Help - returning to work after 2 years and 2 children

[crochetcircle]

OK. My first post in S&B. There's a reason for that. I don't really do style although I would like to be stylish once I get back to work and my clothes are for wearing rather than being puked/snotted/sicked on!

I'm going to get a whole new work wardrobe I think and as I am returning to work after 2 year's essentially consecutive maternity leaves I need HELP!

I feel like I've grown up quite a bit in these two years, and my style has changed. It's not that I'm all mumsy now, I just feel I'm now well into my thirties whereas my old work clothes were definitely from my 20's. I was also promoted to a more senior position just before I went on my first maternity leave and so I think I need to step up the style levels suitably.

I work in a professional organisation in London. My colleagues mainly wear suits (grey ones, although I never did), and my clients are mostly senior civil servants who seem to be quite suit based too.

These are my questions:

Where should I start? A couple of nice suits and then build wardrobe against that?
Are there any online tools that could help?

Well, I work in a professional firm in London and very few of my female colleagues wear suits. I would start with a couple of really great dresses, a skirt and a jacket that you can mix and match.

I went back to work after 3 years at home and the Coast sale for trousers and dreses was my friend and then I bought some shift dresses to mix it up with jackets if needed.

Shoes are now my best friend, cheap from new look or ££££ in sales again.

When I did exactly this, I booked a personally shopping appointment with john Lewis on oxford street. They were amazing. They aren' t commission based so no pressure to buy but they can help you put together a wardrobe that works and gives you lots of options from a few outfits. I really recommend it.

Thank you for the suggestions. All really good ideas and things I hadn't thought of.

notcontent where would you buy dresses and jackets for work? Would you go for blocks of colour rather than patterns?

Sorry it's taken me ages to get back and reply. I've been run off my feet. God knows how I'll cope with a full time job to do!!!