Four Essential Dresses For Every Woman’s Work Wardrobe (Guest Post)

When I went to Britmums Live! blogging conference last year, I attended a stylist session with Jenny from Mummy Mishaps. The very lovely stylist was desperate to get me to wear a dress, and Jenny hasn't stopped begging me since. It is a fashion item that I find difficult to wear and the last one was my wedding dress, however (as explained in this guest-post) I'm aware that there's a style to suit every woman; even little old me!

Whether your work environment is smart and sophisticated or casual and chic, it’s important to have a wardrobe that you can always rely on, and particularly that will take you through the seasons. For effortless professional wear throughout the year you can always turn to a great dress, and there are four styles in particular that we think should be a part of every ladies’ work wear collection – you’ll wonder how you ever coped without them!

The Wrap Dress

No matter what your figure, you can trust a wrap dress to flatter it, which makes this style of dress a staple in a work wear wardrobe. After all, when you look good, you feel confident too, and we all know how important that is for client meetings or critical presentations! Choose a wrap dress with three-quarter length sleeves and you’ll wear it all year-round, and what’s more, by adding a bold necklace or a fabulous pair of heels, you’ll have work-to-dinner dressing nailed.

The Shift Dress

With a cap-sleeved shift dress in your work wear arsenal, you’ll never be stuck for the perfect dress, and there are dozens of ways to wear it. In the Winter, a blazer, opaque tights and boots completes your seasonal work look, whereas when the weather gets warmer, switch your boots for ballet flats and add a chiffon scarf and cardigan to look elegant, and appropriate. Stores like Bonmarché always have a fantastic range of ladies’ work dresses to choose from, including stylish and affordable shift dresses that are designed to complement every shape, and will help you to build your essential work wardrobe for less.

The Maxi Dress

When you want to look pristine and put-together, yet a shift dress feels a little too restrictive, a simple yet sophisticated maxi dress could be the answer. Designed to skim comfortably over the figure and keep you cool and covered, ankle-length maxi dresses are perfect for Spring and Summer professional dressing as they can easily be accessorised with a wide belt and flat pumps, or even wedges for a more formal occasion. When the seasons turn cooler, add a light cardigan and scarf over your maxi dress for an on-trend layered look.

The Skater Dress

Although skater dresses are currently very much in vogue, we believe they always deserve a place in your work wear collection. The full, knee-length skirt is surprisingly flattering on many different body shapes, as it helps to add the illusion of curves to slender figures, whilst it works to balance out curves on hourglass and pear-shaped bodies. Sleeveless or cap-sleeved skater dresses are ideal for Summer, yet when you add a suit jacket and a scarf, you’ll be wearing your skater dress through Autumn and beyond.

This is a featured guest post.

Polarn O. Pyret Clothing (Review)

The Boy was recently sent a top to review from Polarn O. Pyret, the children's clothing store which has fun and bright clothing designed for play at the heart of its philosophy.

children's clothing

He was sent an alphabet sports top for children aged 2-6 years, which is available in both red and navy blue. It's a fun top with capital letters of the alphabet dotted all over it and interspersed with pictures of sports equipment and cute animals.

  • Soft seams that do not chafe
  • Can take a stain and bacteria busting 60°C wash
  • Fun unisex prints look great on boys and girls
  • 100% Cotton
  • Fold up arm cuffs for extra growing room

I really like the double cuff sleeves which are of a good length that means they can be folded back without showing the hem underneath. It's also a thick cotton which is warm and retains the shape well once washed. The colour is vibrant and the design fun for young children, especially as I do get fed up of seeing mini adult clothing for children, and The Boy likes the pattern on the top. He also likes how soft it is, and is more than happy to wear this as often as he can.

At £16.50, the top is a few pounds more than can be found in other high street stores, but I think it's worth it because of the child-friendly design, quality of the fabric and print and that it can be washed at higher temperatures to get rid of stains, without it losing its shape.

I was sent this product for the purpose of the review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Boots Mini Club Clothing (Review)

I was recently asked if I'd like to be sent an outfit for The Boy from the new season at Mini Club clothing from Boots. As it's one of the clothes shops of choice for The Boy, I readily agreed and waited for the outfit eager to see the colours and styles available.

I'm quite a fussy mum when it comes to dressing The Boy. When he was a baby it was easy because most boys clothes were the soft blues and coffee browns that really suited his colouring, yet the minute he turned two everything became garish and brash. Bright, lurid colours don't suit The Boy, he always needs a muted tone of each colour as he's so pale. This is one of the reasons why I like Mini Club; the colours are understated and suit The Boy perfectly. It's also one of the few places that gets the sizing right; he's a tall boy with a long, skinny body and broad shoulders yet everything always fits perfectly.

boots mini-mode

The Boy was sent:

  • a fleece-lined green hooded gilet (£14.00) – the gilet seemed a little short in the body but I suspect that was the style, it also didn't completely cover his large head (bless him!)
  • lightwash jeans (£10.00) with an adjustable waist – far more appropriate for a pre-school boy than elasticated waist jeans as they fall down on him
  • two pack long-sleeve striped tops (£9.00) – really nicely designed with contrasting stripes on each arm to the body, and an excellent length in the body and sleeve.

I think he looks really trendy in this outfit and it's definitely one that I would have chosen for him (we love stripey tops). The colours are perfect for him (especially as his favourite colour is green) and the prices are extremely reasonable.

