Style rut

[white_hart]

I have rather lost interest in clothes recently*. At least part of this is because I can't find clothes that do what I want. My current work environment is definitely at the casual end of business casual, and a lot of the dresses I used to wear in my old job feel too formal; I've also found that I'm more attracted to clean, simple lines and minimalist outfits, rather than the layers I used to like. And I'm wary of looking too quirky, or girly, or cute; that was great when I was an accountant who wanted to convince non-finance people that she wasn't really like the other beancounters, but now I'm a person who runs the administration of a fairly large academic department. I want people to take me seriously, and I'm not convinced that dressing like a toddler or a Manic Pixie Dream Girl is really the best way to go about that***.

So I want to look professional but not remotely corporate, grown-up but not boring. I want my clothes to be comfortable and practical. They need to be machine washable as I don't do dry-cleaning. I like dresses because they're easy (especially on swimming days, when it's much easier to wear something that I can just pull over my head than have to step out of a skirt or trousers while trying not to let it touch the wet changing-room floor), but they have to be knee-length and have sleeves and high enough necklines not to show masses of cleavage without a camisole underneath, and at the moment most dresses seem to be super-short, sleeveless or low-cut, or all three at once. I prefer jersey dresses because stretchy fabrics minimise the fit issues inherent in the fact that most clothes aren't cut for someone my shape, but there seem to be fewer of those around than in recent years****. And I can't stand the feel of polyester, and there seems to be a lot of that about. I'm not actually short of clothes and everything I own has a fair amount of wear still in it, but I do miss having fun with what I wear. At the moment getting dressed in the mornings feels like a chore rather than a pleasure, and there are more days than I'd like when I find myself getting to work and wishing I'd put something else on.

So, does anyone have any tips on how to reinvigorate my interest in clothes? (I miss the style blogs of yesteryear, which used to be great sources of inspiration.) Or should I just keep scouring the shops (of which Oxford has fewer and fewer) until I have enough fall-out-of-bed-and-go dresses that I don't need to think about getting dressed at all?


*Actually, I have lost interest in lots of things - knitting, sewing, cooking - which I mostly put down to a combination of (a) having a job that's interesting and fulfilling enough that I don't need so many outside interests and (b) being so knackered most of the time that I don't really have the energy to do anything apart from working and absorbing fiction**.

**There may be a (c), viz. having somehow recovered the ability to read lots of books, which I had thought was lost and gone for ever, I have remembered that reading is the Best Hobby Ever and uterly diskard anything that would eat into my precious reading time.

***Today I am wearing a long-sleeved green t-shirt under a baggy black t-shirt with Little My on it, jeans, rainbow-striped socks and fluffy slippers, and I love it, but today I am not at work.

****My favourite dress at the moment is this one which I got from White Stuff this time last year and have probably worn once a week, or at the very least once every two weeks, since then. I have another one in the same style but a dark red floral print, which I wear just as often, but sadly they don't seem to have the same style this season.

Comments

[the_rck]

I haven't been able to find the sorts of dresses I like in more than ten years. I ended up having a seamstress pick an old one apart to make a pattern and then make dresses based on that in cotton knit fabric. Two years ago, she told me that she was having trouble getting fabric in any color except black because the fabric companies simply weren't making anything above what was committed to clothing companies.

I want an elastic waist with a flared skirt that comes down below my knee.

I'm a little worried that she's gone out of business. I haven't bought more in the last two years, first because I had enough dresses and then because last fall/winter dresses were inconvenient with regard to the medical stuff I needed to do.

[white_hart]

The problem of liking something that then goes out of fashion and becomes unavailable is definitely a tricky one! Especially as I normally only decide I like something when it's been around for so long it's practically out of fashion already in any case.

I can sew, but I'm not very good at it, and have enough fitting issues that the only thing I can make that I'm actually happy to wear is A-line skirts.

[ossamenta]

(here via friendsfriends)

Have you tried Gudrun Sjödén in London? Good quality, natural fibers, very colourful. The designer has a thing for layering, but most clothes can be worn on their own. Sizes go big, so I'd recommend to try things on before you order.

[white_hart]

I love the look of Gudrun Sjoden's stuff (and spent quite a lot of time gazing longingly into shop windows when I was in Stockholm last autumn) but I find it hard to imagine how I would look in it so I've always been a bit nervous of buying anything. (Actually, being a bit scared of experimenting is part of the problem generally, I suspect!)

[aunty_marion]

It might be worth a day-trip to London to go and try stuff on in the shop. I have a couple of friends who swear by GS clothes (I can't afford them myself, but they do look good).

