! My hair is now totally out of control and so long it can go up in a ponytail. This is not good. I have thick hair that left alone bends (not curls, curls are pretty) in very strange directions. It needs urgent pruning so I can again have a) a fringe b) a do rather than a mop and c) something that requires only 5 minutes as opposed to 30 to fix in the morning. All of this is incredibly vain and vacuous, blame the Internet, or glossy magazines. Aim -to look more like this:


Lily Allen rocking her messed up bob


And less like:

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Which is exactly how I feel after being caught in a rainshower!!

Have a lovely week y'all

Lxx

I've been bad - the shopping bug has bitten again......

So I woke up today feeling chipper, checked to see if my mobile DD had come out or not today (with it being a LONG LONG month and not due to be paid until Monday I like to double check that someone hasn't stolen my card and gone mad clearing out all my money and leaving me liable to bouncing DD's) and to my delight find that I have been paid early. Oh the joy. The depressing 6 week wait to be paid post Christmas splurging has ended. Huzzah huzzah huzzah.

So what did I do to celebrate? Count my money and transfer it immediately into non accessible savings? Did I heck. Curses to the ease of online shopping and the prevalence of discount codes....

Yep that's right, I shopped :0( However no Filofaxes were purchased (on this occasion) and they are all core wardrobe pieces, bar purchase no 1:

Courtesy of Amazon I ordered Professor Layton and the Curious Village for my super cute DSi that the lovely Mr P bought me for Chrimbo. He also got me the Forgotten Future with it - another PL game - but we had completed that one, and today on Amazon it was only £17.99 for the highly recommended Curious Village so click I went. These games are amazing for whiling away time together when waiting around at appointments etc.

Then I made the mistake of visiting Oasis, just to see what was new. Honest. But with a free delivery code when spending over £75 popping up on screen (is it just me that sees that as a challenge?) and 15% off it was new jeans (dark indigo wash, favourite ever cut, and I wear jeans almost constantly for work as well weekends and on the rare occasion I go out) ballet pumps in navy with cream bows (c'est chic n'est pas?) a lovely new jeans belt in tan (I've needed a new belt for my jeans for months now honest so this was an essential purchase) and finally a silky wear everywhere plum coloured vest that I expect will become a wardrobe staple in no time to perk up the shades of grey and black that I am often found in. It should also tone in nicely with my purple shoes :0)

All simple, classic items that will work well within my current wardrobe. And due to the savings the belt was essentially free....I am of course toying with the idea of the 15 items for 5 days wardrobe mix (see here) and figured the belt, vest and pumps would slot in well with the items I'm considering wearing with the jeans no doubt being essential wear from when they arrive. So all in all very solid investment shopping.

Now if I can just back away from the French Connection sale site we will be onto a winner...........

Things on my mind or flutterby Wednesday

So today has been another one of those days that involved an early start, a fair bit of travelling, tons of waiting around, a large amount more travelling and therefore all in all achieving very little. Grrr. I know it can't be helped but some days you just think eesh can something just go my way for a change? And that was just the traffic getting out of our little seaside town!

However all this alone time in the car gave me some time to think, well actually I did have Mr P with me but he has this knack of going straight to sleep in the car when I drive us anywhere - either he a) feels so comfortable with the smoothness of my driving he is calmed into such a serene sense of relaxation he nods off or b) the sheer terror of being in a car with me while I drive initiates the conk out escape clause!!

Key topics for today's thinking?

