August 2003 Newsletter

Working wardrobes

Do you have nothing to wear?
Do you find getting dressed in the morning a chore?
Do you find looking your best a hit and miss affair?

If you answered yes to any or all of the above questions then read on this article is for you.

I would have to say the main complaint that I hear from women is that they have nothing to wear. Whilst they may have a wardrobe full of clothes nothing co-ordinates, nothing fits and nothing looks any good on. Creating a workable wardrobe takes the same care and consideration that a good meal requires. You need a recipe, the right ingredients and the knowledge on how to put it all together. Consider this your recipe to successful dressing. A working wardrobe is a must for everyone and owning one does not require bucket loads of money.

I am going to show how you can simply and easily turn 13 garments into 120 outfits. That means if you work for 5 days a week you will not wear the same combination of clothing for 24 weeks or almost half or your working year. I think I may have your attention by now.

To begin with you need to choose two colours to base your wardrobe on. One colour should ideally be black, navy, grey, charcoal, olive, burgundy or dark brown. These colours are great base colours to work your wardrobe around and will work will in any environment. The only time you may waver from these colours is if you are in childcare when bright colours area must. Add to these colours a complimentary colour like red, white, cream or one of the other base colours if your first choice was black. Living in Melbourne many people will start with black and aside from the fact it is an easy colour to start with it is readily available in the shops. Remember there are many shade of black so buy your pants and jackets tother so the shade is the same but I am running ahead of myself here.

With you first base colour, select a jacket, two pairs of pants and a skirt for yourself. If you are more into skirts you might like to make that one pair of pants and two skirts. You will know what is suitable for your workplace. Ideally do this in the one store, as I stated before, there are many shade of black, if that is the colour you are working with and you want to know that all your pieces work together and the fabrics are complimentary. In your secondary colour select another jacket, skirt and pants. You will now have two jackets and five pieces for your bottom half.

To complete the wardrobe find three short sleeved tops, or camisoles that suit both jackets. They may be in the base colours or they may be in colour combinations that are complimentary to what you have started with. White will go with everything as will cream. These tops must look good when worn on their own as well as be suitable to be worn under a shirt for a more casual appearance or for extra warmth in the cooler weather. Your next purchases will need to be long sleeved shirts or tops that look great on their own with the base pieces you already have in your wardrobe, and will look smart with the short sleeved shirts or camisoles under them.

Believe it or not but those few pieces are all that you require within your wardrobe to look smart, everyday, for the next 120 working days of your life. We all know that there is more to dressing than skirts, jackets, tops and pants so now I will suggest the minimum you will require in accessories to get you through.

Start with a smart handbag that will co-ordinate with the jackets. A leather handbag is ideal as it looks smart, wears well and can be polished if it becomes scuffed or scratched. Don’t spoil your look with a cheap canvas throw-over. Add to that two pairs of court shoes if you are required to wear a heel, which is a must for any corporate women. I say two pairs as you should not wear the same shoes every day. You might also like to pick up a nice pair of low heels to wear with your pants. To keep everything simple, if your base colour is olive or burgundy then black is an easy colour to accessorise with. By choosing some great earrings and necklaces, brooches (and not the granny kind) or scarves you will add extra interest to your wardrobe at a minimum of expense to yourself.

This can often sound too simple to be true but believe me it is. Once you have completed this procedure and you are ready to add to your wardrobe just start with another jacket, in another colour and start building again. Before you know it you will have a complete working wardrobe and more clothes than you know what to do with. As with every good recipe, the secret is in the ingredients.

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Look out for Clare’s regular column in The Good Life – Peninsula Style down on the Mornington Peninsula.

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