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Nearly all my clothes are mid level of refinement, so I can wear them for work or off duty. Though I have a wide range of activities, I have very few strictly work, strictly dressy, or strictly casual things.

Gear is seperate, but in my colors, and I choose skorts instead of shorts, which cross over to normal casual wear. For example, I can go paddleboarding, hit the shops, chill at a winery and not change cause my skort + matching tank passes as a dress.

It sounds like you've bought a lot of black clothes for work, of things that would ordinarily feel authentic, but seems like you still don't. Otherwise you wouldn't mind wearing the clothes at other times. When you worked in fashion, did you wear your work clothes off duty?

As someone already briefly mentioned, my wardrobe is specifically branched in a number of different ways, and I don't see any way around that. First, there is the winter/summer bifurcation. Then, there is the dressy/work distinction. Granted, what I consider work wear is dressier than many others, but I still prefer having things that are special and distinct to wear out to fancy dinners or events. It would not make me happy to put on a top I had hiked in to wear for dinner. Just my personal preference.

As for workout wear, I have a very small capsule specifically for that, and then I have my casual/at home clothes. Those actually wear out most quickly, as it is a smaller capsule that gets washed more frequently and also gets heavier wear than almost anything else.

My particular problem was Summer related. It is so hot and humid here but, when I worked in an office, it was air conditioned. Effectively I had a fashion bubble in which I could wear what I wanted. Lots of pencil skirts, jackets, silky blouses and heels. On weekends I wore denim shorts and tees and I had a few sundresses for going out. The shorts didn’t thrill me, but it was all ok because 5 days a week I got to dress up and feel good about my style.

Then in 2018 I moved permanently to work from home and realised how dismal my casual Summer wardrobe was. There was no way I was going to WFH in a pencil skirt, heels and jacket (all power to those who do). I think a lot of people experience this at retirement or during the pandemic.

So I developed a few rules:
*Shoes are the foundation of every outfit and have to be all day wearable. For me that means flat or a heel of less than 3.5 cm. If an item requires heels to make it work/feel good to me, I don't buy it. I wont wear it enough. (Possible exception for special occasion outfit.)
*For Summer, if an item requires a jacket (includes a casual jacket) for me to like it, I wont buy it. I wont wear it enough.
*I limit purchases of Summer jackets period. Cotton jumpers are way more useful for me.
*I limit purchases of or don’t buy strappy summer tops or sundresses. I can only wear these indoors or at night. Not enough.
*Summer items have to be natural fibres and washable. In the past I had a few poly tank tops (you can get great moody patterns in poly!) but I simply don’t have the conditions to wear them enough.
*If I go for a walk or hike I wear regular clothes. Many if not most women here wear gear to go for walks, but I reserve gear for true gym related (sweaty) activities. When I buy something I think, would I go for a walk in this? It’s a great filter.
*I do buy the odd “precious, save for good wear” piece. I try to limit them in number and avoid anything too trendy so I can keep it for a while. I also have a system where I save a nice skirt for good wear in its first year then demote it to everyday wear in its second or third year. That way I’m not so devastated if it gets hurt (as I’m probably not as enamoured with it as I first was).

For you, I am not sure whether you can satisfactorily integrate your work wardrobe with the rest of your wardrobe, given that your workwear is a uniform of sorts. I think, if you want to avoid “bifurcation”, the place to concentrate on is home/casual/going out wear (includes clothes you would wear to shop in, or do errands). Look for items that are casual, comfortable and practical but interesting (eg parachute pants!). Think about how you could dress it up or down. Separates are better in my opinion than dresses because they are more amenable to being dressed up or down with the right partner.

Interesting topic with lots of great responses and ideas. I would think having a life-spanning wardrobe would be tricky if not downright impossible.

Great discussion! So I have watched the same reels but have a different take away. Ok, yes Amy wears her pieces from her own line to her fancy barre classes and to work in lower Manhattan and then out to dinner. She is in a very particular position as the owner of a successful fashion company - access to lots of beautiful pieces and able to replace things that get destroyed, freedom to wear (and design!) what she wants, and so on.
For me the lesson was to carry over my style into all the things I do, not just necessarily the public ones. So no, I really am not looking to wear my home clothes (a lot of hoodies and easily washable clothing) as part of my leaving the house outfits, but yes have started putting my care into which pieces get to live in that category. I want the style through-line rather than the crossover items per se.

