Friday I am going out for lunch, part business, more pleasure. This weekend I am working on Saturday, out on Saturday night. Next week the children break up and I am taking us on a week’s part teaching, more fun, holiday. The children will go to their age groups and I will go to talks and seminars. What to wear and how to strike a balance between jeans which are not necessarily appropriate plus lack imagination, and work clothes which can feel too formal in a less formal setting of a teaching marquee in the middle of a field…?
When I got up this morning I had planned on wearing the newly renamed Albermarle dress. But the sun is shining, it’s Friday, it’s been a long week and lunch is with a colleague who I used to work with 20 years ago (!). I need something stylish but comfortable, I want to look super-chic but lunch is in a gastro-pub so I need to be appropriate for my environment. Then this afternoon is back to work in the studio, pick children up from school and then out for drinks in the evening and I won’t have time to change.
Fashion needs to give us these choices, clothes need to dress us, cover us up, keep us warm. But they also need to seduce us, charm us, make us feel alive. So while the inner weekend in me wants to wear something like this:
…I’m starting to feel a little overwhelmed with the logistics of it all, never mind the people dynamic. At this point the reckless in me says just throw some diamonds and a bit of red lipstick at it and you can’t go wrong, but actually you can so let’s dissect the situation a little and get us both sorted.
Firstly Friday through to Monday is a different mood even if you are at work or working in some way or another. It’s getting that difficult balance between smart and slouchy isn’t it? The Pearl dress is a great starting point for building a relaxed work look:
You need to jazz it up a little, but keep it informal with perhaps a decorated or embroidered cardi:
Keep shoes and jewellery playful but not too full-on. There is still a work element involved. These two set of ear-ring from Alexandra May strike the tone perfectly:
