Dressing up for Work

Just about to start a new job here in Germany, I have been playing around with ideas for filling up my work wardrobe. The thought of having to buy a whole bunch of new outfits left me nervous, as I didn`t bring too many items with me from the United States (due to my previous job´s dress code, I had nothing but black items and I didn`t want to waste important suitcase space with all of those black suits).

I started searching around on youtube for tips on how to create a wardrobe with many outfits and low upfront cost. After watching many videos I stumbled upon this one which seems to be an excellent start:

For those of you who can´t watch the video, here is a short explanation:

1) Select 4 colors, each of which can be combined with all of the other 3 (e.g. Black, Gray, White, Red)
2) You need 5 tops in the selected colors
3) You need 4 bottoms in the selected colors
4) You need 1 good jacket (blazer)
5) Additionally: Black Pumps and a Trench Coat

Now, you will be able to basically combine any of the tops with any of the bottoms, either with or without the blazer jacket.

Great! That works for me. Since I love to wear teal and blues, I created a moodboard with clothes in the color scheme Black - Beige - White - Teal:

 

I have to admit I chose more than 10 items, but I can already see how verstile a wardrobe like this would be. Most of the bottoms can be combined with any of the tops and shoes. There won´t be much of a problem when finding something to wear to work because everything works together.

Here are a few possible combinations drawn fromt the board above:

The white shirt can be tugged into the skirt and worn with or without the jacket. Pumps and a cute purse complete the outfit.

Here I combined a black skirt, with matching pumps and blazer. To add some color, I matched the basic items with a colorful blue shirt and teal purse.

 

Last weekend I spent some time going through my own pile of clothes to take invetory. I realized quickly that I have a few gray items but nothing in beige, so I didtched the beige and decided instead on this scheme:

Black - Light Gray - White - Teal/Blue

On yesterdays trip to the mall, I found some great items following my new color scheme and tomorrow morning I will work on creating a few outfits with the things I already own.

Stay tuned ...