As I write this from my lockdown office (my living room), I’m thinking back to the main trigger for the love of a fashion based business. It was me sitting in the office and at meetings, dressed in a suit. So, when I first entered the corporate world, I was quite uptight about how I should dress. Shirt, trousers/skirt and matching jacket…hair tidy. I must’ve looked like I was going for an interview every day! In the summer it was uncomfortable (please someone invent something to take away sweat!), plus I HAD to wear tights because I was so self-conscious. In the winter, I was cold because I didn’t have a coat that would fit over the top of my jacket (not a nice one anyway – not for a while at least).

I soon realised that I looked like a blob of solder waiting to weld with the rest of my colleagues. Visiting some of the larger client’s offices and being faced with the same navy, grey, pinstripe ensembles really started to get on my nerves! I still have pinstripe in my wardrobe by the way, so I do like it.

How did I change this? 

I remember going home one weekend (I lived away during the week for my first corporate job) and deciding I was going shopping the next day and taking control of my style. Now, I don’t think this is that easy, you really need to look inwards and understand what you are comfortable in. Obviously, I couldn’t just rock up in jeans, so don’t forget the rules (well, sometimes). Here’s what I remember buying: 2 waistcoats, a blouse or two (that weren’t button ups – ooh pushing the boat out), trousers and a skirt. No matchy matchy items. I can tell you now, it was liberating. From that point, I developed this obsession with waistcoats, I’ve even made a couple myself. So, the waistcoats replaced the matching jackets and my style was announced! I found my swing on smart casual.

How is that smart casual?

Basically, I started wearing the waistcoats to go out in or just with jeans. I also realised at this point that by now I knew exactly how to dress for work, including power dressing for meetings. But I had no idea how to dress in my personal life as my wardrobe was probably 90% work! Sounds ridiculous, but I bet whatever it is you do most of the time-wise, that is reflected in your wardrobe. 

It was then that I started drawing designs because I just knew I, a) wanted to design, b) wanted to build a fashion brand and c) wanted to help other women in my predicament. Over the years, the passion just escalated but I sort of parked the idea because how on earth does a twenty something start a business? Things are different nowadays, but there’s timing in everything.

I know waistcoats are missing from my collection but it’s something that is on my mind constantly and with this enforced downtime, I’m not letting the idea go. Smart casual is my favourite cup of tea and I have been called the ‘Queen of Smart Casual’! I’ll take that, thank you. 

So, wear your smart and casual together and you can’t go wrong (unless you’re at a black tie event – then you may be asked to leave). The whole point is you can take lunch in a lovely restaurant, then go and meet your best friend for coffee. It covers both ends of that scale. 

But what’s the scale? That’s the next update.

Image by Thomas William on Unsplash