Jaime - that’s a very good point . And having all pieces of the pie reflect how you like to dress leads to being able to wear them across more categories .

One thing that occurred to me was , maybe 10-12 years ago , how much easier it seems to wear my athletic clothes for other events because the whole long -over-lean look lent itself to a pair of Lululemon tights with a beautiful big oversize sweater and boots . That was my favourite uniform for weekends spent watching basketball and volleyball games , then popping into the grocery store , then off to the gym with only a change of top . Now ? That look isn’t considered current , even though I still secretly love it . I was in line at HomeSense today behind a woman my age wearing just what I described , with a modern / straight cut puffer overtop . Great looking studded Chelsea boots too . Totally reminded me of how I dressed a decade ago and I thought she still looked great ! Set me back on my heels a bit .

Lisa - I have a lot of really nice ( to me ) black pants for work from Vince , Lululemon , Club Monaco ….and also a bunch of low-end stuff bought just for variety’s sake . I’m not lacking in ideas for my work wardrobe at this point .

Carla - you are right . If my uniform was navy and not black I’d be in heaven . I love black and think I wear it well . If I wasn’t so sick of it after 5 days of it I’d wear those pieces all the time ! Like the infamous Lululemon OTF pants - I have 4 pair and NEVER touch them outside of work !

Thanks to all who have commented - lots of great comments here . I’m on my phone which , as we know , makes it harder to scroll back without losing what we’ve typed

Jenn - YES to not being so precious with clothes ! Now part of my issue with wearing regular clothes out for a walk is that a sundress on a walk indicates I’m not serious about what I’m doing or , I’m a dilettante . Lol. So if I dress like I mean business maybe I will work harder ? It is kind of silly , I know . And yes , I see the pattern in your finds ;).

My wardrobe is bifurcated in relation to what I wear when exercising or going to the beach (karate gi is not going anywhere else but the dojo - and my gym and beach clothing is gear that I am happy to change out of when I get home and showered after a workout/swim). Other than that, my aim is for my clothes cross functions. I tend to be overdressed as compared to others and have no problem with that, if I wasn't, then it would be harder for me to wear "the good stuff" as much as I do.

I find I can dress down what may otherwise be a dressy outfit with casual footwear and since working from home I am mainly wearing lowered heeled boots (in Autumn, Winter and Spring) and sandals (in Summer) with sneakers being my change of footwear when I am walking greater distances.

Some of my office work clothes acquired prior to 2021 remain in my wardrobe. I doubt that I will wear out these clothes, but I view owning them as a sunk cost and I enjoy wearing them when catching up with clients which happens at least monthly. I find as the weather cools, I am more inclined to wear a blazer when working from home with jeans, which means that the items are not languishing in my wardrobe unworn.

So you can wear your work clothes for your other activities but you don’t want to after seeing yourself 5 days a week in black. Understandable and relatable. Lisa, it seems to me that the problem is not your wardrobe, it’s your work

Irina - yes , I fully acknowledge the issue is me , and not my clothes . But work aside , I still hope I can use my wardrobe more efficiently and not have clothes saved for specific uses . I think this will be easier in the summer months .

Haha, what Irina just said

You're right Lisa, I'm pretty non-bifurcated, but this is more natural tendency than by design tbh:

- my personal style is very essential-heavy
- my casual style skews slightly more polished than average, meanwhile my dressing up style skews more understated than average - so I naturally cover a wider range of events with my default style choices (cue memory of my mom being annoyed at my for wearing taupe pants and a black cotton t-shirt to a school event where my friends all wore dresses and hats *sigh*)
- I don't have an annoying uniform to deal with (when I worked in the nursery school with that stupid uniform of black pants + solid colour top, you can be sure I changed every day after work and never did those items see the rest of my life)
- I'm pretty comfortable wearing the "wrong" thing providing it's functionally correct ... so for example, if I'm going to do a sweaty workout, I'll put proper gear on, but if I'm going to do a 20 minute yoga flow at home, I'll just swap out my jeans for yoga pants but leave my cotton crewneck on; same for walks, etc. I think you do more hard workouts than I do though where this wouldn't work.

