Best shop for well-cut high quality smart clothes for work?

[WinterMymble]

Hi expert fashionistas! Clueless re shopping, would love some advice. For returning to work from maternity leave I need to basically buy a whole wardrobe of smart-ish things for work. I haven't got anything to start with since I always wore jeans and t shirts to work before, but would rather make an effort now.

One hitch is I HATE clothes shopping and know little about clothes. So if I can find one shop to get most of it? One other we hitch is it needs to not be dry clean only type stuff. And God no ironing... Zero time for that.

If it is relevant I am tall, slender. Size 10, mildly pear-ish so like bootcut or a-line things. Have small waist and allegedly good legs. I guess buying a wardrobe from scratch is exciting but wild love a place to start....

Have you looked at Austin Reed? Some great, smart and classic but contemporary dresses and separates. As a starting point what do you think about style/budget of there?

Err, you may have to get AR stuff dry cleaned - but not often, unless you are particularly messy . Think that will be the case with most high quality, smart stuff though...

What about a whole load of lovely dresses rather than trad suits? Do you have to wear a jacket? Or would a nice cardi do?

what about looks like this? . Bit more modern

with your figure you could wear this too

Depends on budget. I always liked coast, especially their sales! Cheapest was next. They were quite good.

Try Laura Ashley - currently 25% off some of their stuff too.
Lots of smart clothes but in fashionable summer colours. There is a lovely floral jumper and cardigan similar to one from Ted BAker that I covet but cheaper!

Damn, you guys are good! Thank you.

Sleep, Austin Reed stuff looks great, but the dry cleaning deters me :) - though I take your point that most good stuff seems to require that. The prices are manageable .

Great input re Next from you Cybbo an Wishiwasanheiress - Cybbo, that next link is really inspiring! I love that jacket and also the adjacent pages. Lots of really useful looks there that may help me visualise something to aim for. Does Next last decent amount of time? I can pay a bit more if it means having to replace less often (really struggle w shopping :)

I don't have to wear suits thankfully - dresses and Cardis would be fine - and an improvement on the deeply tragic jeans t shirt hoodie doc marten combo I have rocked for five years (I got promoted before I left but certainly not for my fashion style :) A load of nice dresses sounds rather fabulous ...

And Finbar, thanks! Laura Ashley have some great stuff - I especially found myself ogling this machine-wash jacket thing (sorry can't do links on phone it seems :/) www.lauraashley.com/cardigans/navy-milano-knit-blazer-jacket/invt/cd937/ - ad seems to be in their sale!

Thanks very much for all these pointers. I will probably be back to ask for your help in capsule wardrobe-ing! How awesome to be able to ask for advice like this - I really do need help with basic fashion literacy :)

For what it's worth I don't think coast is that hard wearing. This is my trouble you see, clothes that don't wash or dry clean well.

Whistles does some great dresses, the Bella one in particular (more dry clean tho sorry!). Also jackets including this machine washable one. The jersey AR dresses are machine washable btw.

Another good place to look is Reiss

Oh and also Comptoir.. this cardigan is gorgeous, looks much better in real life, strikes a great balance between smart/casual, could be worn over a simple dress or chic with slim fitted trousers. (Also fantastic with skinny jeans on the weekend).

Oh sorry, having a bad linky day ..comptoir

Just one more... Hobbs.

To be honest ,with your no dry clean requirement I think you will struggle to find what you want all from one store, but it sounds like jersey dresses and washable cardigans/jackets are your friend, you may just have to hunt through the styles you like to find the ones that you can throw in the machine. Certain things look like they will be dry clean only, like this aren't.

Some really great scarves and selection of jewellery will help lift and change looks.

Finally, look out for discount codes that regularly come around for the likes of Hobbs, Whistles etc. if you are contemplating buying something it's always worth posting a quick thread on s&b to ask if there's a discount code someone knows of!

Don't overlook M&S. I have a black shift dress from there which is easily as good quality as Hobbs etc. Also their dresses are nearly always washable.

what about me & em for dresses? the quality is great, they are mainly machine washable and they have excellent sales.

Cos. 21st century work clothes, not expensive, high quality.

I agree that M&S can be good for workwear.

Also I would try John Lewis - there was lots of stuff in their sale that I would have snapped up if I had an office job but felt a bit too smart for my lifestyle. Brands like Fenn Wright Manson, Hobbs, Whistles, Jigsaw, LK Bennett, Mint Velvet (plus some cheaper stuff!) all under one roof. I love Great Plains too.

See! More great suggestions. You can't possibly narrow it down to just one shop

Mango.

You might also want to consider building a capsule wardrobe for work OP. I have to admit I haven't really done this lol but I found some advice online about it last year. The basic idea is that you choose a base neutral (eg navy, grey, black) and an accent colour and then you build your wardrobe based on 3 of each item eg 3 pairs of trousers, 3 skirts, 3 dresses, 3 tops, 3 pairs of shoes etc etc.

For each item, you buy one in your base neutral, one in the accent colour, one in a pattern featuring the base colour (and maybe the accent colour as well) You need a bit of licence with this re trousers unless you are comfortable rocking printed trousers for work!

I wouldn't follow it literally but it might be a good principle to bear in mind? The stylist showed how you could then build dozens of outfits.

Baukjen has some lovely stuff - made me wish I was City office working again (well for about 30 seconds it did! ), Whistles & Reiss are great for something a bit different than everyone else but you can't beat Next for staples - maybe get the basics from there and then add some personal looks from the others. Agree about Comptoir & the brands at JL too. Good luck!

I am in the same position and often end up going back to M&S because the clothes can be machine washed. Love Whistles, Reiss, Hobbs etc but I just don't have the time or money to dry clean all my clothes!

Fantastic tips from all - thanks so much! I have spent several hours trawling all these sites and there seems to be a lot of great stuff. A bit overwhelming the amount of choice really so I am v grateful for that capsule wardrobe summary - sounds ideal. I have also realised I need to factor breastfeeding in since I will sometimes be doing that in work clothes - as long as I am in skirt or trousers that is fine since I do the cunning mumsnet vest-underneath, lift top technique.

Anyway thanks hugely for these sites. I am going to go and get my head around capsule-ing!

Xx

I am also about to go back to work. I needed new clothes as have lost weight . I have bought a Gerard Darel combo (much reduced) from John Lewis, 1 black jacket, 2 black trousers, 1 black skirt. I am planning to team these with blouses/black wrap tops/ camisoles in various coloursthat I already have (Bfing so boobs not much reduced in size).

I also have 4 Boden dresses that I picked up in the sale for £20ish each, which are all machine washable. (Unfortunately most of the Darel stuff is dry clean, but I decided I was pleased enough with the look and pricing not to mind). I do have a couple of linen jackets, a washable ponte (and very cheap) Boden jacket and a bargain GAP black blazer (£19.99) to wear with these also.

I found some black Van Dal mid heel loafers in TK MAxx for £20 and am digging out some mid courts that I haven't worn for erm a decade or so and I think that will see me through!

Wow HereComes you snagged some bargains! sounds like you have the wardrobe thing perfectly sorted - an inspiration :)

I might seize the chance to go away from black - am leaning towards darker greys maybe ..