Help me dress more 'artsy' !

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I've started working in a role which is a lot more creative and artsy than previous jobs I've done and it involves presenting at arts/ literature type events. Everyone I'm working alongside seems much more left-wing creative, hipster, free-flowing, colourful - I'm not sure how to describe it!
I'm in my mid-50s and admittedly have got a bit into a jeans/top/cardigan sort of rut which in my new role is just too dowdy.

I'm fortunate in that I'm a slim size 12 , 5ft 6, and can get away with a lot of styles etc. I can't do heels really though due to some foot issues, so trainers/ flat shoes and boost are best.
Short, fine blonde hair cut in a bob. Not sure I want to colour it anything wacky though!

Help me break free! What should I be looking for? Brands, styles, colours, accessories?
What screams 'creative/artsy' at you?

Good God! If OP follows half of these suggestions she’ll look like the love child of Coco the Clown and Sue Pollard. 😂

Have a look at Thought clothing site. It’s an ethical clothing company. Great things in their sale.

I'm a working artist (painter), and have been around arty people for the past 30 years, and none of us look the same, nor is there a style we all recognise.
Most of the brands mentioned here are stereotypes, so to avoid looking a bit desperate and foolish I'd certainly give lagenlook a firm swerve unless it is your spirit animal, so to speak

I would imagine, reading this thread, that most of you have never even encountered an artist!

OP wasn’t asking how to dress like an artist.

Taken from her first post:

“I've started working in a role which is a lot more creative and artsy than previous jobs I've done and it involves presenting at arts/ literature type events. Everyone I'm working alongside seems much more left-wing creative, hipster, free-flowing, colourful”

So not an artist, but presenting at arts and literature events. So jeans, flannels and cardigan isn’t going to cut it.

I'd go for scarves / pashmina type things.

Wear as a shawl, tied round your hips, in your hair make that your 'thing'.

The Kooples
Anthropologie
Plumo
Poetry
Wrap
Cabbages and Roses

Please don’t do this OP!

But this is 2022, @Flockameanie - the OP may need to embrace a portfolio career. One part international arts professional, the other comedy fortune teller at the fair …

Sorry, @sashh ! (It may be that you posted without RTFT?)

Hello! OP here! Sorry I disappeared - was away for a few days last week.

Thanks for all these suggestions. Yes, perhaps I didn't word my OP well, but I promise it wasn't a piss take!

I've made a bit of a start at least. DH was away last weekend, so I emptied my wardrobe and tried everything on, trying to find new combos with some of my old clothes etc. I was surprised to find that I still have quite a few fairly timeless things which I can bring back into circulation.
I took photos of various combinations of things and made a Pinterest board so I won't forget!

I also bought a nice pair of black ankle boots which I think will be quite versatile.

I definitely don't want to look like a female Monty Don though!!

Aha … I think I’ve discovered a stumbling block! Must your boots to be ‘nice’? Couldn’t they be fierce or ridiculous or impossible to walk in but conceptually intriguing???

Although those might be what your ‘nice’ implied? Rather than the way it’s usually used on MN in relation to gifts for any woman over 40. (Nice scarf, nice hand cream, nice afternoon tea …)

Haha - I know what you mean!

Well, they're biker boots with lots of metal buckles, so definitely a bit more 'fierce' than I'd probably usually go for, so perhaps 'nice' was the wrong word!

Bizarre!

I think you can dress simply, but go all out on accessories- so a statement necklace or earrings. That way you will still feel like you, but a little enhanced, rather than having s complete new look.

impossible to walk in but conceptually intriguing
I'd rather be able to walk

www.desigual.com/en_GB/women/clothing/dresses/

As others have said, please, please no Joe Browns, no Gudrun Sjogren, no clown-like riot of colours, no wacky jewellery....

I saw a woman the other day who looked really 'creative', because she stood out a mile from a crowd of rather scruffy travellers. She was over 60 and not slim; she had straight blonde hair in a simple up-do, and elegant, fine-rimmed but quite large spectacles, perhaps tortoise-shell colour. She was dressed in a tunic jumper - wool or cashmere, by the look of it, straight legged black trousers (looked like wool), flat shoes (possibly the oxfords mentioned above) , and a long calf-length raincoat. All in matt black. Her only coloured clothing was a really long wide scarf (cashmere?) in a wonderful shade of flame orange. She carried a plain black umbrella.

I'm not suggesting that you go as minimalist as that, but her outfit was practical, flattering, and immensely stylish. It suited her and fitted well, too - nothing too tight - and everything looked top quality. I was sitting (dry, but looking most unglamorous) in a dripping wet anorak, walking trousers and walking boots and I thought that her outfit achieved the same purpose - keeping warm and dry - as my own, but that she must have put much more thought and energy into seeking it out and choosing it.

As others have said, find what suits you and makes you feel good (and comfortable) and confident - that's being creative.

@scottishnames are you a writer by trade? I love your descriptions.

Agree - for the love of god, NO JOE BROWN!!

Have fun with colour and pattern, take some risks but know what the current trends do you can nod to conformity while sticking your stamp on it. Be bold but be you. Sharp lines and delicious fabrics always help.

• so you can

Thank you @JaneJeffer That is very kind. I do work in a creative industry - most of my colleagues are more stylish than I am, however! But one can look and learn....

What a great thread! It’s taken me a couple of hours to get through it…what with all the clicking onto other sites as I went along. I’m a semi retired designer and feel like I’m falling into the jeans and twinset hold… time to Get a Grip.

I should spend more time here on S&B. You’re a lovely lot…!

Hmm …

@ByeByeMissAmericanPie when I first found MN more than a decade ago I was overjoyed at the thought that I now had somewhere to talk about clothes. Hurrah! Nope. Was puzzled. Burrowed around and came upon the MN Vogue thread. But that didn’t take - for me anyway. MN was more cliquey then, so I was roundly ignored when I ventured to post. And also it was clearly a thread for people who bought, as well as sharing news of skiing holidays and husbands’ new cars and the last meet-up. Whereas I love clothes as much in the abstract and shop rarely.

It’s a shame because - despite this being ostensibly a Style and Beauty board it’s overwhelmingly, primarily, a “Where on the High St can I buy something as utilitarian and unadventurous as possible, for as little as possible?” board. It is considered pretty much a criminal offence to mention any brand not a on a pre-approved list. And as for spending more than £15 on a top … (In old money days. Obviously now none of us have the money to keep a phone charged, let alone order clothes.) It can be a “Let’s talk about that amazing thing I saw on a catwalk video yesterday”. Occasionally. But it is absolutely not an “I have an event, show me something new and fabulous and maybe wildly extravagant” board. Nor is it an “I want to buy an outstanding jacket in the best possible fabric, that I can enjoy wearing until it falls apart.” Even if you said you absolutely definitely wanted to spend £1000 … 90% of the replies would direct you to M&S. Or Next. Or Mint Velvet.

Nevertheless, somewhat addictive! Enjoy …

@TottersBlankly have you tried starting a thread on fashion as art? It's lovely to look at some of the "out there" stuff but wearing it is a different matter (I imagine).

@TottersBlankly my general rule is that I don't take fashion advice from 90, 95% of people on here... Although I have no eye for catwalk fashion, so I'm probably further down the interest curve than you.

I thought of this thread when I picked my outfit yesterday because it fitted what I think of as the "creative industries" look. I was wearing indigo Kin balloon jeans and a graphic-print black and white kimono-sleeved shirt from Cos. I tied it with a blue obi belt, although that probably takes off Swedish-architect points by being insufficiently monochrome.