We all have clothes we gravitate towards, for different reasons. Some are passionate about jeans, others collect blazers. In my case, it’s always been dresses and skirts. Not that I don’t wear trousers or don’t like tops, but my eye tends to be drawn to skirts and dresses first. Even if this is not true for you, they are important pieces in the (work) wardrobe of many women.

Before getting down to the details, if you haven’t read the introductory post to this workwear series, it’s here. It includes my reasons for doing this series, all the disclaimers and info about the shoot. One thing it doesn’t include is my thank-you to Nomad for their kind help when we arrived unannounced with 20 pieces of clothing and wanted to set up a base in their lovely restaurant. Thank you!

A dress
It is no secret that I love dresses for work. There are several reasons for that, but most crucially, I love the fact that it’s a full outfit. If you have a dress that works for you and a pair of shoes in the office that go with it, you are sorted. If you are one of those people who finds styling things tricky, a dress is a great, effortless option.

I also like the variety within the category, which makes it possible for most people to find something suitable for them. There are minis and midis, floaty and fitted versions, simple and avant-garde. Personally, I’m partial to the good old sheath dress. It is not the most modern way to do dresses – looser, more adventurous shapes are clearly more ‘now’ – but this is what I like and fall back on when I want to feel put together.

The black dress I’m wearing here is absolutely something I would wear in real life. These days, I prefer my hemlines a bit lower, below the knee or mid-calf, but otherwise it’s how I like it – unfussy and easy to style, while still being impactful. Black is obviously one of the no-brainer colours (I also really, really like white or cream dresses for autumn-winter) and this style would be perfect for an after-work event as well.

Another reason I like my dresses rather fitted and simply cut is that it makes them more versatile. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have some dresses (like this one and this) that can pretty much be worn just as they are with some neutral pumps. I also fully recognise that there’s only so much you can do with a dress styling-wise. It is truly useful, however, if you can put a blazer on top and that’s not easy to do with a very detail-heavy or sculptural dress.

Finally, despite my love for tight sheath dresses, I do appreciate other types as well. There are two that I find especially useful: a looser midi dress (like this one) that is easy to throw on, no matter how much you have eaten recently, and a polished but warm sweater dress for really cold days. Your go-to styles may have nothing in common with mine, but there is probably a place for at least one work dress in most wardrobes.

A skirt
Skirts are often lumped in with dresses, but I find them a pretty different category. Like dresses, skirts can of course vary greatly in terms of length, fit and material. However, because you have to combine a skirt with other things, it never quite sets the tone for the entire look as forcefully as a dress does. At the same time, skirts are more versatile for the very same reason – they need a supporting cast and that can differ enormously.

I confess I’m a huge fan of pencil skirts; similarly to sheath dresses, they are not necessarily the height of fashion these days, but they work for my body and my style. In my view, they are true classics because they haven’t looked (entirely) wrong at any point during the 20 years I’ve been wearing them. I also like that the simple shape allows you to be adventurous with fabrics, which in turn can be a very practical thing: brocade, tweed and sequins don’t crease much. Pleated midi-skirts are also doing great both on the longevity (they’ve been around for almost 10 years now) and non-crease front. Slip skirts, on the other hand, can get super wrinkly, which is a pity, as I do love how thy look.

The skirt on the picture isn’t what I would usually go for; I chose it for a reason, however. I chose it because it’s leather and while it’s our goal here to focus on non-trend led pieces, I predict that leather is one of those mega trends that is going to stick around for a while. A leather skirt is a great work staple, as the material adds instant interest even if you keep the shape conservative. You don’t have to go for real leather, in case this doesn’t fit your budget or ethics. One of my most-used skirts is a cream faux leather Zara number that looks very chic to me and has been worn to the office for about 5-6 years. You can also just wipe things off it, so it’s less scary to wear than most other light clothes I own.

This look also illustrates one of my favourite combinations for the office: a statement skirt and a simple knit, although the contrast here is less noticeable than I generally opt for. The other frequent option is a skirt plus a silk shirt, of which more in a future post.

So tell me, are you a dress/skirt person or not?

Clothes by Max Mara (on loan for the shoot), MUAH by Erle Taklai, images by Laura Nestor.