Wednesday 14 October 2015

A work wardrobe for Autumn

This Monday I'm making the transition from unemployed graduate to working woman as I start a full-time job. Being a t-shirts and skinny jeans sort of girl I didn't have much in my wardrobe that fits the 'business casual' dress code that I'll be following so I've been trawling the shops to find cute pieces to wear to the office. A lot of the styles that are in this season tend to go one way or the other: half of the tops are sleeveless and the other half are cosy jumpers, neither of which are really what I wanted, so I was starting to despair a little. Luckily I was able to catch the bus up to Edinburgh today though and God bless Primark for having plenty of cute blouses and tops for me to choose from! Here's what I picked up (excuse the lighting and the blurriness of some of my pictures!):

Red checked Peter Pan collar t-shirt, £6.00
I thought this top was really cute, it's more or less a t-shirt so it's comfortable but it has a sweet tartan print and a Peter Pan collar which I really like. This style is available in another print, black with white swallows, but I thought this was more colourful and sophisticated.

Double pocket shirt, £10.00
I wanted a white shirt but not one that made me feel like I was back in my school uniform, so this is perfect. I thought the black details were really striking and I really like the gold buttons. 

Supersoft V-neck jumper, £6.00
I grabbed this jumper in both this deep red and black when I first entered the store but in the fitting room I decided to go for the coloured version, which looks brighter in person. I like this colour which comes around every Autumn and a jumper like this will come in handy for commuting on colder days.

Cut & sew top in grey, £7.00
There are variations of this top in most of the high-street stores, often in baby pink which white lace (which Primark also has) but I'm still a teen goth at heart so I went for the grey version instead. The lace has really cute daisies and even though the top is sheer I think it'll be quite warm for winter.

Sleeveless lace Peter Pan collar blouse, £6.00
This is my favourite of all the pieces I picked up today, it's just so pretty! It's hard to see from the picture but the top is white lace, front and back, with another Peter Pan collar. I'm already thinking about getting camisoles in different colours to wear underneath this. 

Classic canvas black shoes and black slipper shoes, both £6.00
The Chuck Taylor style shoes aren't for work but I had an old New Look pair which I just had to throw out and I wear them a lot so I needed a replacement. They're half the price of my previous pair, which themselves are half the price of a Converse pair so I'm happy with the bargain.
I don't wear pumps at all because I find that they don't stay on my feet. Over the last few days I've tried shoes on in almost every store in town and I couldn't find a pair that fit me at all. These slipper-style shoes are the best that I've found so hopefully they'll serve me well - if not I'll be off to work in pretty dresses and chunky boots like my 90s faves from Beverly Hills 90210!

Stretch cami in black, £1.80, & long sleeve stretch scoop neck top in slate, £3.50
A lot of the tops above are sheer so I picked up a black camisole to wear underneath - I'd have taken a white one too but there was only one size left and sadly it wasn't mine. 
I bought another of these long-sleeve tops on a previous visit in another colour (purple with black stars printed on) and it's serving me well so I picked up another in this more neutral shade today. 
There are lots of colour options for both of these styles, as well as vests and t-shirts, so plenty to choose from!

Lace trim socks, £1.00; invisible socks (2 pairs), £1.50; cotton rich socks (5 pairs), £2.00
I know this looks like a lot of black socks but I swear they're all different. I bought the 'invisible' socks last time I was in and I wear them a lot so it turned out that 2 pairs wasn't enough.
I didn't have any regular black socks to wear with my transparent rain boots or on days when I don't want my socks to be obvious so I picked up a plain pack.
Finally I was passing a sale basket when I spotted the black-on-black lace trim socks that I've admired for a while so I treated myself since they were on sale. I love the juxtaposition of the feminine lace with studded creepers or other thick shoes but I only have lacy socks in pastel and white shades so now I have something more goth to wear too.

I also had a look in H&M but I didn't see any clothes that I loved, just these cute necklaces:

Choker, £1.99 and necklaces, £9.99
I like to wear necklaces but most of the ones I own are band merchandise and they're not really work-friendly. I really like the 90s chokers that are back in style just now, I've been wearing one of the woven ones almost every day for the last few weeks so I wanted a little more variety. The necklace on the left is velvet with a little gold charm, they also had styles with different colours and charms but this was my favourite.
There were a couple of the sets of necklaces to choose from and I almost went for the other one which had different charms but instead I opted for the one above. The five necklaces are all separate but they go together: there's a choker, a diamante-encrusted eye on a leather string, a tiny arrowhead on a silver chain, a piece of turquoise on a braided leather string and a gold peace sign on a long chain. The four pendants are all really dainty which should mean I can wear them with anything and in any combination, and I really like them all so I think they were a good buy.


NME, free; Harpers Bazaar US edition, £4.95
Finally, although they're not clothing, I also picked up these magazines today. I'm not a city girl so I've not been able to get my hands on NME since it became a free publication so I'm looking forward to seeing the changes that have taken place since I last bought it.
I like to flick through the proper fashion magazines and make collages with my favourite pictures so every time I'm in Edinburgh I go into Waterstones to look at their magazine section - the Princes St branch is the only one I've come across that stocks magazines and they have a selection that I can't find anywhere else. They didn't have US Vogue, which I like at this time of year because it often has 1000 pages, so I went for Harpers Bazaar instead which is also thick with gorgeous pictures... plus it mentioned Kendall & Kylie on the cover and I unashamedly keep up with the Kardashians. I'm looking forward to flicking through both of these in bed later.

So now I think I have everything I need to start work next week, I'm excited about starting a new adventure especially after having been largely inactive since I finished Uni. Hopefully I'll still have time to blog, but if not at least you know I'll be well-dressed!







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