[white_hart]

I could do that, though I am (a) lazy and (b) not particularly enamoured of shopping, so I'm not sure I'd manage to convince myself that going all the way to London just to go shopping was a good idea. (It's a fairly moot point at this stage, anyway, as there's no way I'm going shopping in London on a Saturday and I can't have a weekday off until July now!)

[ossamenta]

Try them on in the shop, and keep an eye out for the sale. There are also member discounts on certain items, so that might be an option (naturally no guarantee that the stuff you like will be what's on special discount). And bring a friend for advice on fit etc.

[white_hart]

I have to admit that I was thinking more of buying online - I don't particularly enjoy clothes shopping and very rarely go to London. Though their returns process looks rather time-consuming and also expensive, which is a bit offputting!

[caulkhead]

Well, you could come to London to meet people, and sort of fall into a shop as a side trip! (I will selflessly volunteer myself for this)

[white_hart]

That is very noble of you! Possibly going to actual shops, and more of them than are available in Oxford, would be a help...

[nineveh_uk]

Fond as I am of Gudrun (I have a 1920s-ish jumper from there that I love), I couldn't really consider them along the lines of "clean, simple lines and minimalist outfits".

I've just bought a new jersey dress from Baukjen's clearance - I wait to see what it looks like, as I've not had anything from them. Perhaps Lands End or Pure might have something along jersey dress lines that fitted what you were after. When I'm failing to get anything, I sometimes go for the "go to John Lewis and try everything in the category that could possibly work" option. That doesn't always mean I get what I came for, but it does tend to me that I see a lot of stuff and get some ideas.

(I don't find this an inspiring season of the year for clothes. I tend to be sick of winter stuff and still wearing it, with summer clothes seeming a distant prospect.)

[caulkhead]

I've had one brilliant jersey work dress from Land's End, and one which looked very promising on the page and absolutely terrible on me. Their returns process is very good though (as is their free replacement when it turns out their sizing is off, which inevitably happens to me even when I think I've allowed for it).

[white_hart]

That is true - mostly I look at the website and think "that would be nice but I don't like the asymmetric hem", "that would be nice if it came in a plain colour", and "that would be nice if it had sleeves" and never see anything that quite seems to be what I'm after. But I'm willing to experiment

I hadn't heard of Baukjen and don't really know Pure. Land's End I once bought some tops from, which involved a complicated argument on Twitter about their delivery methods and then when the tops arrived they were much more pastel than they'd looked on the website. They are now my summer pyjama tops. (There are some possibilities on their website, though there appears to be a shortage of sleeves. Why do so few people seem to think dresses need sleeves?)

(This malaise may well be due to the season! I am also sick of winter stuff, and spending weeks reduced to the things which work in in-between weather is not really inspiring.)

ETA: And the more I think about it, the more I think that lack of clothes is not the problem here. Having finally managed to get Boden to show me a view that wasn't all the clothes modelled by people standing at odd angles by a swimming pool in the middle of the night, my first thought was "oh, they have a couple of possibilities" and my second was "yes, but how many navy shift dresses do you actually need, and do you not think you may already have reached that number?". So I think I do have plenty of clothes, I just don't seem to be having fun with them as I would once have done.

[nineveh_uk]

I like Pure because they do the range of colours, well made 'core pieces' that I used to get from Boden, Wrap and Poetry before the latter all moved away from me. They're not cheap, but they have good sales and offers. I have just acquired a couple of pairs of their cotton chinos for work (black and grey) because I spent last summer not letting myself wear the ones that I had outside work in the office. They're not 'meeting smart' but they will be perfect for the many days of summer it is not warm enough for a knee-length skirt and bare legs.

I find it hard to be particularly 'interested' in work clothes and ultimately I think that I probably regard them in a fairly utilitarian way. Not that I don't like them, but whereas when for outside of work I am looking for a jumper that I love, for at work, I am looking for a jumper that performs the required functions I have for a work jumper. There are things that I know I need and I just keep a look out for them from time to time. It's nice to find something new - I wore a new skirt on Friday that I'd bought earlier in the year in the sales and that was enjoyable - but I'm not really looking for the same for them as from other clothes. I'm looking for something I can put up when I get up late. In the first part of the season this is quite fun, because I'm wearing new things, but by the end it is dull.

[white_hart]

I spend a lot more time in work clothes than I do in any other clothes, and they're certainly the ones more people see me in. (It's actually quite rare than anyone other than T sees me in non-work clothes!) So if I'm going to be interested in clothes then I want to be interested in work clothes, but maybe I should just accept not being interested in clothes and move more towards a useful uniform of things that can all be slung on in the morning without thinking. Or find more reasons to care about my non-work clothes.

