Office wear posts are among my favourites: I like the genre and many of you seem to find my ideas genuinely useful. So I will attempt to do these looks on a regular basis, now that my work life will hopefully be a bit more… regular. I’ll return to my old post on Thursday (after 10 months with the Estonian Presidency of the EU) and what do you know, here’s the first Workwear Wednesday of 2018.

Every January, I feel the need to pare back, wear simple shapes and sharp silhouettes – I’m sure that’s a reaction to the opulence of Christmas and New Year celebrations, the sartorial equivalent of detox or Veganuary. This year, I also felt a strong urge to wear white (come to think of it, I had the exact same urge last year) and ideally, this outfit would have featured a white roll neck. It doesn’t, because I couldn’t find one of good quality that was sufficiently white (cream doesn’t work here, you need proper, modern white) and I’m trying not to buy new stuff anyway.

That said, I think the idea of freshness comes across rather well. I never think of myself as a pink lover, but somehow it just seems to suit me – my complexion always looks lifted when I wear this shade. And in the depth of winter, light pink can be as refreshing as white. The sharpness is provided by Karl Korsar’s graphic, pleated silk skirt. Again, an all-white outfit in a similar silhouette would have been stunning, but this skirt is more wearable while still being high-impact. Karl is a young Estonian designer who excels at prints – check him out, if you haven’t yet.

So all-in-all, this look is about having an idea (of a a new beginning, a fresh start, of looking smart and sharp) and making it work with the ingredients that you already have. Talking about the fashion side of things, everybody is obsessed with white shoes and boots at the moment and I’m giving that a little nod here. Pleated midis and roll necks have been popular for a while, but I don’t see them disappearing any time soon. Both trends – if you can still call them that – are very office friendly and also relatively warm.

Which brings me to the other point of this look. I’ve shot three WW posts for February and they all feature coats and boots. This was requested by someone in the comments and I’m trying to demonstrate how I would actually wear these outfits in real life. Sure, I would also need a hat and gloves and a scarf, but you’ll get the idea.

Each post will showcase a different Coat Strategy. In this case, it’s matchy-matchy, with contrasting and neutral coats to come. I hope this is helpful or at least fun for you to scroll through. If you have any specific work wear challenges you struggle with, let me know.

All pictures are taken at the Tallinn Botanical Garden: thank you for allowing us to do this! Images by Liina Jasmin, MUAH by Grete Madisson. Sweater by Uniqlo, skirt by Karl Korsar, coat, boots and pumps by Zara.