Monday's dress-up

Another Monday and another borrowed dress for a client meeting! I once again raided my friend's wardrobe for something a little smarter and fished out this awesome flippy hem dress from Warehouse , it fit so much better than last week's borrowed dress that I'm actually thinking of getting one for myself when it's sale time. It's really hard to say no to a simple dress that is both comfortable and practical. I definitely felt slightly more comfortable wearing this dress than last week's dress which my friend has chosen, it was such a relief knowing I'm actually wearing something I liked!

When Corp called

It was inevitable but today I had my first proper meeting with a corporate client. When my bosses set up the meeting,  the first thing I heard was 'it's time to take out the suits and ties', fashionwise it was not a good sign for me and I immediately picked up the phone to my 'corpy' friend and asked her to dress me up for the meeting. I trawled through my wardrobe and pulled out the best 'smart' dresses I had but my friend was one step ahead of me and picked up a couple of items from her 'smart' wardrobe to bring over. I felt it would be best to let her make the choices, whether I liked them or not and after trying out a number of looks we both were in agreement that this grey dress with a white shirt layered underneath will probably do the job just fine. To be honest I really wasn't a fan of this look, it really felt a bit out of my comfort zone so decided to leave the white shirt and just wear the dress with a nice pair of moderate heels. At the end of the day I felt the content of the meeting and its success was much more important than nailing that 'corporate' look I'm so scared of and luckily the meeting went well so now I can go back home and change into an outfit I feel more comfortable in. 

Monday

Slowly but surely I'm starting to fall in love with a blazer and button-up shirt look. I always thought this look might be too serious for me but I guess with the right kind of blazer and the right kind of white shirt it's the kind of easy and classic look that you just can't go wrong with.  I was planning on wearing something completely different this morning but then in the last minute remembered I had a meeting scheduled and as I was already with one foot out of the door I had to make a quick outfit change that didn't require too much thinking and planning and so it was, a white shirt, a blazer and a leather skirt. The perfect lazy, last minute ,Monday morning outfit. 

Sticking with black and white

The closer the weekend gets the lazier I get with my outfits but luckily today it was laziness that made me try this houndstooth print skirt which I bought ages ago before I could even think of winter.

It seemed like the perfect way to get a potentially boring outfit a little more exciting. I teamed it with a black chunky jumper and a matching pair of black and white flats and voila! Surprisingly I really love this lazy outfit, there's something quite elegant about it , which is sharp contrast of my usual lazy outfits that usually include an all black ensemble (the perfect recipe for a lazy and simple outfit!). I'm really excited about this skirt as I feel it's a great item for making an outfit slightly more sophisticated without trying too hard.

Off to work

Today was one of those rare occasion in which I had to step it up a little for work. On most days I'm pretty much free to wear what I want but every once in a while it's the sort of day that requires to tone it down or polish it up a little and get into 'business attire' mode.  Luckily this time I had a chance to wear this cool jacket I borrowed from my friend. I actually borrowed it as more of a casual item but decided to use it today  as an addition to a simple black dress for a slightly more classic look. I'm kind of loving it how it turned out although the photos aren't really showing that , it's actually the sort of outfit I can definitely see myself wearing more often for work as recently I've been trying to get my outfits to be slightly more 'grown up' or 'serious' although so far not very successfully so this jacket and this outfit as a whole might be a slight sign of a new direction which I'm slowly trying to figure out.

Looking for inspiration - the job interview edition

'We have a job interview request for you' , that's what the overly excited lady on the line said to me when she rang me last Tuesday. When I heard that I lost my concentration for a moment as she was cheerfully reciting the details for the interview. I immediately felt the slight feeling of excitement followed by slight panic. 

The truth is I was really hoping this call would come, my new year's resolution was to find a better job so I can move away from where I live at the moment but things were going slow and I didn't really hear back from any of the places I sent my CV to since January. 

I had to get into interview preparation mode, which also meant trawling through my wardrobe to find my 'interview' outfit. Needless to say it was an uninspiring find and as I mentioned before 'corporate' is not really my favourite look which meant the last time I bought something that can be considered 'job interview worthy' was over three years ago! I had to figure out what I can do with what I have. Naturally instead of digging deeper in my wardrobe I chose to seek some inspiration on the COS and Whistles websites, which would have been my ideal work wardrobe choices, with simple styles and great classic cuts and some gorgeous prints. Unfortunately at the moment those will only stay my 'inspiration' outfits but luckily a good friend who's also a 'corporate' type has offered to lend a hand and pop-over tomorrow to help me go through what I have and hopefully come up with some nice outfit ideas. To be honest, I'm actually quite excited and I'll definitely be keeping those looks from Whistles and Cos as inspiration. Who knows maybe if I do get a job one day I'll be able to afford one of those?