Core to the floor

workgrow.jpg

In lieu of my muddling thoughts about my new job, (muddling in a good way…) I thought I’d retouch on some issues that though has spawned from my switching career fields into fashion, probably applies in a more universal way.So I have broken free of the work dress code. No more confusions over the ambiguities of ‘smart casual’.  No need to dress ‘appropriately’ for clients (again, the limits of ‘propriety’ – what are they?).  No need to have that emergency suit (yes, i have one and no, I’m not wearing it here…) for VIP meetings.  It was a pretty relaxed dress code as it was and I pushed the boundaries as much as possible but now, it’s a proper free country.  I could come in wearing a literal potato sack and ballet pumps if I wanted to.  How about my giant scrunchie? Or a hat or two or three….?

The fact is where I work, everyone is pretty low key.  Even the fashion team.  That ol’ chesnut about the fashion front row dressing with subtlety and the fashion students going all out and crazy at the back rows has some truth to it.  It’s something to do with the mentality that ‘Well, I’m a paid employee of this magazine and thus I’ve proven my fashion credentials so I don’t need to (literally) wear it on my sleeve.’  The fashion interns around here seem to make more of an effort which again asserts the previous two sentances.  It does make sense especially in an environment where everyone is knuckling down to proper graft (yes, it is a LOT of graft…) and really, who has the time to look like a Christmas tree decoration when you’re up against the clock with deadlines, meetings etc.

But even more of a factor that contributed to my initial ultra low-key dressing is the fact that it is a new environment, new people to make eye contact with and wanting to prove myself work-wise first.  So, greys, less layers, navy blues, a higher concentration of my quality designer pieces and flat Oxfords or pumps.  All of this of course is still a certain facet of my style.  I’m not JUST a walking overly layered and messy ornament as I’ve said before.  Still, it’s sort of being reluctant to kiss/hug someone when you first meet them.  In the way that it takes me time to come out of my shell, to start saying the Susie-isms that the people who know me are familiar with, my style also has to build up gradually.  A print or two has started sneaking in.  The layers/headpieces are on their way.  The pink PVC skirt has now made an appearance.  I’m getting comfortable saying things like ‘That is REALLY HID-eous!’ (pronounced ‘HID-A-OUS’) or ‘Oh-my-god-I’m-so-hungry-I-could-eat-my-imac….’.  These are the superfluous things of course.  The bigger picture is getting over the initial pleasantries and getting down to the interesting core beyond that.  So the fussier, fancy clothes will come out to play eventually  because at the end of the day, it was never my calling to be a nonchalant mag editor but rather a starry-eyed, ruffled-up, hat-wearing, asymmetric jacket, PVC leggings, glitter platforms (that is all at once by the way….) girl who likes to preach about the evils of cheese and join my thumb and index  finger together to make a circle around my eye and peer into this fashion circus.

Workgrow

36 comments

  2. I hope that sparkly adventurous impassioned and big-hearted girl stays around even after you kick Anna Wintour to the curb!

  3. Wonderful outfits!
    I know exactly what you mean. It seems that the people who know me most are never surprised by what I wear but for people who I don’t know well I always end up wearing subdued and simple things. Ususally opting for a t-shirt and jeans over my new amazing multi tone oxfords or somehting like htat.

  4. Susie, it’s that very wide-eyed, occasionally playful, happy experimentalness (word?) that first drew me and countless others to this blog over two years ago now, and has kept us coming back ever since- I hope that never changes for you, because fashion isn’t just your job, it was always something you loved first.
    Also, as a person who’s faced dress codes at every office I’ve ever worked in, I’d say new employees/interns tend to be most wary of giving off the wrong vibe so we tend to dress on the cautious side of things- you’re no different in that way from most people figuring out a new workplace (though you and the workplace are most definitely different from the average :)). But it’s good that you’re more comfortable now, and ok with letting the more unrestrained Susie-ness show 🙂

  6. I must’ve missed the post where you mentioned you got a new job– and working as editor of a mag! How exciting! I’m so happy for you, and incredibly jealous as well 😉 you’re truly a talent and I know you’ll produce some amazing work.
    I also know what you mean about dressing down in new surroundings…the outcome of your work will certainly show your style in any case!
    [btw, thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment– I was very flattered!]

