THE JOURNAL | JANUARY 2025
Streamline Your Work Wear Wardrobe in 5 Simple Steps
Curate a Capsule Wardrobe That Will Save You Time & Energy
What would you do with an extra 17 minutes a day*? On average, that's how long it takes us to get dressed in the mornings. But what if you could get that time back? What could you achieve if deciding what to wear everyday didn't take so much time and energy?
Streamline your wardrobe, streamline your workday mornings and recapture precious minutes to do something you love. Here's how with the Work Wear Capsule Edit.
STEP 01.
Work Pants
Focus on a good pair of work pants. Pants are one of the trickiest items to shop for as their comfort and fit is dependent on so many measurements. There's waist, hips and leg length of course, but there’s often the fit over other curvy areas such as the thighs and through the seat of the pant that formal trousers in woven, non-stretch fabrics often constrain.
Alleviate the discomfort by shopping pants made with stretch jersey. L&Fs Dry-Touch Jersey Pants feature soft, pull-on waistbands that fit to your curves and move with you throughout the day.
Our wide leg and straight leg pants like our best-selling Bradley Culotte or the Monroe Pant, drape from the hips and create elegant silhouettes. Available in both regular and short lengths, the Bradley Culotte has a fluid, wide leg that adds volume to balance a woman's curves.
The Monroe Pant (pictured) meanwhile, cuts a straighter line that glides from the hips to elongate the legs, creating a sophisticated, classic look, and is available as short, regular and tall length pants.
Choose which pant will work best for your professional days and buy it in two colours such as Black and Navy to give variation within your wardrobe.
EXPERT TIP:
Work clothing should move with you through your daily tasks. If a pencil skirt inhibits movement on your swivel chair or your jacket collar bunches up round your neck when you answer the phone, then it’s time to look for different solutions.
STEP 02.
Add A Skirt
A skirt will help your work wardrobe flow. Great for transitioning between the seasons, skirts wear well in both summer and winter and seasonal styling changes are an easy way to transform a skirt’s look.
All L&F skirts are made in luxurious stretch jersey so comfort and fit are guaranteed. Even our slim-fitting pencil skirt, the Andi Skirt, which comes in Petite, Regular and Midi Skirt lengths is a pull-on, tube-style skirt which moulds to your curves. Great for layering, pencil skirt shapes pair well with most top styles, whether they’re worn tucked or loose, and look smart for work.
Featuring more tailored details, the Aaron Midi Skirt has a more formal structure with a functioning waistband, zip fastening and front pockets. Made from our Scuba Crepe fabric, this straight-cut midi skirt still has a supreme level of stretch and is extremely lightweight - perfect for all day office comfort.
Pinpoint your skirt style and shop it in Black or Navy to maximise your mix and match potential.
STEP 03.
Mix & Match Work Wear Tops
A good capsule work wardrobe should contain a minimum of three to four tops. Let's take three as the base: go for one top in a neutral shade such as Black,Navy or Vanilla, one in a colour and a printed top. This will ensure a good variety of looks through the work week.
With your Black and Navy bottoms, all colours and prints will match back well. So, tops are the best area to have some fun: choose your favourite colours, go for bold prints and you can still be confident your capsule wardrobe will work effectively.
Tailored tops make for easy corporate style. They offer details that stand alone, enhancing the fit of tops on the body and the impact of an outfit. L&Fs tailored tops like the best-selling Jaime Top (pictured) feature details like a front pleat, back shoulder yoke with a tuck below and shirttail hemline. All of these features work to elevate the wearer's style. And in luxurious jersey fabric, not only are they comfortable tops to wear with plenty of stretch but they're easy to care for too.
STEP 04.
Dresses For The Workplace
Simplify your style and be done in one with a dress style. A strong work dress will create presence and in L&F's stretch jersey, will deliver all-day comfort and ease of wear.
A wrap dress a quick and easy way to create a stylish look. The crossover front creates structure while the belt tie at the waist adds definition. L&F wrap dresses are all made in our beautiful stretch jersey fabric which moves with the body. And, our wrap dresses are all considered in their design so even the straighter cut dress styles feature pleats and draping to flatter the tummy and hip areas.
As a stand alone item, the mix and match potential is not as important and there is more scope for colour and print combinations.
STEP 05.
Elevate With a Blazer
A well-tailored jacket or blazer is the ultimate power piece, instantly elevating a woman's workwear style with structure and polish.
L&F Jackets and Blazers have a sublime level of tailoring. Still in our luxurious stretch fabrics, the considered design and our attention to fit means these jackets hold power in the boardroom while keeping you liberated for desk work and your day-to-day tasks.
Match the colour of your blazer or jacket to your bottoms so you have the option of a suit look for high-power days.
Matching fabrics, for example the Scuba Crepe of the Benni Jacket and the Scuba Crepe of the Aaron Midi Skirt or Drew Pant will construct a full suit for power days or formal corporate environments.
If your workplace is less formal in its dress code, then simply matching the colours of your suit separates is enough to create a well put-together, soft suiting look that you can mix and match with all of your capsule staples.
Whether styled with the sleek lines of a tailored pant or the soft drape of a jersey culotte, the right jacket can transform any workwear look into one of effortless confidence and professionalism.
A good work wear wardrobe will lighten your morning routine (and your laundry basket!). Rather than being weighed down by styles you never wear, having a solid capsule wardrobe of workwear styles will give you a clear vision of where you’re going and what you’ll be wearing to get there. You’ll be dressed in the morning in under 5 minutes flat!
X The L&F Team
* The average woman will spend 17 minutes choosing an outfit to wear to work, reveals UK survey. Read More >
Discover Leina & Fleur Pants
