High end workwear on a budget

[PrincessDani90]

Now back to working from an office instead WFH after 8 years, need some staples. Aged 30s, 5'1 size 6-8 what does everyone wear these days? Smart casual dress code. On a budget. Shoes and bag recommendations also welcome. Thanks in advance

I'm field based (and have been for 20+ years) and my new company's office seems quite casual compared to what I experienced pre-Covid, so apologies in advance if I'm a bit wide of the mark.

Primark has a really nice range in bigger stores called The Edit, in fact you can often get the stuff on click and collect on website. I've had blazers / t shirts / dresses from here that are surprisingly good quality.

Wider leg / slouchy silhouette seems to still be fashionable, but I am seeing a bit of the 'office siren' on tik tok which seems to be more fitted / boot cut. In my office wide cropped trousers and oversized knitwear with trainers / flats seem popular.

I get a lot of my smarter stuff for when I'm not working at home from Zara & H&M. I'm customer facing so go a bit smarter so will often wear a blazer and trouser (but never matching suits anymore), or knit / blouse with smarter trousers (often wide leg but have some peg leg / cropped / slim khakis) and a Mac. Low heels, pointed flats or ankle boots with dresses.

There's lots of interesting trouser shapes about at min so I think it helps look a bit more modern. And I've had good dresses from H&M & Sainsburys recently. I tend to wear shirt dresses rather than anything more fitted but that suits my role / amount of driving I do.

Join H&M vip - saves me a fortune. And trawl Zara sale, not paid full price for any of my work stuff from there.

I buy whistles stuff on Vinted, also M&S has some great stuff in at the moment