Please help, I am panicking about clothes!

[23Squared]

Returning to work in a finance office. Dont 'do' clothes. Three days a week. VERY limited budget - think around £10 per piece, only a few pieces until pay comes in. Have literally lived in jeans and poundland t-shirts for the last few years. :( NO style at all! No idea what is now acceptable to wear or not.

Help?

I currently have black trousers. A pair of white three-quarter trousers? and a black top. Oh and a sort of brown tartan pattern type trousers bought at Sainsbury's for the interview if you know the ones from being in there recently.

Literally no idea where to start. :(

Please dont judge :(

If you can stretch to all of these it would make a perfectly good capsule wardrobe:

Black or navy dress with pencil skirt shape, or a skater skirt shape

Jumper in whatever colour you like best

Ribbed jumper, maybe with polo neck, thin enough to wear under dress (could be black but better in another colour, however must be different colour from other jumper)

Leggings from M&S (best quality for the price)

Longline shirt (mid thigh) or shirt dress

Blouse or shirt that coordinates with your tartan trousers

Matalan is good for what you pay. Sainsbury’s too.

If that’s really too much concentrate on tops since you already have three pairs of trousers.

One jumper in a colour that coordinates with your tartan trousers

One longline shirt

Leggings

Dress (or skirt)

Skirt would be best in a coloured pattern that ties in with both your black top and the jumper you buy.

Oh I just noticed it’s a job in finance. Hmmm this type of outfit was fine in my office (business casual), but I’m not sure it will be corporate enough for finance...

h&m tops

Oh and also just noticed it’s only three days a week! That’s good.

Im going to keep trying to make suggestions, just in case it helps.

One skirt in one of the colours of the tartan trousers.

One jumper that coordinates with skirt and tartan trousers.

One blouse that coordinates with the skirt and tartan trousers.

One dress.

Job done!

Have a look in the charity shops of affluent areas. You'll be amazed at the new or almost new clothes on display. My friend bought a brand new with tags on Reiss dress for £5! Only check in the upmarket areas though as your average high St shop is full of tat.

I have some really nice work pieces I no longer wear and am happy to post them to you for free if they are the right size? I am 5ft 4 and sizes are 10-12.

(Just in case it might be misunderstood I meant three days a week is good because you can easily come up with six different outfits by just buying a few items. With six outfits you won’t be repeating any outfit within two weeks so you’ll be fine until you can buy a few more pieces)

You could try looking in some charity shops, I've bought a few good items from them in the past and it may help you afford the dearer items that you would want to pay more for, good skirt and good shoes/boots for the winter. A good white shirt that would go with the black and tartan trousers would be a good start along with a jumper or cardigan that would go with the tartan.

Everything 5 Pounds is your friend.

What size?

Charity shops are your friend in this situation (limited budget). Or if you are the type of person who hates the idea of secondhand then most of the cheaper high street shops and supermarkets do office appropriate clothes.

Your dress code might be specific to your office/company but when I worked in finance (one of the larger banks) our office rules were along the lines of:
Skirts and dresses must be knee length or below
No open toe shoes.
No trainers.
No jeans/joggers/leggings.
No thin straps on tops (that show bra).
No low cut necklines (that show cleavage).
Clothes must be clean, tidy and not ripped.
We also had some retry specific rules like ‘no evening gowns’ and ‘no sequinned jackets’.

I think I would play it safe in the beginning until you are settled in the office and get a feel for what people do and don’t wear. I would look for some plain tops/ blouses in colours like navy/black/cream etc. Basically neutral colour tops in whatever style you like. Trousers I would now go for a slimmer leg style and stick to plain colours rather than patterns. Again a nice cardigan or two is a must because I found I was always too cold from the air conditioning. Where I worked almost no one wore a suit. Only very senior management (think regional managers rather than office managers). Smart dresses were pretty popular I my office but trousers and tops were also worn a lot of the time.

Charity shops, dresses are your friend, no need to match things then.
A plain cardigan or two, matalan do ok cardigans if you can’t find one in c shop.

What size are you? I could send a couple of things.

I work in Finance - and another voter for charity shops

Make sure it fits
Try to go for plain/ simple - only so you can re wear as much as possible

Do not stress - most people cannot remember what outfits they wore last week, let alone what their colleagues wore. So simple, fitting clothes & wear in rotation, add as you have £ and time
Good luck

I get my work blouses in Sainsbury's and my trousers in Gap. And a plain round necks jumper over the top. The ones I get are £40 at woolovers but it's the plain style that is everywhere. https://www.woolovers.com/womens/jumpers/womens-cashmere-and-cotton-crew-neck-jumper-12526

Two pairs of trousers is fine to start off with.

Thanks all! I am SO out of touch! Charity shops a good call. In the Home Counties so we have a few that might throw up something decent!

I am a size 12 but when I looked on the Sainsbury site I was like what are these and thought I was horribly out of touch with fashion?!? So not what I would have worn years ago! So I got all flummoxed and didn't even think about charity shops! Late night panics!!

Also loving the idea of simple basic capsule wardrobe that I can switch things about. I have a few black work dresses but they are over 10 years old so I need to see if 1) they still fit and 2) they aren't horribly like something from the 1920s!

Check out eBay too!

Office appropriate styles haven’t changed very much in the last 10 years. Especially if you are just aiming to look respectable and fit in, not be the office fashion icon.

Just avoid all the usual things - anything too tight, too short, strappy, sportswear, plunging necklines , anything metallic or sparkly , cartoon characters, slogans etc.

No t shirts unless they are plain, well cut and not made of cotton jersey.

Most offices are over heated so I’d avoid jumpers right now and get smart tops or shirts / blouses. If your office is freezing then you can buy a cardigan/ sweater.

I mostly wear smart trousers as I CBA with heels. In winter I wear dresses with opaque and flat boots, but that might be too causal in some finance companies.

Hi OP: I have sent you a private message; please check your Inbox :)

OP I didn’t make it clear earlier but if you get a short sleeved (or sleeveless) dress, or maybe you already have one, which is nicely fitted but not skin tight, you can wear it as a dress on its own, or as a dress with a polo neck under, or with a jumper over it to look like a skirt. That way you get three looks out of one dress.

I wear leggings (black/grey leopard print or jacquard patterned) with a longline shirt (mid thigh), a shirt dress or a jumper dress. I dress it up with high heeled courts, smart ankle boots or brogues to keep it looking smart.

Definitely try the dresses on. If you want to post pics we can help with accessories

Get thee to primark.
5 pounds for trousers, I live in these at work, I have black, navy and grey. They fit nicely and wash and wear brilliantly

10 pounds for shirts, long length and wash and wear great. I have wine, black, pink, khaki, cream and navy
5 pounds for short cotton cardis , get black, navy and a bright colour

10 pounds for fitted knee length dresses, I have a grey check and a black check, these look fab with black tights and one of the cardis.

Thank you, everyone. I will try the dresses on tomorrow and try and get some picks of the bits I have so you can suggest things that might go with them.

Something like a brightly coloured scarf (sorry to sound twee and Good Housekeeping) can make a massive difference to a plain black dress.