How to create a wardrobe of flexi-wear clothes
Flexi-wear is a great strategy for early Autumn/Fall fashion is to choose clothes that will straddle the seasons and be flexible enough to take you from the beginning of September to the end of December and even beyond into the new year.
With the huge changes that we have experienced this year with working from home, not going into the office, working remotely from our colleagues and living and working in the same environment our working wardrobe has necessarily also had a sea change. The outfits that we once wore daily were discarded in favour of much more relaxed dresses and quite often a softer, but no less professional, look.
What is flexi-wear?
Flexi-wear clothes are clothes that are multifunctional. They can be worn casual and relaxed or styled up for the evening. Flexi-wear clothes can be worn at home to work in and go into the office with. They are smart and professional enough for a client lunch or board meeting, and you can meet your girlfriends for a drink in them too. Flexi-wear is neither completely tailored, nor completely casual. It’s somewhere inbetween, and it’s on the rise. We think it’s going to be a good new normal and this blog post is all about how to start to transition your wardrobe to flexi-wear.
Working Frocks dresses that transition from September to December
Working Frocks has created a selection of dresses that will do just that: be flexible and take you right through the seasons. You can start September in sandals and a cardigan and still be wearing the dress with boots, tights, coat and scarf in January. The dresses are suitable for work, work video calls, and are comfortable enough to sit and work in at home, but stylish enough to feel that you are professional and dressed for work.
This is the way things will go. Undoubtedly we will return to office life, and many of us miss seeing our colleagues each day, but increasingly women will be looking for flexi-wear clothes.
So, flexi-wear clothing will help you straddle the seasons as well as navigate the new home work situations that we find ourselves in.
Treat autumn/fall as a season and have the right clothes to wear
Pulling together a wardrobe of clothes, some from summer, with a few pieces of lighter-weight autumn/fall wear is a sensible and workable solution to early autumn/fall. With a few pointers (see below) you can easily transition your wardrobe to adapt to the new season, as well as transition it too a great flexi-wear approach.
Here is a general list of how to create a working wardrobe, newly flexi-wear, for early fall/autumn. The list will help you transition into cooler weather but at the same time provide clothes for those lovely warm days that are still ahead.
How to create a flexi-wear working wardrobe for early autumn/fall
Use these pointers to transition your wardrobe into early autumn/fall, and create a truly flexi-wear wardrobe.
- Remove obvious high summer pieces, (wash them and store them).
- Acknowledge that the season won’t change much immediately but you can make small shifts now.
- Because the season won’t change much right now, don’t anticipate going into all black, tights and heavy knitwear immediately.
- Grooming – sort your hair / sort your make up / decide on your choices of nail varnish. Does your hair look great for the beach, but not so great for a work context? Those highlights that have been bleached by the sun, and which are growing out, may look tousled and relaxed when you’re in the garden, but you might benefit from a slightly more groomed look for returning to work. Hair, eyebrows and nails are three easy ways to look instantly groomed, so if you’re feeling a little washed out spend a little time on those three categories and see how they make you feel instantly better.
- It’s useful to create an early September timeline for yourself of what you can continue to wear: Keep out neutrals – white teeshirts, black/beige linen trousers / anything in pale grey / stone. Write them out to remind you of what you’ve got that is perfect to wear now.
- Jewellery – put away the more obvious pieces such as large hoop earrings, summer style bangles. Rework your jewellery and wear a new selection for the new season.
- For work – don’t go into heavy wear (see above) – Wear short ,sleek, or sleeveless pieces – you can wear them with a jacket or coat later in the season. Wear lighter fabrics. Alternatives to a coat could be a leather jacket or denim jacket, so wear those on cooler days.
Five more pointers…
- Neutral colours – white grey, black are perfect. Note, I mean black dresses not black tights or heavy knitwear at this stage. Neutral colours don’t look too summery or too wintery.
- No black tights. Nude tights or bare legs at this stage are the way to go. Stick to bare legs as long as you are able, it will make you hold on to summer longer. Keep them sleek with moisturiser, maybe with a touch of colour or shimmer.
- Simple silhouettes look good at this time of year. Save more complicated outfits and silhouettes for later in the season. Don’t pile on “stuff”, just maybe a lightweight scarf or pashmina and keep your jewellery uncluttered.
- From your existing autumn/fall winter wardrobe only wear the lighter-weight clothes – pick a few choice pieces and introduce the rest slowly – remember February is still 5 months away.
- Have designated early autumn/fall outfits show from collection eg white dress, sandals, jacket or grey draped dress and brooch and shoes. Create two or three outfits that you can wear without much thought.
If you only do one of the above at this stage do the last one. Have designated early autumn/fall outfits ready to wear that will cope with the warmth of a summer’s day or be able to cope with a cooler day.
