Please please help with capsule wardrobe for work trip to China in August

[upyourninja]

Please please help me with some ideas for a capsule work wardrobe which will be smart but not too hot for a work trip to Beijing in August!

It will be smoggy and hot. I'll spend a lot of time indoors in air con but have to travel between appointments in taxis around the city. In my industry, suits are not standard, but most of my Chinese clients are very well turned out (designer, crisp white shirts and suits, often).

I usually wear wrap dresses and skirts with blazers for this kind of trip. I feel I should be reasonably modestly dressed, with covered shoulders.

I'm 5'3 and currently a large size 10 - quite a broad/athletic build, 32D. Dresses/skirts need to come nearly to my knee and my legs aren't good. I really dislike synthetic fabrics as they're just so hot and sticky so usually buy cotton, but that's hard to achieve these days!

I have one navy dress from Great Plains which will do but almost nothing else. I'll have meetings and business dinners for five days. I never shop as I'm rubbish at it, and we really don't have much spare cash. I think I can pull together about £200 to spend but that's it

Any suggestions at all would be very very welcome!

Opinions please on this one? Sleeves longer than I hoped but it's 100% cotton...

www.whitestuff.com/mobile/womens/dresses/green-50s-pop-dress/

As I already have blue things

Remember that 100% cotton may crease terribly...I would go for a cotton mix which will still be fresh but should crease less in the heat and humidity.

You need a pashmina/scarf too, something that will fold up in your bag to be brought out when it is freezing cold inside.

I wear shift dresses which I get from tkmaxx, I don't worry about them not being cotton, the essential thing is they are uncreasable, washable in a hotel sink, and layer able against the goddamn air con! I wear them with a linen jacket, I have a cream one and a black one.

Thanks Elysian and silk - I will definitely have an iron in my room and haven't suffered too much from cotton creasing, but there's so little out there in 100% cotton that I'm not likely to end up with it anyway!

I am always on the hunt for perfect blazers. I'm short and quite square and they so rarely for. I have two cropped blazers from Topshop a few years ago but they look seriously tired now :(

*so rarely fit!

Try hobbs, jaeger, lk Bennett and Austin reed for sales bits

Ty

Buoyed by suggestions I've ordered three silk blouses from Phase Eight in the Debenhams sale - should be cool and breathable but will have to see how they'll look if I get hot!

I do have 'the' black whistles tube skirt already and if I lose a few pounds it may not be obscene.

Any suggestions for a loose, cool, perhaps midi skirt which would work with a silk top?

I don't have much money but I'm trying to build a wardrobe of a few classic items for this sort of work do. I 've not had much success yet!

Great suggestions on this. I live in china and def agree cotton. Nothing to add on clothes but wanted to suggest you bring a bag big enough for bottle of water at all times. Oh and camera for all the random bizarre sights!! Plus bear in mind clothes can be v cheap in china so perhaps buy some on your visit. You don't say where you're travelling to but if it's beijing pm me for details of good markets.

Check out Me and Em. They have their sale on and have some lovely stuff. A lot of jersey so no creasing.

Thanks! Never heard of Me and Em so will look

Flower power girl - I'll PM you, thanks!

Whatever you wear, you will be insanely hot and uncomfortable. I think it's actually quite therapeutic to accept that in advance!!

The streets are disgusting in Beijing, so open shoes are not a great idea.

It sounds like lots of people have been helpful about the clothes, so here are some other tips:

A pack of tissues.
You should avoid going to the typical chinese toilets as much as possible. I still have nightmares about them. But if you get caught out, you will need to have your own tissues for the majority of places.

Mosquito repellent
Think of how much you think you will need, and then double it.

Sunglasses
Obvious

Inhaler
If you have even the slightest trace of breathing problems, bring an inhaler. Some days in Beijing it was so polluted we couldn't even see twenty metres ahead.

Thanks kaykay. I've travelled extensively in India and SE Asia, though not on business, so it won't be too much of a shock. Very hard to imagine staying presentable though. In India I carried wet wipes everywhere to clean my feet when I had the chance!

Wipes, tissues etc and especially inhaler all very wise advice.

Wouldn't have thought of mozzie stuff though so repellent and anti histamine for me, as I swell up like crazy!

Something I often do when traveling on business is dress down a top for the evening, and then wear it to work the next day.
Reduces the packing.

Thanks addicted, that's the plan really.

I just popped into Phase Eight and picked up 3 silk tops and a pair if trousers for just over £100 - good value for their things. The tops aren't completely to my taste but will look smart enough teamed with the right skirt/trousers.

I picked up a dress and top on eBay yesterday (Great Plains) so if they are ok I will just about manage. I think from the sounds of things I will need the holy grail of office shoes - heel I can walk in, not too hot and sticky but not open toe. Eek.

Thanks addicted, that's the plan really.

I just popped into Phase Eight and picked up 3 silk tops and a pair if trousers for just over £100 - good value for their things. The tops aren't completely to my taste but will look smart enough teamed with the right skirt/trousers.

I picked up a dress and top on eBay yesterday (Great Plains) so if they are ok I will just about manage. I think from the sounds of things I will need the holy grail of office shoes - heel I can walk in, not too hot and sticky but not open toe. Eek.

I don't do heals, so no help there, I'm afraid.
I'd wear something like these, but then I spend half my time in a boiler suit, so a bit of a different setting to you, I think!

A note on loos - hold it in if you can. If you can't, try and find a disabled toilet. At least then you can sit down!

espadrille wedges?

question for those who know Beijing well - would there be rain showers or even storms?

I would take the dress you really like with you. On your first chance to slip off take it to a taylor. They are everywhere.... some googling beforehand might help reassure you. Some hotels will have their own recommend service where you can choose the fabric and they will copy your ideal dress and deliver back to your room or post to the UK, all for a fraction of the cost of a couple of posh coffees!

Good suggestion. If short on time go to the Silk market where they have fabrics and tailors on site and usually make in a few hours. Just time for some shopping :)

That sounds like fun! Might be something to explore the day after I land.

I have thus far collected a few silk/cotton tops and a dress and a pair of dark blue trousers. I tried on some shoes today which would be ideal, but they're £££ and not normally my sort of thing.

And my word, the cut and sizing of things from Great Plains varies massively!!

I'm really grateful for all the suggestions so far - keep them coming!

I will, autumn! I am hoping I can stick up at the hotel on a good breakfast. I am not fussy about what I eat as long as it is vegetarian, but I have been told to say I'm allergic to meat, fish, and fowl.

I don't think I'll be able to bring myself even just to eat round the meat tbh - I'm a strict vegetarian and the whole thing repulses me. I worked in restaurants for several years so I'm not too squeamish about being confronted by meat - as long as I don't have to think about eating it!

... I'm going to struggle, aren't I?