Smart-casual office wear - help!

[workwearwoes]

I'm about to start a new job and have to wear smart-casual office wear most of the time and smart clothes for meetings. My previous place of work was very casual so I have gotten used to wearing jeans everyday and so I have nothing to wear. I urgently need to do some online clothes orders but I have no idea what kind of things I should buy.

I really dislike workwear. I'm a chubby hourglass shape and things like blazers don't suit me, they make me feel really frumpy and a lot bigger than I am. I'm also in my 20s.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions of what kinds of things to buy?

Thank you!

I’m a lecturer so not in an office per se, but I mainly wear:

Wide leg cropped trousers with a fitted or tucked in top
Midi dresses (mainly summer)
Mini-ish a-line skirts with fitted knitwear and 100 denier opaque tights (autumn/winter)
Black straight leg cropped jeans (Levi’s 501) with a blouse

I never wear blazers or any sort of jacket, to me they are smart rather than smart-casual, but I do teach in a creative subject so YMMV.

Footwear is black leather trainers (Stan Smith or Veja), brogues Chelsea boots, or DM Church monkey boots.

I’m a hippy size 10, and tend to buy trousers from Cos because they are a good cut for me. I think that is the trick - find somewhere that has your perfect fit, and stick with them. I have multiples of the same Cos wool trousers in different colours.