I’ve recently decided to make a change and give my wardrobe a more polished, professional look. I’ve always loved pencil skirts but never really felt like I had the figure to pull it off, but since I’ve lost weight I’ve bought one that makes me feel really nice. But I’m not totally sure how high on my waist it’s supposed to be. I can’t really get a clear answer when searching for it - is there a standard I should know about it? I guess I’m just a little nervous that when I go to wear it for the first time that it won’t be right and I’ll make a bad impression. If it matters at all, I’m 5"7.
Also, what other pieces should I be looking for? I don’t want to break the bank by going out to a designer store and buying everything all at once, but finding pieces here and there when I go shopping is totally manageable.
I joke with friends that I ‘don’t know how to adult’ or ‘don’t know how to professional’, but I’d like to try to change that. Any advice would be appreciated
After Googling “pencil skirt,” it looks like the waist of the skirt is supposed to be at the narrowest part of your midsection. Congrats on the weight loss.
I don’t know anything about women’s fashion. I just like to watch.
I never thought I could wear pencil skirts either but Joan changed my mind on Mad Men. Ideally most pencil skirts seem to be designed for the natural waist.
Don’t know about the skirt question, but you should stop in at a TJ Maxx or Ross if you have one nearby. They have designer labels at great prices. You have to look around quite a bit, but great bargains can be found.
I bought the skirt at Ross! And also two blouses (one of which I plan to wear with the skirt very soon), heels, and a purse that is almost like a smaller, cuter briefcase to complete the outfit. I absolutely love that store and have been going there for awhile. I’ve been to my local TJ Maxx, but never found anything I liked before. I’ll have to go look again
A few years ago a fashion-savvy friend took me on a “look see” through the local mall, her point being that I wouldn’t have any idea about anything unless I tried on everything. We hit Macy’s first, then H&M. I’d try something I liked on, and she’d point out why it worked/didn’t work on my figure. She had me do a color swatch test where I held up a blouse in different colors against my face to see which ones suited my complexion. It was an eye opener, considering the colors that look good on me aren’t necessarily the colors I like.
When it came time to buy something, I hit the discount stores – Marshalls and TJ Maxx first, then Macy’s (they sometimes have incredible sales), Kohl’s (I have my best luck there), and, surprisingly, Sears and JCPenney.
I never pay full price for anything if I can help it. The pieces I do pay full price (within reason) for are pieces that I’ll hold onto for awhile, like a jacket, dress shoes, or outerwear.
H&M has reasonable prices, but I find them a little too trendy for my taste. I love Dress Barn, but alas I never buy anything there unless it’s on sale.
Banana Republic has great sales staff who will walk you through various looks. Just go in and tell then that you are looking for some a pencil skirt based work outfit. Nearly everything they carry is appropriate for work. The staff will put some looks together for you.
Their clothes are way too expensive, but sign up for their emails as they are literally always having sales and you can usually get 40-50% off. If that is still to much, just try stuff on and then try to replicate the look elsewhere.
Consignment shops are also a good source of work clothes. You may also want to see if your town has any clothing swaps- it’s a big trend out here, and a very good wardrobe refresher.
When I was in the process of losing a bunch of weight, I would go to a goodwill in the midst of an upper-middle class suburb. I would try on EVERYTHING that looked like it would vaguely fit so that I could get a sense of what styles worked, and get out of my box. Because it was a thrift store, I didn’t feel intimidated or out of place. Because it was in the a solidly professional area, it also worked out to be a great place to learn what department store lines I liked. I was also willing to spend $3 on something that I wasn’t sure about so that I could take it home and mess with it and think about it. If I am spending even $20, let alone $40-$60 on an item, I want to be sure I will love it forever and wear it all the time. Thrift stores allowed me to take risks.
I am also losing weight and was struggling with my work wardrobe. What has worked for me is dresses that can be belted (so can be cinched in more as you lose more weight), worn with a cardigan/shrug. At the moment it’s getting cold, so I’m wearing them with tights and heels. By mixing and matching dresses/tops/tights colours, and adding different styles of necklace, I can get a variety of looks.
Careful about taking it too far - A few years ago I worked in an office where one woman seemed to thoroughly enjoy coming to work every day in a miniskirt, high heels, sheer stockings and a top that was somewhere on the border between technically acceptable and inappropriate. To say that she got plenty of attention from men would be an understatement. Oh, it’s black lace day again for her.
Sigh. Ladies can’t win. Too sexy is unprofessional. Too frumpy is unprofessional. This is why I picked one store and pretty much stick with it-- I don’t have the mental energy to navigate these lines on my own.
One more thing about pencil skirts: it’s amazing how much nicer the really nice ones, with heavier fabric, a good lining, and a well-designed waistband look. I have had very good luck with pencil skirts at thrift stores, and they often do not appear to have been worn at all. People take good care of them.
I bought a new pair of low conservative heels. All of my other pairs were really more of an out on the town kinda heel, probably too high for the office. I wore the new ones today and received alot of compliments on them!
I don’t think I have fat calves, but they are definitely muscular. Comes from years of doing martial arts. Some days I hate them, some days I love them. Skinny jeans are not really a good look on me because of it.
Um, yeah, no worries there. I own those kind of items, but I know better than to wear those to work. What I meant by trying to be more professional is that my usual day to day wear is a t-shirt and jeans. And on a normal day that is actually fine at my job. I’m a peer advisor in my department at my university. But while I know that the t-shirt and jeans is technically ok, I’d like to show that I care more. That and since I’m applying to graduate school I know I will need these kinds of clothes very soon. Today my boss and I attended a conference on campus with the other advising coordinators for the other departments. I wore the skirt and I thought I looked nice. For the record, this is what I wore today, plus black hosiery and the low black heels. Sorry for the grainy-ness of the photo, and the fact that it’s a selfie :smack: I had taken it during shopping to get an opinion from a friend.
Absolutely, my undergrad is in Psychology, and for grad school I’m applying to the program for a MS in Counseling with a concentration in Clinical Mental Heath
I work in the Psychology advising office now as an advisor to other undergrads
OK, so you definitely don’t need to go the conservative business suit route. I would say invest in some classic pieces that are still comfortable for a young person. Charcoal trousers, black trousers. You look nice in jewel colors so tops like the one you show there, cardigans that are up to date but not too trendy so you can wear them for a long time.
