Work clothes

[Gill4299]

Does anyone have any suggestions of the best place to shop for work clothes? I have got myself a new job, in a corporate environment. I am fat with large hips and chunky legs, fat knees and fat ankles. At home I always wear trousers as that is what I am comfortable with. I can wear smart trousers for work and a blouse but then what type of shoes do you wear with that? Do you wear socks? I don’t do high heels either so it has to be flats. Any suggestions what looks smart? And where best to shop? All the magazines etc are for skinny models and even the ones with fat models have got nice ankles and legs! Help!!

The corporate environment has changed hugely in the last 2 years - in my area of finance it's basically business casual every day we are in the office (which is in itself still only 2-3 days a week). I wear a "uniform" of blouse, jeans, flats/trainers - sometimes with a blazer, sometimes a jumper. My colleagues run the gamut of wafty midi dresses with trainers to chinos and a gilet.

Have you visited the office? What was everyone wearing when you interviewed?

And just to address the shoe point, I cycle between 3 pairs of trainers, 1 pair timberland boat shoes, 1 pair chelsea boots. Female colleagues wear brogues, penny loafers, or even Toms. Mostly without socks or no-show socks but sometimes a coloured or patterned sock under smarter trousers.

Thanks for the advice Xiaoxiong, I’ll have a look at the different types of shoes you mention. I did the interview over Zoom, so I haven’t been to the office yet, and I was so stressed during the interview I don’t remember what the interview panel were wearing. I had a smart blouse on but my casual trousers and no shoes as they would only see my top half! 😋

We have a vast range of business wear in our office - some people are dressed to the nines, some look like they crawled out of a charity donation bag full of things the charity would bin! Most are somewhere in between, our top team are all smart casual and only wear suits for very formal occasions.

I would have a good smart outfit for your first day and then look at what others are wearing - personally I'd never wear jeans or trainers to work without checking everyone else is too.

I favour a jersey dress and either flat sandals/shoes in the summer or boots in the winter - I'm senior management so I get to set the trends 😉. I'm a firm believer that wearing certain clothes does not make me better at my job!

I find Hobbs really good for formal suiting. They seem to cut realistically for actual women.

I agree with those who say you may not need suits. But if you - like me - do, then that’s’ where I’d start.