How To Go From WFH To Office Chic Without Having To Get A New Wardrobe
Yes, you can wear those silk pyjama pants to work - if you know how to style it right
By now, many of us are back to working in the office. Whether you're commuting to work for the whole week or just a few days, the time for WFH seems to be coming to an end. This means leaving the creature comforts that youâve developed in the past two years. Gone are the Zoom calls in your favourite lived-in sweatshirts, mid-day huddles wearing shorts and a sports tank top, or catching up on emails whilst in bed in silky pyjamas. Bummer.
For some of us, a return to the office after an extended period of working from home may also mean forgetting things: forgetting door codes, forgetting pantry rules, and forgetting how effortlessly easy it used to be to get dressed and look good for work.
Weâve got just the solution for both problems. What if we told you that you donât have to give up the WFH clothing that youâve come to love, and you can still get dressed under 30 minutes each morning? Drum roll please, because weâd like to introduce our (Un)Official âWear Your WFH Clothes To Workâ Guide. Letâs begin!
âŠtry wearing it with smart tailoring!
The trick here is to dress it up in a way that makes it look more like a cropped top than a sports bra. Finding a bra with good support and sans sporty logos or overly athletic details is a good place to start. Team with a chic blazer and trousers, and whatever you do, avoid sneakers. Youâre now ready to take meetings at the office.
âŠkeep it on with a pencil skirt!
The cardigan-plus-pencil skirt combo takes its cue straight out of â50s Hollywood, and youâll look like one of Hitchcockâs impossibly chic heroines. Throw it together with a comfy camisole and some kitten heels for a complete look.
âŠtry doing a twinset!
We love the comfort that a sweater affords us, so why stop at the top when you can take that comfort and apply it to the whole look! Weâre seeing several high street brands like Zara and H&M putting their spin to the cool knit two-piece look, so youâre going to have no problems finding your fave twinset. Plus, having a matching top and bottom saves you some headspace when youâre deciding what to wear.
âŠtry mixing it up with urban separates!
Ah, the ever-reliable house dress. Usually cut like an elongated t-shirt, keep the comfort and ease of movement that your fave WFH dress lets you enjoy by teaming it with more contemporary outerwear. Oversized vests are having a moment now, but you can always count on a boyfriend blazer or a white shirt knotted at the waist to spruce up your look easily.
âŠtry taking it apart and re-styling it!
The matching pyjamas top and bottom may work for home but wearing it together when youâre headed out might draw comparisons to you forgetting to change before leaving the door. Instead, break up the set and wear them on their own with other things. We love the item of pyjama pants with a clingy knit or a tailored shirt, just as much as we adore pairing pyjama shirts with high-waisted wide-legged trousers. Remember: itâs all in the mix.
âŠtry dressing it up with accessories!
Look, we love a ribbed tank top as much as the next person, but we canât promise that your HR person is going to share that same enthusiasm. Fret not, because once you pair your ribbed knit with a pair of wool trousers, itâs half the battle won. A masculine belt and chic earrings can help you complete the look in a very âI work in a cool, cosmopolitan companyâ type of way.
âŠtry dressy headgear to keep those tresses looking fab!
We wonât fault you for missing a hair appointment (or ten), especially when your life mostly happens in the comforts of your own pad. The good news? There are plenty of fabulous headgear options out in the market. A leopard spotted bucket hat, a printed silk scarf, a satin hairbandâŠthe options never end!
âŠtry working it into a suit!
Sure, the ideal situation here would be that you own a shorts suit that you can break out of the closet. If you donât, then you only need a little creativity (and maybe a bit of shopping) to get you similar results. Your starting point should be a pair of shorts that look smart on their own, such as berms or cuffed shorts (sorry, youâre going to have to put away the yoga shorts). Then, identify aspects of it that you can find matching options for. It can be a jacket in a similar tone of red, or a blazer with a clashing pattern for that intentionally mismatched look. Voila, youâre set.
Text: Aaron Kok/HerWorld