vendredi 29 octobre 2010

Tenue du jour - Personal and professional style



When I started working I thought I had to erase personal style and be the perfect conservative employee : wear my hair in a certain way preferably straightened, long and wear the corporate outfit: tailored suits, pumps. 
I resented dressing for work. I felt like wearing a disguise. 

I don't know exactly at what point exactly my attitude changed. Maybe it's because I got more confident in my professional abilities or simply because my professionnal and personal style gently got more tangled and similar, but  I got more relaxed and actually started putting more thoughts and attention to my work outfits.

Buying new clothes for work doesn't feel like punishment and "ill-spent" money anymore because I actually rarely ever buy specific work clothes anymore.

I don't "dress up" anylonger for the office.

I just adapt my personal style to the work place. I'm not a classic high heeled pumps woman (I only own 2 pairs) so I rather wear sturdy high heeled boots.

I like tailor suits but it's hard to find one that's well cut for me and not too expensive so I replicate the silhouette. I love good jackets so I spend a little more (on some Isabel Marant jackets for example) and get basic tailored bottoms from cheaper stores (Zara, Gap, H&M).

Case in point, the Isabel Marant Etoile jacket that I wore yesterday is one of those versatile staples:  it tops all my outfits, work days or not. Trousers are the boot cut ones from this Fall's Gap collection .
Same goes with the Anna Corinna tote (now Foley+ Corinna ) that follows me around days on /off and now  with the red boots, which except for their unexpected color, have a classic shape so I didn't hesitate to incorporate them in this office look.  

Just to say that what I wore to work yesterday is an example of my Fall corporate uniform. 

It's usually very neutral, here all grey but with a relaxed fit and something a bit out of the box, here the boots.

Jacket : IM Etoile
Knit: H&M
Trousers: Gap
Boots: C. Petula
Bag: Anna Corinna
Scarf: COS

5 commentaires:

koko // res pulchrae a dit…

i'm very fortunate i never had a job where a suit was required - i can imagine how expensive dry cleaning would be!

i still have separate work and non-work wardrobes though, since i am very preppy at work but not really on the weekends. but for work tops i almost always buy cotton so that i can wash them frequently and just wear them on constant rotation - i'd rather spend money on weekend gear!

great outerwear is a must though, for weekdays and weekends, so i totally understand you spending more for coats.

great post! (sorry for the long-winded comment!)

Stephanie a dit…

I do this too. I'm over trying to wear a standard "look" and quite frankly, that era is over here except for certain professions. I dress to suit myself and never dress down at work, just presentable and professional, but not stuffy. I'm much happier that way. I hope the ill fitting business suit era never comes back!

Aïssa a dit…

Prêt à Porter P: I love your jackets collection especially that YSL!

Jackets and coats are also very easy to find and I hardly ever have fitting issues whereas shopping for trousers is a pain...
I read that you have to invest in the right pair of trousers but I have such hard time putting the same amount of money I would on a jacket for trousers.

But that's another story. Maybe another post to come.

Koko: Ah, a very practical issue, the suits dry cleaning bills should be indeed deduced as professional fees!!

I prefer weekend clothes too but at one point, I had so much of it and not so much workwear.
It was actually depressing to have that much fun clothes to wear only a couple of days a week and to struggle to find something to wear on week days. Now it's more balanced.

Thanks and au contraire, I do enjoy reading your point of view.

Stephanie: I'm happier that way too!

It took me a little time to challenge the preconceived ideas of how one is supposed to "look professional" that my environment (parents, friends, magazines..)had rooted in my brain.

yanqin a dit…

I really identify with this post - I felt exactly the way you did when I started working in a more corporate environment this year. It's not very conservative at my office but compared to my previous job, it was a world away. I felt so bored with what I was supposed to wear and depressed that I couldn't wear so much of the stuff I love .

After a while, I figured out a uniform that worked for me, and it can be fun to take as a challenge, but sometimes I'm still incredibly bored by what I have to wear.

I guess we'll all learn over time.

Happy monday!

Aïssa a dit…

I'm with you Lin, there are some days I'm so bored by office look, I wish I could go to work wearing whatever I feel like.

And that's a part of the reason why I don't mind working on holidays, when I have the office almost to myself and no clients showing up, I can be as casual and fun as I want!

Happy monday too! In France, All Saint's Day is a holiday so I'll just rest at home.