Work-Life Uniform

Building your uniform with everyday workwear pieces.

Getting dressed to return to the office and other work events after 3 months at home with a baby feels like a foreign assignment. Add in 9 months of dressing around a changing pregnancy and I am tempted to sell my entire closet and start fresh. But when I really think about what I want to actually put on, I go back to the most essential things I have always turned to with a few small updates. I want to simplify (even more than I have in the past!) with new life priorities and have pieces I know I can rely on and feel good in. The workwear essentials I’m including here are all practical with an updated/touch of fashion detail: Go-to pieces that work for a coffee meeting, in-office days, at home meeting-heavy days, and into evening work events.

References: Prada, Jil Sander, Phoebe Philo, Metier

Go-To Outfit

The Row jacket (mostly sold out, but this is a great alt.), High Sport sweater, Metier Private Eye bag, The Row jacket (mostly sold out, but this is a great alt.), Lie Studio belt, High Sport pant, Cartier watch, A. Emery boot 

My go-to outfit for work obviously shifts throughout the seasons, but it’s always practical, multiuse, and includes easy pieces I want to wear all the time.

The High Sport straight pant here is a good update to the kick pant, but I like that it’s very clean and simple with the straight leg. Something about it is almost a little harsher, in a good way, and the way I see a lot of pant silhouettes trending right now. I love it with the trim of a white tee under the High Sport sweater with this jacket from The Row thrown over (or this COS one). A heavier coat would work well here too. The pants look great with a belt and worn with this wearable A. Emery boot. I also updated my belt to a slightly skinnier style. Sometimes just a small update makes all the difference.

The Metier Private Eye bag is my latest bag obsession. I am always so impressed with the thoughout details of Metier and this bag is no different. It’s just one of those ‘throw-everything in it’ bags with pockets for everything that make you feel very pulled together.

High Sport sweater, Metier Private Eye bag, The Row jacket (mostly sold out, but this is a great alt.), Lie Studio belt, COS white tee, High Sport pant, Cartier watch, A. Emery boot 

Outfit Variations

The key to a workwear uniform for me is having pieces I can iterate on and make several different casual or more formal outfits out of.

Casual -

Taking the same High Sport sweater above, but dressing it down for a casual day at the office or working from home. This brand Almada also makes great knits- the crewneck has been my go to for colder days. Making it even more comfortable with these drawstring Toteme pants and a sneaker, I have these from The Row but would love the dries ones below. Throw this suede Massimo Duty jacket over, for a bit of texture and that fashion on trend moment.

High Sport sweater, Toteme drawstring pant, Massimo Duty jacket, Dries sneaker

Evening -

Repeating the High Sport pant but with this brown Attersee cardigan. It’s a nice, feminine light fabric with a warm autunmal tone. I left the bottom few buttons undone. When it gets chilly, I’ll wear with these brown semisheer Falke Sock and a suede, barely-there heel. I love the texture of the light cardigan, suede shoe, and semisheer sock all together.

Attersee cardigan, High Sport pant, Amazon Falke sock, Emme Parsons heel

The Bag

I wear a lot of Metier bags. I love the styles, the textures and colors are always relevant and fresh, the quality is amazing but my favorite thing about them is the functionality. As mentioned, The Private Eye is one of those bags that has every detail meticulously thought through and works as well for everyday toting as it does your travel carry-on. The leather is so butter soft but still has a really nice, polished structure. I can stuff so many things in this bag, but because of the well-concealed compartments, it stays really organized (you can find your keys when you need them).

Metier Private Eye Bag

Here you can get a peak into how many compartments the bag has and how you can neatly organize everything. I could fit a lot more than I am right now, which is great feeling with a bag! The bag has an inner pocket with a zipper, an inner pocket with a snap closure, the outside has pocket with a place for cards/ID, pens/lip gloss, cash. It also has a removable pouch that works great for dinner or add the strap for a small crossbody- great for travel!

See you next week,

xo

ali