1. What to wear to work tomorrow? Lame perhaps but as we have important people in whom I may be meeting requires looking slightly more well put together than normal. We have a so casual it is virtually student like clothing style in my office (I blame the large number of young people hehe) so a typical day's outfit is jeans, boots, vest/t-shirt and cardigan (it's chilly at the moment). Very unexciting. However tomorrow calls for something reflecting my stature of Manager (well something clean, ironed and not clashing would be a start!). I'm thinking black long jeans (these are new so I'm excited to give them their first airing) with a black blouse and my new purple patent shoes. The red heart print scarf will add some colour and some simple silver jewelery to set off the look. Combined with my grey check bracelet sleeve length jacket should look smart but hopefully media style trendy.
2. The 1 million work things I needed to achieve this afternoon/tomorrow. Big tick on being productive as working from home means virtually no phone calls or anyone to gossip with and therefore a chance to mow through the marketing plans, schedules and outstanding emails. Tick tick tick on the To Do list hurrah and a good place to start with a fresh list tomorrow.
3. Blog posts - I have a list of about 10 new blog posts that I am keen to crack on with this weekend. They involve lists, photos and some of my favourite things so I think you'll love them! So I needed to get them down on paper as a list before I forgot all my inspired new ideas.
4. Capsule wardrobes...I have written before about my wardrobe rut here and how I was trying to overcome this with focusing on key items/looks/words to reflect "my style". I have been doing lots of research in this manor and been following some great blogs of people who snap what they wear everyday - amazing inspiration. I especially love What Would a Nerd Wear,and Ephemera for these types of posts with Musings of a Caribbean Princess and SBV for really fab Fashion blog posts on what they wear/love. But then I read on Paper Rush Blog about a capsule wardrobe challenge for February inspired by a post on Make Do Style. What a fantastic idea. 5 days, 10 items of clothing/shoes, 5 accessory items (scarves/belts etc) A complete wardrobe snapshot which would make me wear my clothes in a different way (perhaps) so I read on and ended up on The Small Fabric of My Life where the challenge idea began. And then I read and read and read...a fantastic blog, really well written, witty and fab pictures which makes me feel all inspired to work through my wardrobe and see how I can start wearing some of those lovely pieces I have that never get to see the light of day! Could I manage the 5 day capsule challenge - that is one to think on for a while as I wear more than 10 pairs of shoes a week let alone with clothing thrown in...
5. Lastly and probably most consuming today has been the Personal vs Pocket Filofax debate. I'm having a wobble on my planner size change!! I have covered at length previously the Pocket Deco, but to recap: I LOVE my pocket Deco; she's classy, gorgeous and so much more portable. BUT I miss the personal size Chameleon. More room to write on the pages, the week on one page with notes diary which is my favourite format (I have the same in my A5 work Filofax), what feels like double the ring size to cram in all the information and the jolly Raspberry colour. I miss the larger sized stickers I use in it, the Day Planner pages, the decent sized To Do list pages.....will I ever be able to downsize totally? Have I made a massive mistake? Should I revert back to the Chameleon (But if I did OMFG the amount of money the Deco cost - bad girl!!) A quandary to be sure. Before I make any rash decision however I am staying calm and trying to bear in mind that new habits take 6 weeks to bed in and this is only week 2. A bit like starting a diet I guess I need to stick at and not cave and binge on personal sized planning just yet......

Classically Edgy?

I am having trouble getting dressed. There it is, the very shallow and superfluous but utterly frustrating issue currently facing me every morning. I have a fair old drive of a commute so I get up early and leave the house at about 6.45am. I also work in an office where wearing flip flops, cut off jeans and a crop top is dressing smartly. I long to be able to wear the Mad Men inspired ladylike looks, with pencil skirts and sexy secretary. I miss the days of dressing up for work to look professional and smart, frankly ironing a vest top is about as close as I now get to immaculate preening. However the main issue is being able to gain valuable extra minutes in bed so removing any issues over what to wear would save me much valuable time.

Therefore I have decided I need to create for myself a "capsule wardrobe". For the capsule wardrobe is an enigma, it consists of having the perfect number of items that not only flatter your body, make you feel amazing but also work for any occasion while seamlessly mixing and matching effortlessly. This is fashion Mecca.

I however am the antithesis to a capsule wardrobe owner, I own a wardrobe groaning at the seems with clothes and yet I have nothing to wear. How so the lovely Mr P often asks (he who shops barely once a year and yet always looks dapper and well dressed) with all these clothes can you have nothing to wear???

