What's the most you'd spend on work wardrobe items?

[Ancientdecs]

Like for example blazer, trousers, shoes, bag individually. Hearing people's dress code too would be interesting.

NO judgment btw, whether it's very little or a whole ton. I'm looking at having to RTO after a long time so am curious. I don't really have the spare money to get anything but am also telling self I have years' worth of money saved on not needing work clothes (this isn't true).

I love Paul Smith as I find his clothes don't really date, and even if they do I still love them. And they last for ages, as they are good quality. The same with Agnès B.

I have some things from PS that I bought full price, and recently have bought some super things from Vinted for almost nothing. It helps that I'm slim, and small, I think, as I suspect the almost unworn things I'm buying were grown out of, and they suit me because they are close fitting- I'm too small to look good in baggy things.

So recently I've been wearing jackets at work again, encouraged by having a French colleague who always wears suits...

Thanks to Vinted I can see from my old records that I spent more £ on clothes in the 1980s when I wore suits by Edina Ronay, Jaeger, and various other brands the names of which escape me now.

Just as balance because this thread has attracted smart/professional people, I’m a lecturer in a creative subject and spend nothing like that. I tend to buy things and transition them into my work wardrobe once I’ve got fed up wearing them for not-work. I work four days, one from home and three on campus.

This week my campus days I have worn:

Wide leg navy/white gingham trousers - Uniqlo
White tee - Arket
Grey alpaca cardi - &OS
Navy NB trainers

Black Levi’s 90s 501 jeans
Stripy b/w long sleeve top - Cos
Black and white Adidas Samba trainers

Leopard print jeans - Lucy and Yak
White tee - &OS
Grey sweatshirt - &OS
White Adidas Samba trainers

So higher end high street I guess? Worn with jewellery from Oliver Bonas, Monica Vinader, Rachel Jackson type brands, bags from Cos, Arket, Anthropologie this week which is pretty standard. Whistles leather jacket which was £££ but cost per wear is a bargain!

Could be anything as long it is stretch and comfy
Colours, styles and fashions do not play role in my job, thought I am gearing to slim my bum and have a nice 10 bum going into the Halara trousers and having a very glam stretch shirt also , so I feel great even in my nmw job

My office has a ‘business attire’ dress code which specifically prohibits denim, trainers, casual sandals and sportswear.
My work wardrobe is entirely from the high street, although I am in a back office role and I do not have any customer or external stakeholder contact. I also hybrid work and only attend the office twice a week.

As an example, this week I wore a satin-y black and white striped blouse with wide leg trousers, both from H&M and £15 each, black slingbacks from Next (£40) and my black tote bag from Coach that I’ve had for a few years and I think was £130 in the sale.

When we went back to work after COVID I needed a few items for work in a bigger size . I went into Jigsaw and bought a black Merino jumper and black wool cigarette trousers for a total of £200, my whole budget. (Not from the sale rail for once). I've had so much wear from those good quality basic items. I don't learn my lesson very well but clothes I've chosen properly rather than comprising often work out to be most useful.

Dress code is smart casual btw, I wear either very dark jeans and clean/smart trainers with a blouse or thin jumper, or tailored trousers and brogues with a simple top. Or a coloured smart cardigan over a black t shirt.

I spend quite a lot on work wear - partly because I am in new a tough senior position and want to look impeccable and untouchable, to be frank. I want to express expertise and togetherness in my clothing. I do buy some staples from the Fold (but not the Kate Middleton style dresses from there, which I agree are a bit dated), and a lot from Max Mara. For trousers, say $500 or up, blouses and sweaters, say $300 up, dresses $500 plus, then more for coats, bags, and shoes.

Certainly I was wearing tailored suits in the early 2000s as were all my colleagues. I do still wear suits - if the definition is clothes worn of the same fabric designed to be worn together. They’re just not as black as they used to be.

some great suggestions for places to shop here. I’d not heard of Piazza Sempione.

and I’d forgotten about Paul Smith, there was a time not long before Covid when I was permanently in terminal 5 and so half my wardrobe consisted of PS!

