(some of) what I wore - jan-feb 2018

I've been gravitating towards taking mirror OOTDs again of late, partly out of a desire to track what I've been wearing, and see if any preferences have emerged. And partly because sometimes I catch my reflection and a mirror and think: "Why not?"

These are all work outfits, and although I thought my current workplace was a lot more casual than my last (already quite casual) workplace, my photos don't suggest a significant difference. I can get away with the jeans-tee-sandals outfit on a daily basis, but I'm still wearing some of the shirt dresses I wore in my previous job, albeit in a more relaxed way.

Top row, from left:

1)
The high-socks-and-shoes combo is a not a popular look with my friends - some think it’s too cutesy - but I've always liked the nerdiness of it, and it's my favourite thing about Margaret Howell shows. It also reminds me of uniformed groups, like the Girl Scouts, Girl Guides, Girls' Brigade and so on, and I do like uniforms.

The shirt dress is a Uniqlo gem. It’s made of a crisp linen that doesn’t wrinkle too much, and it’s opaque enough to look decent. It’s comfortable because the shoulder is dropped, almost like a raglan sleeve so I don't feel constricted. It has nice deep and functional pockets. And best of all, it’s a good length that almost reaches my knees - a lot of shirt dresses make me look like I forgot to wear trousers. I sometimes wear it open with jeans or other dresses, like a "coat".

2)
I don’t have much use for sweaters generally in Singapore, but this beige one from Muji gets more wear than most because it’s made of linen, which more than sufficient for keeping the chill of air-conditioning off my skin. I also bring it a lot on my dive trips because it’s the sort of thing that you can wear when it’s very windy yet sunny - it does just enough to cut the wind chill while keeping some of the sun off my skin. Plus, it dries fairly quickly, and it’s lightweight enough to layer well. It's too sheer to wear on its own though, and so I like wearing it over dresses, like in this case.

3)
This is a linen dress from Muji I got in 2013, and I bought it to replace an older dress in essentially the same shape. It’s a great summer travel piece because it’s cool to wear, but the waist-tie cinches just enough to give some shape to the look. Also, it has pockets! On holiday, I would wear this dress with sandals, but for work, it's back to trusty Oxfords.

Bottom row, from left:

4)
This is my idea of what people wear in more traditional “work” environments, although I know it's nowhere close to what people have to wear in truly conservative settings. I used to wear outfits like this a bit more, especially when I rose to more senior positions and I wanted to assert some authority by not wearing faded and torn jeans. These days I have very little reason to have to dress like this,  but when I do, I like how it's an outfit that blends into a more "corporate" environment while still feeling "me".

I love the top, it;'s basically a fancy T-shirt and it has a nice weight and drape (it's cotton blended with some synthetic). It's from a Singaporean label called In Good Company.

5)

I got this dress from COS in 2016 - I found it on steep discount when they were clearing the last of the sale stock, and I suspect it’s something someone returned because it’s one of those things too good to be the last piece hanging around on the sale rack in my size. At a glance, it looks like a standard shirtdress in a straight-up-and-down cut, but there are all these little details that make it distinctive: subtle darting at the waist to create a slight “nipped in” effect; back is cut with more volume and billows a bit when I walk. It’s also made from a smooth cotton that doesn’t crease much, and there are deep, functional pockets. It’s the kind of dress that lets me conform to a traditional workplace or function, but it makes it own quiet statement.

6)

I feel like I wear some variation of this outfit maybe once a week. I default to jeans and T-shirt a lot. No one really bats an eyelid when you come in looking this casual at my current workplace, but sometimes I still get caught off guard by my reflection. I could only get away with an outfit like this at my last workplace on weekends.