To that last point, I think I've got a wardrobe that's a bit like one of those kids books where you flip one section of a page to make a new picture - which I think is what Amy is getting at? Ways I've consciously supported this is keeping one palette for my whole wardrobe, keeping it pretty wash-and-wear and easy-care fabrics, and basically not gravitating to particularly 'special' pieces, if that makes sense.

Not sure if that's any use at all *facepalm*

I had to look up the word "bifurcated"....

I'm nodding along with everyone!

It sounds like Bijou, Brooklyn and I have a similar daily dressing and wardrobe strategy.

FWIW:

• I don't wear my yoga wardrobe for anything but yoga and PT. I ALWAYS wear proper yoga gear for yoga. My yoga is active so I need the right clothing.

• My evening loungewear is ONLY for that purpose.

• I DO wear my dressy items daily, dressed down, and do everything in them! WFH, doggie walks, errands on foot, see clients, go to apps, cook, clean up, travel! I wear dressy pants like others wear joggers and leggings. Skirts and dresses when it warms up, and also dressy - but dressed down. As long as I can MOVE (nothing form fitting), wear a crossbody, and the feet are very happy - I am not precious with what I wear. It is very liberating!

• I wear the same pearls hiking, and to a formal event.

• I don't wear Athleisure or gear so when I'm on a hike, trail, at the beach, or on woodsy walk with doggies - I wear older jeans, casual sweaters, fashion sweatshirts, casual shirts, casual toppers, hats, scarves, pearls, a crossbody Furla, and VERY comfy shoes. It is no different to my casual attire. Hubs Greg has the same dressing formula.

• I wear a pants suit like every day pants and jacket - but with VERY comfy and casual shoes. Crossbody of course!

• My very formal items come out less often because I want to keep them special.

LJP, I sympathize with the problematic and annoying work uniform. If you could wear what you wanted to work - it would make a huge difference! At least changing up the palette would be an improvement. I probably wouldn't wear any of it on my days off either. But I DO encourage you to wear your good stuff more often. On your days off!

I am back to clarify -- for me, there are hikes (which really are on often back trails, a lot of climbing, wet ground (sometimes flooded), and so on -- and gear really makes a difference for these. I can't do it in regular clothing. And the gear has very little crossover.

Workouts -- kettlebells -- I wear my gear. The only crossover garments, really, are the hoodies I wear for warmup/ cool down -- I do wear those for loungewear at home and also sometimes for "fashion" and WFH. They are nice merino hoodies.

Then there are neighbourhood (suburban) walks. These also involve (often) muddy streets (no sidewalks here), bits of trail (short distances), some mud (at times.) For those, I wear my regular clothes (including dress pants) but I typically change out the footwear to my Blundstones or sneakers, unless the footwear is already waterproof.

And finally, there is urban walking, for which I wear my regular clothes including any footwear that suits the outfit.

What is my point, LOL? My point again (I think) is that the degree of crossover that works for a given person is going to depend as much on her activities and location as it is going to depend on her actual clothes. But Helena makes really good points about the kind of clothing that tends to work best across multiple activities.

I thought what you said about silhouette was really interesting. That silhouette (leggings/ sweater) really suits you -- both in terms of your personality, your lifestyle, and your figure flattery priorities. So it is natural you would be missing it! I wonder if you can lean more towards it again, "currency" notwithstanding...or find ways to make it feel current? (No doubt it will be back with a flourish in a year or two...)

Meanwhile, those like Sal and me, who languished when that silhouette predominated, had better stock up on clothing now!!

Haha Suz! Good point re silhouettes. My sister is the same height but more of an IT shape and long over lean looked so good on her - and she still wears it.

I am with you on the gear thing too and the variety depending on the particular activity - the devil is in the detail.

Lisa just reading back again and this might be a bit off but I DO think you can do long over lean still ... Like you say, with chunky vs refined footwear, updated leggings, etc ...? CGs leggings highlight on her Instagram had a few examples that would look so good on you.

Lisa -- another thought -- if you don't feel leggings/ long tops can work for you at the moment IRL because it doesn't feel on trend enough for your style preferences (despite loving that silhouette and knowing it suits you down to the ground) how about making this your WORK silhouette? Is this possible? (I don't know if they make you wear some kind of polo shirt or something, which would make it awfully hard.) But if there is no specific top you must wear, then this would seem like a natural silhouette for the gym environment?