Gosh for work I wouldn’t spend more than £20 per item - possibly my coat I might go up to £60 or my bag I may go up to £30.
I do have high volume of clothes and I rotate tops and skirts/trousers daily so rarely wear the same outfit twice over a fortnight period. I couldn’t bear to wear the same outfits all the time so couldn’t cope with high cost/low volume items.
Every day, I get at minimum of 2-3 compliments about my clothes so I’m happy to keep doing what I’m doing. I thought by my age, 52, I would have loved on to higher quality but tbh, the higher cost clothes have terrible vanity sizing and don’t fit me/swamp me as I’m only 5 ft 3 and size 6.

I find Russell & Bromley are fairly reliable in terms of quality, if you're looking for mid-range shoe brands.

For work shoes (like classy loafers or moccasin type things - not ballet flats I refuse) - are any brands more comfortable / well made than others?

I wear Sophia Webster butterfly flats pretty much everyday. i have them in lots of colours and always get compliments on them. They are however pointy ballet flats so maybe not for you. Customer service is pretty much best in the world.

Catching up with all the responses but so grateful for everyone's POV and input and suggestions. Women's work wardrobes over the last 30 years is a really fascinating topic for me, I absolutely love hearing people's approaches.

I like more capsule wardrobe approaches myself, have experimented with both sides of the spectrum (many times) across office and wfh and at this time in my life it's definitely capsule where I'm at (but not super super limited).

Oh and can people keep sharing their favourite brands and outfit combos I can't get enough of them!

I have been really taken with Cos this season, a few years ago I stopped bothering as it all looked too wide and flappy and not serious but the Knitwear this season - maybe they have a new designer or something but I just love it.

Agreed... I would never pay £100-200 for a pair of trousers!

I tend to wear a lot of H&M, an awful lot. I also buy dress bundles from Ebay often as you can get quality items you wouldn't necessarily see. I certainly am never 'in season'.

If, as you say OP, your workplace seems casual, I would have a look on the high street as there's lovely things at a fraction of the price. Charity shops can be an absolute lifesaver - I have a few White Stuff dresses which I'm complemented on often and they cost me £8 each!

Good luck - I hope the return goes as well as it can!

@Ancientdecs you might like the book “the curated closet” it was recommended on here and I’ve really enjoyed it, it’s definitely helping me edge closer to a capsule wardrobe. Which I really need, at least in part because it simplifies the work trip packing that is creeping up post covid.

5 years ago I had metres of wardrobe space bursting at the seams, but I’ve started tracking all my outfits on Whering and I’ve fast come to conclusion that I don’t need anywhere near as much as I have.

for example I have about 50 blouses. This is absurd. There are about 220 working days a year and I do less than 100 in the office. That means I get to wear each blouse twice per year. There’s a spectrum of how much I like my blouses from love to this will do in a pinch. Buying the least liked 50% was an error. Keeping them is an absolute waste of space

I only came to this conclusion by tracking what I wear. It’s been a revelation

Fascinating, @DancingNotDrowning! Having outlined my comparative profligacy when it comes to work clothes (for any of my several careers) I am miserly with home clothes. I currently own a single hoodie, the second I’ve bought in my life, and I didn’t buy it until the first had become shoe polishing cloths. This morning I ordered another one, and have been troubled with mild guilt all day - though it cost the price of a pizza, pudding and a glass of wine at a modest pub.

Mention of Piazza Sempione brought back memories. I think I recall regularly trying on some of their clothes when I used to shop at Wardrobe in Conduit Street - but I’d had my head turned by Jil Sander while working in Brussels, so couldn’t be coaxed out of that habit. Much like the Gucci + Zara style a pp mentioned above, I mixed JS with Marks &S, during a golden era when each might conceivably have been mistaken for the other if worn together.

But oh, @Ruthietuthie, impeccable and untouchable is exactly it. Exactly.

