How to get dressed in the morning

We’re not suggesting you need advice on how to put your pants on before work. Morning are hard but after years of practice you’re not a total novice when it comes to applying clothes…well, most days anyway! Instead, our advice is aimed at helping you to make the most out of your wardrobe, ensuring you look fab-u-lous every day of the week.

If you’re someone who hates the pre-work routine, you’ll easily be able to identify the type of morning person you are…

Plain and simple

You lack faith in your fashion know-how and have very few clothes in your wardrobe. With little confidence to try something new and few options to choose from, getting dressed is more of a necessity than a chance to show off individual style. It’s only work, right?!

Totally chaotic

You find yourself running around like a headless chicken and have loads of clothes in your wardrobe. There’s simply too much choice and not enough days in the week to wear everything! Time runs out before you piece the perfect outfit together resulting in mismatched patterns and a late arrival into the office.

An inbetweener

You fit somewhere between the first two: picking a nice outfit can be successful but that depends on how much sleep you’ve had – and how much you really care about your appearance for the day ahead!  Is looking glam worth losing out on an extra 20 minutes in bed?  Where’s the snooze button…

Therefore to make your mornings less stressful you have two options:

1. Wear the same outfit every day of the week

You may laugh, but it is a thing! Steve Jobs was famous for wearing Levi’s, black turtleneck and New Balance trainers every day of the week. He was probably more famous for inventing a very clever computer but we’ll save that topic for a separate ‘how to make a very clever computer’ video. For most women, whether they’re avid followers of fashion or not, wearing the same ensemble every day is not the done thing. So, that leaves option two…

2. Plan your daily outfits

We plan for other aspects of our lives all the time, so why not what we’re going to wear each day of the week?  Take, for example, the weekly food shop. We decide what we’re going to eat for the week, write a list and go buy it. The approach to planning your outfits needn’t be that different and unlike your food shop, you’ve already got the ingredients sitting in your wardrobe! So put aside 30 minutes, or an hour if you can, to spend some quality time with your wardrobe and PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!

If you like the sound of option two, follow these simple steps and you’ll be cool, calm and fashionably elegant in no time at all.

Step 1

Think about what your week involves per day – this will help you to choose clothes on a practical level. For example, Fridays in the office can be super busy and you may be up and down the stairs like a yoyo. Therefore you could opt for:

• Flat, comfy shoes or trainers (dress code permitting)
• A lightweight top so that you don’t overheat
• A tailored pair of trousers to keep the look smart

Step 2

Go through each day in exactly the same way and pull out the clothes suited to your schedule, laying them on your bed and teaming the main items (top/trousers/skirts etc.) with matching accessories.

Step 3

Try on each outfit to make sure it works and that you like it – if you skip this step now, you run the risk of finding out it looks awful two seconds before you need to leave the house, or worse still, in the mirror at work! 

Step 4

Finally, take a picture of each outfit on your phone. Each photo will act as a daily reminder of what you’re going to put on. Just lay the clothes out on the bed and take a quick snap. That’s it!

Five Bonus Tips!

Because we believe looking tip-top is a crucial part of a stress free week, here are five more tips to help you plan your weekly outfits

1. Don’t let a commute or the school run dictate your outfit choices.

You may opt for a pair of trainers if you’re walking in all weathers but you can pop your snazzy heels into your bag to change into once you’re in the office.

2. Space out outfits that use the same item of clothing.

If you only have one black jumper that you’d like to wear twice in a week, wear it with a few days either side i.e. Monday and Thursday, just in case you need to wash the jumper between each wear.

3. Maybe you want to wear the same outfit twice in a week?

No matter, just wear it at opposite ends of the week or disguise the same outfit by adding a scarf.

4. Make your clothes work harder for you!

Try and get as much wear out of all the clothes you own and mix things up a bit. Remember that really nice suit that you only save for important meetings?  Wear the skirt and jacket as separates and create some different outfits. Just remember to dry clean them both at the same time to keep the colour matching.

5. Transform your outfit from day to night

If you’re going out straight from work and have little time to get changed, think about how you can easily transform your current outfit with minimum fuss. Often it’s as simple as adding accessories like a stand-out clutch bag and a pair of heels. Another good trick is wearing jeans under a dress – a nice daytime look and by simply whipping off your jeans you’re ready for the cocktail bar!

By the end of your one-to-one with your wardrobe, you will know exactly what you’re putting on every morning of the week – and it’s a good feeling. Don’t fancy doing it every week, though? Just wear it all again the week after with a few minor tweaks.

The editorial unit