Well after reading Red magazine this month it seems clear it is because I have not yet uncovered the 3 words that epitomise my "style". Whether this be Modern, Chic and Edgy like the author of the piece Anna Van Praagh or Elegant, Eccentric and Edgy as Brix (Gok's "aaaaaah fashion" glamorous sidekick) Smith-Start would describe herself. Now I am in no way in the league of these glamorous ladies but could the 3 word principle help in my search for wardrobe nirvana?

What is my style and how would I sum it up in just 3 words? Frankly based on the examples given in this article my initial thoughts of Creased, Comfy and Casual just won't cut it...So I decided to compile my fashion saviours to see if they can shed any light:

1) Denim - I love denim, jeans for work, the perfect denim jacket over a dress, hotpants (well maybe not but you get the drift)

2) Black - I adore black - it suits me (officially I had my colours done years ago and I was a Winter the only black wearing season and also why you'll never see me in pastels as I look like I have developed some tropical disease which has sucked all the life out of me). Black is cool, glamorous, chic - just look at the photos of the fashion editors at London Fashion Week if you don't believe me!!

3) Accessories - I love beads, bangles, boots (hmmm I'm sure there are other non B related items that should go here too) generally all the accoutrement's that you can use to dress up a simple outfit and personalise it to make it your own. Plus even in the midst of the occasional crisis called "having a fatday" my accessories still fit

4) Handbags - now technically while bags may be classified as accessories anyone who knows me can testify to my love of handbags. I have far too many I'm sure but I love them all and they all add a different edge to whatever I'm wearing. Prim and proper with a structured hand held bag or edgy and glam with my new tasselled tote courtesy of lovely Mr P. Each bag epitomises a different look or personality and spruces up the sometimes bland uniform I can find myself in.

5) leopard print - I am so very excited that leopard is back in fashion in a big way this winter. I own shoes, scarves, bags and soon to be a belt (hopefully) as I think leopard print done carefully looks so chic and old school glamorous (think 60's Sophia Loren not 80's Bet Gilroy)

6) High heels - I am a munchkin it is official at only 5'3 now while this is a giantess compared my sub 5' mother I am of dinky proportion to my social circle as highlighted by a friend on Friday who commented "my aren't you short" I've known her 2 years and clearly always wear heels when I see her based on her shock at my diminutive stature. I love high heels, sparkly ones, wedge ones, stiletto ones - I feel sexier and more glamorous dressed in them and I wouldn't dream of presenting at work without them.

7) Earrings - or more specifically the small silver stud in the top of my right ear. I had my ear pierced after having a mini mid life crisis when I turned 30. After quitting my career, home and relationship I planned to mark my rebirth with a tattoo, permanently commemorating the new me. However rebirth or not I'm terrified of needles (did you know that tattoos involve needles and pain!!!) the tattoo idea was short lived but as mark of rebellion the ear was pierced. Baby steps that's me - rebel without a clue.

So for fear of boring you (and potentially me) any longer what do these 7 key themes to my wardrobe mean to my "style" ?

Am I edgy? Not really.
Am I urban? Not at all unfortunately.

My 3 words I think then are as follows:

Structured - I like to wear things that skim not smother so that I celebrate the curves rather than drown them (otherwise I can look like the size of a bus)

Classic - simple separates put together, practical but not boring, classic chic looks if you will

Rebellious - whether it be leopard print or new ear piercings every day there should be something subversive or edgy without being too overt. An accent dish not the main course.

So now I have my 3 words it is time to use them to inspire my autumnal shopping - therefore this is my current wishlist for the new season:

A) Leopard print belt
B) the perfect crop trouser (gap?)
C) a lightweight trench coat (gap again)
D) a black lace t-shirt for layering
E) a furry gilet - Oasis have shown some lush ones
F) high heeled hiking boots from Red or Dead

So, thoughts? What would your 3 words be and do you agree with mine? Or what are your new season wishlists?