The FT today has an A-Z of London tailors.

https://www.ft.com/content/5636fac6-a767-4979-8567-fa5575312265

Some are charging £8k for a made to measure (men’s) suit. And yet women are still made to feel reckless and extravagant when they come to S&B with a budget of £100 …

@DisneyHag and being miserly with home clothes is the other side of my conundrum: tonnes to wear in the office and at home, where after all I spend most of my time, i shlepped about in crappy yoga pants and cheap knits. To the point that a couple of years ago one of the DC asked me to make sure I was wearing my work clothes to some event or other.

i binned the worst of it and have replaced it with a heavy weight Derek Lam wrap cardigan and a Reiss cashmere hoodie. I feel so much better.

Sorry, that was supposed to say since the 90s. In places that I've worked, office wear has become increasingly casual. Hence, I don't feel the need to have a work wardrobe which is separate from my non work wardrobe, as I might have done years ago. I never buy clothes that are specifically for work.

That said, I'm not really the sort of person who would walk around in a hoodie anyway. I don't even understand the purpose of the hood on a jumper, it would drive me nuts. I wonder whether people actually sit around at home with a hood up 🤔

My comfortable maximum per item is £40-45, and if it's more than £25 I have to really like it. If it doesn't meet every criteria in terms of fit, colour, quality, suitability for setting, co-ordinating with other items, I will not buy it at all unless truly desperate.

This stems from me refusing to admit that the 90s are over, in terms of cost/quality, and leads to an embarrassingly sparse and worn out wardrobe. Ironically in the 90s I could spend £300/month on clothes meeting this criteria whereas now it's more like £300 per year because I don't have much time to shop and not much fits the bill.

When I have a work event (or other social event) I end up piling hundreds on the credit card to order various options then returning 90%. I wish I'd had a crystal ball in the 90s and I'd just have bought enough clothes for the rest of my life!

PS I'm in wide leg trousers, ankle boots or ballet pumps, a fitted top blouse or jumper and ideally a smart coat/jacket but mine are all falling apart.

I work in the City, on the smarter side of things, but still like a bit of personality.

I get my separates from The Fold, Max Mara, Joseph, Reiss, Russell and Bromley (shoes) Aspinal (bags) Like a PP, I have moved into a senior role and my clothes are part of my armour (but I have also always loved clothes). Things are mostly tweaked at the seamstress so they fit perfectly.

Am a fabric fiend, so everything is cashmere, silk, merino as far as possible and I have a fondness for a brocade / jacquard.

Typical outfits:

Poloneck / silk shirt / t shirt
Mid-calf pencil skirt (wool, leather, jacquard)
Boots or pointed flat slingbacks
Blazer (could be plain wool, but also jacquard or silk)

Poloneck / silk shirt / t shirt
Dark but colored suit (burnt orange, teal, burgundy)
Brogues or pointed flat slingbacks

Poloneck / silk shirt etc
Cigarette trousers
Blazer (as above)
Brogues or slingbacks

Jewellery is kept pretty simple and delicate, but I will on occasion wear a brooch. Colours: autumnal. Cream, browns, oranges, greens, burgundy, navy. Fair bit of black too.

Coats are where I like to add a bit of drama. Woollen capes, cocoon coats, huge collars etc. From Max Mara, Nili Lotan, Jigsaw.

And although I didn't directly answer your question, I think it can be inferred from my brands/list above that I am willing to spend quite a bit on each item of clothing (my one luxury. Well, that and my cats. And books (though the last less than it used to be thanks to an excellent local library!).

@LaLand234, your outfit descriptions sound gorgeous. And (as the previous poster I think you are referring to) I love your idea of "clothing as armor." That's exactly how I feel as I dress for work.
I also am like you on fabrics.
I wonder, if you had three words to describe your style, what would they be? (You've probably heard of the "three words" idea - I am struggling to find mine, hence wondering about yours). Thank you!

@Ruthietuthie you were indeed the PP I meant! Your post definitely resonated with me.

I have come across the 3 words thing, but not properly considered. Mine would probably include "sculptural" or "dramatic" (I love an interesting silhouette and aspire to incorporate more of what I own in this regard into my workwear), "tailored" (characterises most of my individual pieces) and "powerful" or "assertive" (which is how I aim to feel in my outfits - and usually do, even when dressed casually).