We were sent these items for the purpose of this review, my opinion is honest and unbiased.

Dr. Beckmann Stain Removal

I knew when The Boy came home from nursery one day with yellow paint on his red and blue striped t-shirt that I was going to need to invest in some form of stain removal. Cursing and rubbing doesn't seem to scare the marks away unfortunately. He's getting to the age now where I can't keep putting a bib on him all the time, neither can I have him panicking about dirty clothes:

"What does mummy say? Clothes are meant to get dirty and then I wash them!"

Over the Christmas period when we will have greasy food, radioactively coloured sauces and quite possibly some more yellow paint, I know I'm going to need some serious stain removal to help make the laundry a lot easier! Clothes need to be easily cleaned because I am not spending ages chained to the washing machine. This is where Dr. Beckmann stain removers and colour and dirt catchers will come in handy!

I was sent these products for the purpose of this post.

Discounts At Boden (Review)

Having worked in a large high street store for three years, I am not a fan of clothes shopping. At least not for myself. I much more prefer the luxury of sitting back on the sofa, turning on the laptop and doing my shopping through the Internet. I'm still not so keen on buying for myself, but I am rather partial to buying extremely cute clothes for The Boy.

I've heard a lot about Boden over the past two years, but I must confess that I'd never really considered them as I had considered them a little more expensive than I could afford. While they are just outside my price range, in reality they aren't that much more expensive than Next or Marks and Spencer, and if you can find a discount code for a company like this before purchasing online or instore, then it's even better. My Voucher Codes is one of those places that supplies codes for frugal mummies such as myself.

I was asked if I'd like to try some of the much talked about Boden clothing, and of course I jumped at the chance to deck my little man out in good quality clothing. I chose a beautifully thick Guernsey fisherman style jumper for him, a pair of vintage jeans and (this is what he loves the best) a tomato ketchup top. He's addicted to the red sauce and I couldn't let that one pass by!

The Guernsey jumper is incredibly thick and soft, with 80% lambswool it's unsurprisingly warm. The distressed jeans have a zip which completely flummoxed The Boy at first (he's used to pull-up trousers) but he managed them really easily, and the grin on his face when he saw the ketchup t-shirt was fantastic.

The order (including postage and packaging) would have initially been £74.00, but applying the MyVoucherCodes discount brought it down to £61.40. This would have given a saving of £12.60 in total; 10% discount and free delivery. I will definitely be checking on MyVoucherCodes for fashion discount codes before purchase online or instore in the future!

To take advantage of the 10% discount code available on all orders at Boden (plus free delivery), nip over to My Voucher Codes before 28th October 2012.

I received these items for the purpose of this post. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Jubilee Special (Review)

I've been sent two items recently that I really wanted to share with you because they are both incredibly cute and fabulous ways to celebrate Great Britain this Summer.

Clothes Plasters by Jennie Maizels

These clothes plasters are brilliant at extending the life of your little one's favourite pair of jeans or jacket. Iron-on patches that are hard-wearing and designed to cover little tears or worn areas on clothing. The London set of 5 has a lovely unisex selection of patches perfect for jazzing up any little girl's or boy's clothes, while the Pair of London Hearts might well be adorning something of The Boy's (or mine) when we go to Britmums next month!

Available from www.JennieMaizels.com

Milly Green Tableware

We like 'novelty' tableware in this household; it makes dinnertimes more fun and The Boy is more likely to finish his meal when he is engaged. Having been to London over the weekend, The Boy hasn't stopped talking about the London Eye and the big red buses that zoomed along the streets. Milly Green has created a set of tableware which celebrates all thing brilliant and synonymous with London. The gorgeous set includes a bowl, plate, cup and three piece cutlery set.

Available for £20.00 from www. MillyGreen.com

The Boy Wears…

Here comes a truth: when it comes to children's clothing I'm a little bit of a snob. I'm particular in what The Boy wears, or more importantly, what he doesn't wear.

I don't like dressing my son in bright and loud colours and I don't like mini-men clothing. He is two years old and I'd like him to look like the child that he is. I am not in a rush to age him prematurely and dress him in shirts, waistcoats and ties, just so he can look like a smaller version of an adult male: he's two! I also dislike character clothing. I refuse to allow my child to be a walking advert for the latest popular television show, he may as well wear a sandwich board with the television channel and a time written on it.

When he was under 24 months old, finding clothes that fitted this bill was relatively easy. The high-street stores and online shops were full of sweet, baby-blue and soft-coffee coloured clothes that allowed him to look stylish but cute and babylike at the same time. Then all of a sudden he turned two years old and he had to wear faded and 'aged' denim, bright colours (which don't suit him) and be older than his delicate years.

Luckily, one of my favourite stores for buying baby clothes has maintained the same classic styles in their little boy ranges that are indicative of their general ethos. But then you can't go wrong with fashion influenced by the French. Vertbaudet (the children's division of La Redoute) is where I bought many of his dungarees, jumpers and cardigans when he was a baby…

Classic navy and white pinstriped dungarees with sensible poppers on the inside, I was devastated when he outgrew them.

Now, however, I can buy clothes like this for him instead…

Which is just as cute and will look much better than having his stomach emblazoned with a pig, train or sports car.

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