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....

I think other dark colours always look more expensive than black. M&S Autograph range seems to have some lovely stuff in at the moment including some really smart handbags.

All Saints usually does a Vivienne Westwood style wool skirt each season - it is dry clean but as long as you're not a messy eater you should be ok!i find Zara good for blouses and shirts although avoid the sheer/flimsier ones as sometimes the seams aren't very strong.

Winter there's a current thread on s&b about putting clothes together, details about using Pinterest and polyvore on it, you would probably find both of these sites really useful when planning what to buy and how to combine things to create different outfits.

here it is

M&s is good for machine washable smart stuff. A few years ago when I was feeling flush and getting fat I left 2 M&S suite in teh back of my car for months and months until they were covered in odd bits of garden debris and dog hair. When I was a bit thinner again and hard up I fished them out and tried brushing them and machine washing and they came up as good as new.

LKB do nice wrap dresses, and second the Me&Em recommendation. I wear a lot of jersey dresses to work as the kids usually wipe snot on me the second they run out of nursery and I often need to yank a boob out on the bus ride home

Oh my goodness Sleep - that thread has already hugely opened my eyes in the first few posts. That link on remixing a wardrobe was a revelation - I read all five entries. I never knew the point of a necklace before!

Cos, for sure - especially as you are tall and slim. Incredible quality fabrics.

Amber you made me giggle - I will be living the same glamour dream I suspect.

Thanks so much for all these tips everyone - will also ogle m+s autograph in my charcoal grey capsule hunt ....