Interview Dress

[Gaia24]

Hi all,

I need some help to find a dress for an important interview coming up. It is for a senior professional role.

I am petite and realistically a 14 wishing I was a 12. I think I just look like a blob. Mid 30s.

I rarely wear trousers and want to feel comfortable so won't be wearing trousers / suit. It will have to be a dress that is formal enough for interview.

Nothing that clings - just something comfortable and appropriate. Budget is around £50 - 80.

I normally wear flats so will have to buy some heels too!

Workwear is very fluid and flexible. Those Hobbs/Karen Millen/Coast dresses are not for me, they look a bit dated and uncomfortable and if I’m being honest I haven’t seen anyone dress like that at work in years. Even when I wear a suit it’s in a bright colour or teamed with a colourful top. There are no set rules anymore and most work places have broad range of clothing people wear ranging from smart (suits) to casual (think wide legged trousers with a top). Tbh if I was interviewing someone dressed in one of those pencil dresses I’d ask them if they wanted to get changed. The same goes for footwear; I’ll wear heels, loafers, boots, trainers depending on what I’m doing that day.This smart but not boring

I think the reality is that it really depends on the industry. In my industry, suits are the norm (particularly to interview) and many of the dresses suggested here, whilst lovely, would be deemed too casual even on a day to day basis.

I am also someone who looks perpetually pregnant in a loose fitting dress, so prefer a bit more structure - whether I am ten years out of date or not!

If you’re looking for a Hobbs dress but new ones are over budget, there are plenty in a size 14 on Vinted

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/4077613979-hobbs-dress

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/4074714360-hobbs-green-sz14-a-line-front-pleat-dress

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/4090984371-brand-new-hobbs-dress

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/4091468200-hobbs-long-sleeved-navy-dress

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/4082891343-navy-stretch-dress

https://www.hobbs.com/product/clemence-dress/0223-5923-9324L00-GREEN-CREAM.html#navAjax=true&imageType=model&is=true&sz=60&start=60&srule=price-low-to-high&cgid=sale-clothing-dresses&isSecondPage=false&pid=0223-5923-9324L00-GREEN-CREAM&pos=93

I've just got this in the sale and it's very flattering and comfortable plus it looks smart.

It depends on the industry

I work in a corporate role, but i wouldn't wear what I wore for my interview as I work from home the majority of the time.

Completely agree, they are dated and too frumpy for a mid 30 year old

I'm in a corporate job, and clothes have changed over time, more casual and so much better. I hated those dresses and always felt frumpy in them but I wore them as everyone else did ( 10 plus years ago)

Nowadays when I go into the office , I will typcially wear smart jeans and top or jumper in winter. For customer meetings I'll typically wear a pair of tailored trousers with a nice blouse, always flat shoes.

Obviously this might not be the case at the place you are interviewing, but in general I think business wear is becomming more casual. If it was me, I'd be wearing a pair of tailored trousers and light coloured shirt or blouse, I don't think you can go wrong with that, but OP has said she doesn't like trousers

This looks good for an interview. Do you have a smart jacket?

I would do eBay or vinted for classic work wear

Yes Hobbs, LK Bennett, Phase 8, M&S etc are not particularly contemporary any more but they are not terrible, just a bit staid and this is ideal for interview imo.

I wore a Hobbs dress to my last interview 2 years ago. I paid £25 on eBay.

I have a collection of secondhand jackets that I mixed and matched with outfits. None were more than £40. There's literally no need to spend £££ on work wear. It's a woman tax.

That dress, either the short sleeved or the long sleeved version is the nicest and most sensible option. That is of course just my opinion, but I'm senior management in a sector which used to be very formal but even pre Covid was becoming less so. And I interview potential employees.

Obviously it shouldn't matter what an otherwise excellent candidate is wearing but if I were interviewing a candidate who was wearing that dress, I'd think they had made an effort and presented smartly. Same, if a junior employee wore that dress to meet a client.

If someone turned up in some of these pencil skirt dresses I'd wonder if they'd mistakenly thought the Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader movie Secretary were real life.

Do you have a John Lewis near you with a free personal stylist service? Found it amazing for workwear with no time or energy to traipse round or return endless online purchases. You just tell them your budget and they bring you loads of stuff to try on including things that look lovely but you might not have chosen yourself. I ended up going over budget and bought a pair of classic Hobbs smart trousers, Jersey whistles jacket, a few JL blouses and low wedge comfy suede heels which look really smart together or can be dressed up or down. I wear these items ALL the time so it was worth it!

It’s horses for courses. The one in your link would make me look like a sack of potatoes whereas the pencil skirt dresses would flatter my figure. And as they are on sale in multiple outlets currently they are clearly not as dated as you are portraying.

For a senior role, personally I think Matalan, supermarket brands or very cheap high street are all no gos. Mid range high street and above from their workwear ranges are all fine. Obviously no one wants to see boobs or thighs from a senior professional but I was baffled by the poster who thought a visible zip was too risqué for work 😂. I’ve got a couple of dresses with this feature which I regularly wear to court and they are completely decorous!

Sorry I've been away for half term.

Thank you to everyone who posted links, I will have a good look at them.

Yes I do have interview jackets/blazers I could wear in black, navy or neural.

I'm equally "baffled" that anyone could think the tight purple dress with the front split and the garish zip is suitable. It's not the zip itself but the combination with the tightness and the split together.

Posters have said the Finery dresses are good quality, they look far better quality than that purple zipped thing. The pencil dresses suggested were far more down market in style and price.

Not sure why "flattering your figure" is more important than looking smartly dressed for work. If someone turned up for an interview in those pencil dresses as modelled I'd wonder why they were wearing clothes which were too small.

As for "dated" not sure where you are but I haven't seen that style of dress for years -at any age or career level.

I’m didn’t particularly like the purple one either but not because it had a visible zip was my point.

I wouldn’t look smartly dressed in the dowdy sack like number. Maybe others with a different figure would but I’d look like I had turned to to clean the offices! It’s also possible to wear a fitted dress that isn’t too small.

Given how widely available fitted dresses are to buy in mainstream shops, clearly lots of us are still wearing them. They may not be to your personal taste but I seriously doubt most sensible interviewers would discount a candidate who chose to wear one. I’m a London based lawyer in a highly regarded company so not a yokel in a backwater several decades behind the rest of the country - though I am older than the OP to be fair.

Just had a look on some of the designer/high end high street websites for women’s office wear

Ted Baker, Hugo Boss, J Crew - at least half the dresses are shifts with pencil skirts. A lot more women than just me are buying these shapes and wearing them to work!