But you know...if most of your hours are spent in a silhouette you love and find super easy to wear, then you can experiment with options outside -- or maybe keep the same silhouette but different pieces.

Of course that might make your current work wardrobe unwearable. OR you might enjoy wearing those pieces outside of work.

Just wondering, maybe those Lululemon work pants could work for walks too? That might make you feel like you are getting more crossover.

I guess I am getting better at this, that is using my clothes across different facets of my life. I have been wearing my black pants to dinner and dressier events but I had initially bought them for work. I could even wear them casually which I might experiment since I have decided to use up what I have. I dress up my jeans for work but then wear them with sneakers or birks around the place. I guess this is because I can do pretty casual for work and I don't go to a lot of dressy events. The dressiest I went to last week, I wore my black work pants cuffed with a silk top and shiny shoes and I was as dressed up as anyone else there. Things could be different if I worked in a more corporate environment or had a dress code...friends that work at private schools tell me there are uniform codes like no jeans or jean jackets. I don't have those restrictions. I also have workout clothes that I would never wear anywhere else......when i do a hike or yoga sequence I sweat and wear very form fitting clothes. I do wear my yoga clothes to hike and my running clothes to do yoga and I do wear my running shorts to the beach with a bikini top because I don't go to the beach much. Something someone else mentioned is that people sometimes need psychological space between work and home. I tend to take off my work/dress pants and throw on shorts, then put jeans on if I have to leave the house again. I might keep the tank top on but take off the blazer and put on a sweatshirt. I guess that is working towards being less bifurcated.

Suz- unfortunately there is a jacket ( a typical track-style zip up ) we have to wear . It’s grey with a red and black embroidered logo - ha. That’s the true uniform : the rest is just black bottoms and a black top . I actually did the old long over lean today for errand running and loved it :). Long grey sweater over Lulu tights , Chelsea lug boots , toque and long puffer . I’m still wearing it in fact . I forgot how much I loved this look - it’s so perfect for running around in -30c weather like today .

Helena - ooh , thanks for the tip ! I’ll go have a look . I’ve been so freaked out that she’s going to die , btw . I don’t know how she is pushing through .

Oh and Suz, when I say hiking I mean walking in an urban forest . I’m not climbing or scrambling over rocks and tree roots , lol. I really need to get real with myself

Lisa I almost DMd you to ask if you knew anything ... Was so relieved when she posted a few days ago. I can't imagine the ordeal she's going through

Maybe it’s mentioned elsewhere in this conversation, but can someone tell me who CG on Instagram is, please? Thanks!

Hi cjh, it's Charly Goss. She's sort of an influencer you either love or hate (in terms of her content and the way she presents info) and has prompted some very lively debate on the forum! Sadly, she is battling cancer and is not doing well currently, which is what the health comments were about. Sorry for the code-speak; I didn't want to start a whole thing about her since she's controversial, but I know LJP likes her content hence wanted to share that there was some relevant info on her Instagram

Thanks, Helena.

I looked at the leggings suggestions and they were great - although I suspect my versions are closer to the before then the after…..

My wardrobe is somewhat compartmentalized, and I’m OK with that. I just consider myself lucky if I can find clothes that fit and flatter and then scrape together a few outfits I feel good in for my key activities!

Raises hand on very bifurcated wardrobe. Seriously, I think multitasking in theory is a great idea, but if you are not buying multiples that perfect ponte top that you are now wearing for workout and hiking is going to look bedraggled nice casual, work. I do have swing in my wardrobe - I wear my nice blazers on the weekend and for dress. My workout capsule can skew into hikes as can some of my lounge capsule but I don't wear that for work or nice weekend. Yes, I've worn my hiking boots to work on occasion but not a lot and no I won't wear my good booties on a hike - performance wear, is what it is. I have nice theory leggings so I'm not going to wear my nirlon yoga pants. I think if my style was less dressy there would be work crossover, same wfh. I forget who was the blogger etc who talked about items swinging one formality up or down but not multiple leaps of formality. I think that's where my over lap comes from and I'm fine with that. I need work, dressy, formal, workout, lounge and I just try and get use out of what I have but not beat myself up over that. One capsule to rule them all works in a category for me but not across all of life, but if you can manage that I truly stand in awe!