[ankaret]

A surprising number of department stores will do you a personal shopper appointment for free. A friend of mine did it at House of Fraser when she'd got an office job for the first time in years. That does involve going to an actual shop though, and I'm not sure if online personal shoppers are a thing.

QVC, of all people, do some nice jersey dresses - I have a couple I bought on eBay.

[white_hart]

Hmmm, that might actually be a thing to think about, even though it would involve a trip to somewhere else (Oxford doesn't really have any department stores, or only a rather lacklustre Debenhams. Which is, of course, part of the problem!). Tbh, probably even going to a large branch of John Lewis and trying on everything would help me get some ideas!

I will have a look at QVC, thanks.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I really like looking at ebay. If you have time to go through 20+ pages, you can search for dresses with the length of sleeves and fabric you like, and see what comes up. That often makes me think "hmm, I'd like that but not sure it wouldn't make me look ridiculous", or "wow, that's exactly the look I like, but not the fabric", and gradually narrow down what I look at, and find different brands. And charity shops. Most of my professional wardrobe (before I moved) came from there. It's Clay next month, so maybe people will post clothes and you can see what you like?

[white_hart]

I never think to look at ebay, though actually given what I usually want is "that thing I saw last year and really wish I'd bought now" it would probably be perfect!

[jadesfire.livejournal.com]

I'd add the online Oxfam shop to the Ebay recommendation - I've had some lovely stuff from there in the past.

I've ended up in a total 'uniform' rut lately, so I wish I knew what the answer was! I'm thinking I'll pull out all the stuff I actually wear on a regular basis and try to think "what would make this more interesting?" rather than starting with just "what do I want?" I'm also going to have an explore of Polyvore - I find that while I'm good at choosing individual pieces I like, outfits are much harder, so maybe there's something to be found there.

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

I second this recommendation - I find ebay a bit of a nightmare but I've got some really good quality pieces from Oxfam online with the added bonus that it makes me feel less guilty about buying clothes I don't really need ;)

[white_hart]

The last time I tried looking at it I found it really hard to filter for anything much at all - has the navigation got better? I like the idea but I don't have loads of time to spend browsing...

[alitheapipkin.livejournal.com]

You can filter by size, brand, price, colour, condition and decade so probably not great if you're looking for general inspiration I admit - length and sleeves would be handy when it comes to dresses.

Oh, the front page at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/womens-clothing?intcmp=nav-tab-wom does currently have a 'style' filter for dresses too at the moment.

[white_hart]

Ah, I don't think it had the size filter last time l looked, and that's a bit critical!

[white_hart]

I do wonder if actually I just need to embrace the "uniform" concept a bit more - at the moment I have some very easy throw-on-a-dress-add-cardigan-and-scarf outfits, but not quite enough to get me through the week and a bit between washes. So maybe I just need to buy more plain dresses and colourful cardigans!

[jadesfire.livejournal.com]

My brain doesn't operate well enough in the mornings to do anything but 'Uniform' and I like to select based on the weather, so 'night before outfit layout' doesn't really suit me. I have 10 of the same uniqlo top in different colours and sleeves lengths, together with coordinating skirts and tights, so thought is minimal. The hardest thing is just choosing a jumper!

Having said that, I really *like* all my skirts, cardis and jumpers, so don't mind wearing them, on the whole. Maybe if you're happy and comfortable in your 'uniform', it doesn't matter :)

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

I was wondering whether this is the kind of thing for which Pinterest might be useful - collecting images you liked and seeing what emerges.

I echo the eBay thing too. I do really well there because what I want is never in the shops but quite often exists there (and is quite often really cheap because no-one else wants it, so I can afford to make a few mistakes in the pursuit of learning.)

[white_hart]

The problem with the Pinterest idea is that since the demise of all the style blogs I used to read I don't tend to see images I like! And the women I work with are mainly at least ten years younger than me, and obviously more junior, so I don't really get a lot of inspiration from other people around me, either.

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

That is disappointing. (Are their archives still there and worth a trawl?)

[white_hart]

No, mostly the archives have been deleted and that kind of blogging has all-but disappeared - it's all fashion blogging and style advice now :-(

[widgetfox.livejournal.com]

:-( indeed.

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

Once you start pinning, they start recommending stuff that might also appeal to you, and i've found it does a pretty good job (ymmv).

