How can I accessorise this dress for a formal office?

[FiveMetresUp]

Hi everyone, I am currently job hunting and had an interview in a very formal setting. I have this dress arriving today and I am wondering - if I am lucky enough to get the job - how I could accessorise this dress with a jacket, shoes, etc. to make it suitable for the office.

Does anybody have any ideas please? I really love the dress and want it to work.

It not a formal dress. If it’s a proper formal office then this isn’t the loon

I disagree. It’s a modest length, has sleeves and a modest neckline. If it’s the dress I think it is then it’s a fairly structured fabric, not floaty.

OP you will need decent shoes. I’d go for navy suede pointed toe heels, or smart pointed flats if you don’t want heels. And a navy blazer. That would look perfectly fine in my office.

I would avoid any open toe shoes and cardigans. Also if it’s remotely see through wear a slip.

But your window to wear this is definitely only summer.

I agree with the first post - this isn’t a formal dress for the office. It’s a lovely dress but isn’t tailored and is far too unstructured to be formal.

@Drivingmissrangey it's from Hobbs.

Agree with all of this.

Yes to heels and a blazer
cardigans are not as smart and don’t give off the formal vibe at all.

Would these shoes work: https://www.davidjones.com/product/edward-meller-chanelle65-pump-with-trim-28444195?colorId=3158493

Where do you work that women are routinely wearing heels and blazers?

Here's the dress. I don't think it's office wear for either a formal work wear or casual work wear. It's quite a dressy dress but garden party/ lunch/ social event.

Op has said it’s a formal setting

I’d always dress a level up for an interview. Even if it was a casual-wear office.

I love yellow and think it’s a lovely dress, but hard to get right without looking frumpy. I’d agree that navy shoes and blazer would work (as long as they’re not dated), or maybe a cropped black boxy jacket with pointed flats. Not ballet shoes, or you’d look twee.

It's not a work dress.

Navy blazer would look terrible over that dress. Really dated.

I agree it would be very easy to get wrong, and hard to get right. A slim line blazer and navy patent courts with tights would look dowdy; an oversized blazer and a kitten heel might just work.

I was thinking this cardigan and these shoes:

https://www.net-a-porter.com/en-au/shop/product/arch4/clothing/v-neck/marisol-cashmere-cardigan/46376663163064116
https://www.net-a-porter.com/en-au/shop/product/gucci/shoes/mid-heel/signora-horsebit-embellished-leather-sandals/46376663163084466

You've jumped the shark.

Yup.

Not those exact items, but that style,
But I think I have my answer - too casual for a formal office. I will save the dress for outside of work.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

I've never really quite understood the phrase "jumping the shark" - maybe because I've never heard anyone using it in real life! I always have to look up what it means & it still never quite makes sense to me, so I forget - & then have to look it up again ...!

Does it mean, in this sense, that the OP has gone too far with those suggestions as they ruin any appeal the dress has? Because they're so conventional?

I didn't think it was too casual from the first photo - I thought it was a very simple conventional dress that would fit in fine in a formal office (assuming it's law, finance or similar).

However, having looked it up, it's the bow that's the issue. It makes it look both more old-fashioned & more suitable as a wedding dress guest. Not less formal/smart as such as I don't think it's casual in any sense - it's just the wrong kind of formal/smart as the bow lends it a girlish vibe.

However, would it work tied to lie flat at the front? Definitely not at the back.

I don't think it would work with black, & navy might be too heavy & dull with it too. Both the cardigan & shoes you suggested, OP, look very heavy & old-fashioned, & the shoes too clunky.

I don't especially like the cream woven loafers in the first photo, per se - but they do work with the dress & are smart. What about a cream jacket & flat/kitten-heeled shoes/mules/closed-toe sandals? Does it have to be heels?

A jacket that picked up the yellow of the dress, but contained other tones, would work. Something like this Boden one, in terms of the fabric.

https://www.boden.com/products/women-salisbury-puff-sleeve-jacket-multi-u0455chk

It would look rather conventional with that dress (although the shoulder detail & check do shift it slightly away from the usual faux tweedy Chanel-y jackets that abound), but I'm assuming that's what you'd prefer?

Or you could do similar with your footwear - something with yellow in it that gives you other colours to accessorise with too. Like these - also Boden. You could even wear them together ...!

https://www.johnlewis.com/boden-woven-leather-slingback-flats-multi/p115202458?size=6&s_ppc=2dx_mixed_fashion_BAU&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20151161232&gbraid=0AAAAAD2el1z9cnQHi7gPsPwOZy_xSh3wp&gclid=Cj0KCQjwp9vTBhCWARIsANaUrjs22PdFgWpvd5b-sD8l_V7mqCKRZatF7Ktso2tJ_AS10PZa0jp_N_EaAmkYEALw_wcB

Where do you work that women are routinely wearing heels and blazers?

Anyone senior in professional services, law or private equity.

Definitely not a black cardigan OP, for any occasion.

Yes, exactly where I am. And I'm not seeing blazers and high heels

Wrong.

How do blazers work with those wide short sleeves? I'd imagine the sleeve getting rucked up under the shoulders.