  7. i do love musings! it’s really intriguing to hear how working in fashion is almost enough to aid subtlety. i love how you stay true to yourself and keep fashion for fun as well as work

  8. Starry-eyed people rock! I adore how you manage to wear that chest-piece so nicely – you look amazing in that outfit!

  9. aww…you sound so happy 🙂 I’m glad you love your job! I wish I could say the same thing 🙁
    -Giselle <3<3<3

  11. Good point about how people in the fash industry dress differently according to their ranks/levels. At my school, the professors joke that the merchandising students are the ones always dressed to kill and the apparel design students are the ones wearing sweats/whatever.

  12. Cheese has no evils!
    You look so cute, and your personality sounds so infectious too! (In a good way, like laughter)

  14. I appreciate the way you’re chronicling your experience on this. It’s incalculably valuable to me to be able to dress how I want at work, both by way of the dress code and my own comfort level.

  16. all the best to you at work, and i hope to see more susie style emerging soon, like how it goes from grey to bold prints and fabric up there (: way to gooo!

  18. Hurrah Susie! What a liberating (and fully justifiable) feeling. There is a wonderful sense of calm that descends when you can express yourself through fashion, without fear of ridicule or reprisal.

  20. i’m always really interested to see what bloggers have to say about how changes in environment, company, mood and lifestyle affect how they dress. and i’m in love with that last outfit….

  21. Great outfits and glad that you are settling in enough to be yourself! I have always started new jobs with the philosophy of hit the ground talking might as well let people get used to it straight away!
    So fantastic as well that you are working in a place where you can please yourself clothes-wise.

  23. it’s always great to have a lot of freedom dress-wise, I used to love that too, being an art student. however, I gradually shifted towards casual and comfortable, so I can work. it’s weird, it’s like I’ve lost my passion for trying out new things. oh, well, I guess it’s called growing up. 🙂

  24. i totally agree with you – it takes a bit of time to fully be able to show your true colours (both in the metaphorical way and the pink-PVC-skirt way) but it’s great that you can dress totally how you like for this new job, it sounds completely perfect for you.
    also, didn’t know you thought cheese was evil…everyone loves cheese, but they obviously are wrong!
    http://feathersandsequins.uber.com

  25. That floral skirt is my favourite! I know what you mean about dressing down for work, it’s always very interesting meeting colleagues out of work and seeing their styles!

  26. Know exactly what you mean…i’m at work at the moment, i’m wearing black trousers, silver pumps, a black top and black fitted hoodie – but only because i have to! I work at a secure psychiatric unit, so no heels and no showing much skin, makeup should not be innappropriate etc…thats work for you! You’re job sounds wicked though! Are you the editor of Dazed?!?!?!!!

  28. Woah there… hold up! Not editor of Dazed ppl… commissioning editor of Dazed DIGITAL…. apt, non? Still digital, still fashion….

  29. You’re just going to have to be YOU, whatever the incarnation is on a particular day. I hope you can relax into any style at your new job.

  30. I like how you play it “safe” a bit–it definitely makes you seem more human! Sometimes I wonder if you get shy about your clothes at all–I mean I love them, but I’m sure you garner a lot of attention and this is something that affects the way I dress too often.

  32. fun-tastic styles! i totally understand what you mean. i work in contemporary art, and it was confusing at first. some people pushed the limits wearing vintage and lux, while others kept it corporate, esp my boss. i just wear whatever suits my mood now. i can’t let other people’s judgements restrict me. so, do you get to play with any fashion closets of the sort at dazeddigital? 😉

  33. keep pushing the boundaries of work attire kay?
    it sounds like you’re loving your new job. (and so you should).
    I love your simpler outfits too. But nothing beats a layered up susie.

  34. 🙂 I totally get where you are coming from… i work part time in digital media and part time playing out my fashion fantasies (albeit on a tiny, trillion-miles-away-from-Dazed scale). Although there is a relaxed dress code in media (meeja dahling), everyone dons a daily casual uniform of vintage style tees and jeans… and a fairly conservative smart/casual code on client meeting days…
    I am having a difficult time integrating jeans back into my wardrobe again…

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