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

People Tree (http://www.peopletree.co.uk/)? Ethical fashion, free returns, lots of stuff I like but isn't quite my style for work. The jacket I ordered was more boxy in cut than I'd expected from the photos, but the dresses were the shape I'd expected.

[white_hart]

I've got a really nice dress I got from People Tree years ago, but I do find that most of their dresses seem to be a bit shorter than I'm comfortable with!

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

They seem to have quite a few knee-length dresses in the sale at the moment. I'm assuming that knee length on their models (5' 10") will probably be slightly below knee length on me, but I can't remember how tall you are!

[shreena.livejournal.com]

I really like Phase Eight - feel like they design for women in their 30s and they also have a good range of stuff which is smart while being less structured than other office clothing. I have a cardigan from there which I adore - it's like a cross between a jacket and a cardigan which is just so useful in a work context.

The other thing I would suggest is having a friend come round and look through your wardrobe with you and that might give you a fresh perspective on your clothing. You could also try some kind of challenge – like you have to wear your clothing in some way differently to how you usually do (different accessories, matched with different tops/bottoms/shoes) every day for a month.

[white_hart]

That's not one I really know (or at least I think I've seen them in Debenhams but it all looked like party frocks, but maybe they have a wider range in standalone shops) - I'll have a look, thanks!

[ylla.livejournal.com]

Phase Eight is what teachers wear, apparently - whether that's a recommendation or not!

[auntyros.livejournal.com]

Thanks to this comment, I went to check out Phase Eight online and discovered Studio Eight - their plus-size range, which looks really good and the kind of thing I often want and can't find in my size. So thank you!

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

Seasalt? I font used it but friend in work does. I had great fun last year creating a capsule wardrobe using Pinterest but this year am addicted to Gudrun Sodjen which is everything you are trying to get away from, I think, but ticks my easy to wear and looking relatively smart boxes.

[white_hart]

I really like Seasalt in theory but in practice I rarely see anything I like enough to buy. And I love Gudrun Sjoden in theory, too, but can't quite imagine myself in it!

[fiendish-cat.livejournal.com]

I've definitely been more drawn to simple and minimalistic and even neutral colours recently - I think I posted about this a while back. A combination of them having been more on trend and therefore more visible recently and the fact I spend a lot of time looking at mens style blogs and social media and looking at menswear. (For work.)

Jersey dress with smartish cardigan would seem to be a good default smart, professional but not too overdressed look. (It's why I was a surprised you passed on the nice red jersey dress at the last clothes swap.)

I think shapes, silhouettes might make a difference here - perhaps a straight dress rather than faux wrap ones might feel more modern.

One outfit that I'm finding works well for me at the moment is black cotton wide wide calf culottes with a white jersey top and a bright red cardigan. I know it's a bit 'nice colourful top with black trousers' that Trinny & Susannah are so against, but the shape works. I tend to wear it with gold trainers or brogues but loafers also work.

[white_hart]

The red dress was one of the ones that I bought for my old job and that just felt too formal for the current one; a combination of the length and the crossover front, I think, and possibly the need to pop a little camisole under it. The dresses I like at the moment are shorter and straighter, generally.

(Also, when it comes to colours, I currently really like navy blue. I have never been into navy blue before!)

[fiendish-cat.livejournal.com]

Re blogs etc

I like The Pool for inspiration on professional work casual outfits - though it's a bit fashion/trend let
https://www.the-pool.com/fashion

And Liberty London Girl (though ditto)
http://www.libertylondongirl.com

Advanced Style always provides inspiration http://advancedstyle.blogspot.co.uk

http://thefashionablebureaucrat.blogspot.co.uk - this one might work for you, I have a feeling she's no longer a bureaucrat, so may need to look in archives for that elusive interesting yet professional look inspiration

Others:
http://unefemme.net (her style is not mine, but it's old school style blogging which I like)
http://thatsnotmyage.blogspot.com
http://freelancersfashion.blogspot.co.uk (sometimes, I secretly want to be her)
http://www.alreadypretty.com (still going strong)
http://geekthreads.blogspot.co.uk (no longer blogging but archives are good)
http://beautytipsforministers.com (pretty sure has been mentioned here before - bit too conservative for me, combo of it being American and focused on clergy, but some good things to learn and reading it does tend to make me interested in appearance again)

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

I like Seasalt, though I see that's not your thing. Bizarrely, Next have upped their game recently; I got my trouser suit from there. They've brought back wool suiting, which was nice to see. Have you tried Laura Ashley? They had some surprisingly nice pieces when I went in recently.