First, banish all thoughts of boring and bland work wardrobes. Just imagine what it would be like to know exactly what you're going to wear from Monday to Friday. Wouldn't it make your work days easier, your mornings more enjoyable?
There are plenty of reasons to adopt a repetitive work wardrobe. Uniform dressing:
- saves time shopping
- reduces stress in the morning
- helps you create a memorable visual brand
Think simple and stylish
Stylish examples of uniform dressing are everywhere.
Former President of the United States Barack Obama has stated he only wears blue and gray suits so as to pare down the decision-making.
Writer and photographer Fran Leibowitz famously sports cuffed jeans, a crisp shirt, a boxy blazer and shiny brown cowboy boots. Now that's a uniform!
By the time he died in 2019, famed fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld had collected more than 1,000 of the high-collared white shirts he loved to be seen in.
For Hillary Clinton, the decision to go with a uniform of pantsuits put more focus on her message, according to her 2017 memoir What Happened.
“A uniform was also an anti-distraction technique: since there wasn’t much to say or report on what I wore, maybe people would focus on what I was saying instead,” Clinton wrote.
Tips for real women
If you do opt for a uniform, be sure to choose a silhouette that works for your particular body and its fluctuations. Whether you opt for elastic waists, stretchy fabrics or boxy sweaters to create space where you sometimes need it, you can build a wardrobe of uniforms that's comfortable no matter where you are in your cycle.
Also consider the variations in your work days throughout the season. If you're the type who walks to work no matter what the weather, you'll need some trusty cold weather options. If you're a hybrid worker, you might need to plan in-office options as well as work-from-home outfits. Or perhaps you have some days where you dress for client-facing meetings, and others where you've got your head down at your desk.
Your uniform should reflect your reality
Your ideal work outfit may change from job to job, season to season, life stage to life stage. And your self-imposed wardrobe rules can be as flexible as you like. But it's a good idea at the beginning the of each season, when you're buying work clothes, to at least imagine that you have a uniform.
Shopping as if you have a uniform gives you permission to buy in multiples. And you'll be sure to stick to silhouettes that truly work for your body. No getting caught up in impulse purchases for you!
Trusty trousers are the basic foundation
Though there may be days when you vary from routine and bust out a pretty dress for a special event or faded jeans for casual Friday, the foundation of a great work wardrobe is a great pair of pants.
This season Resonators are looking for basic work pants - but they can't be too basic. Yes, everyone needs a pair in black, but then what? Maybe it's a unique colour, like green, or it's a subtle check. It's not hard to look interesting, even when you're wearing a uniform.
Check the details
Most importantly, work pants must be comfortable if they're going to make the cut. B. Young's Danta Pant, which comes with a wide leg or a narrow crop, has a bit of elastic at the back. Same goes for the Indi & Cold Jack pants.
A bit of stretch in the fabric helps create comfort, too, so be sure to check the fabric contents when shopping online. Fabrics containing one or two percent Elastane are a little bit stretchy, while fabrics containing four percent Elastane are very stretchy.
Look for trusted styles
Time-crunched Resonators love it when brands repeat a trusted style from season to season. This makes shopping online so easy because you already know what size to buy.
Another great thing about shopping for trusted styles is that you can often find them in more than one colour or pattern. Shopping in multiples means you save time shopping, and you won't wear out your favourite pants before the season's even over.
Here are a few of the tried-and-true styles our customers return to:
Ichi's Kate pant comes with a wide leg in a neutral houndstooth and a narrow crop in black, neutral houndstooth, dark brown, and dark green.
B. Young's Danta pant comes with a wide leg in black and dark brown, and in a narrow crop in dark gray and dark green.
Indi & Cold's Jack pant comes in a black check, blush check, camel check and dark gray.
Part Two's tried-and-true Ponta pant comes in a black. The similarly named Pontas pant has the same shape, but comes in patterned fabrics such as a charcoal/black houndstooth and a black/white houndstooth.
Whatever trousers you turn to as the foundation of your work uniform, we hope it makes your life easier and more enjoyable.
What's your work uniform?
1 comment
When I was working I had a work uniform and it really did work. Pants (no jeans allowed) were in black, navy and grey. I topped them with a solid coloured silk turtleneck or T-shirt. Over that I wore an unbuttoned tailored or loosely structured blouse or jacket. I avoided suit jackets because they usually ended up on the back of my office chair. Worked like a charm.