The April WithPockets Edit
What's good now and what's on the horizon in officewear...
Firstly, “hello and thank you!” to all the new WithPockets followers. It has only been a month, and I can’t believe how many of you there are already following (especially considering I’ve had no time to do any marketing…). It looks like there are a lot of women out there with an interest in fashion that reflects their lifestyle and writing that isn’t AI-generated SEO slop. Or possibly you’re just looking to read something a bit light that lets you forget about global politics for a heartbeat. Whatever your reason, welcome!
I’ve decided I’ll do an ‘edit’ article once a month, wrapping up current office-wear trends and things I’ve seen around the traps. I’ll also look to give you a flavour of what’s about to hit the shops because, despite having almost no followers itself, the WithPockets Instagram account has already been invited to about a million secret squirrel chat channels for fashion insiders. This is hilarious to me and feels very much like when I was in my twenties and was somehow on any number of ultra-cool nightclub VIP lists despite not being famous or going to nightclubs that often.
This month it’s official, we can mark the death of two of the most ubiquitous trends in recent fashion: the Fisk brown suit and the barrel-leg trouser. Burgundy, baby pink, and wide leg trousers are where office fashion is heading, folks.
However, just when you think you’ve successfully banished two bad trends, two new ones enter the chat; leather dresses and puffball skirts and jackets. Yes, we’ve replaced one ‘80’s fashion remix with another.
I actually like the look of some of the leather shift dresses, but it’s optimistic they will translate well to Australia. The forecast for this Autumn (for Northern Hemisphere readers, everything is the opposite here, even seasons…) shows we’re in for a warmer than average winter with low rainfall. The words ‘warm’ and ‘leather’ never work well together (which is why you never see Goths in Fiji). Also, biblical flooding can and does return at any time in Australia (for those in the North of Australia, it never went away…), and when it does, that leather dress will be a mould magnet…
Finally, it looks like someone high up in Peter Shepherd read last week’s WithPockets article on comfortable shoes as an extensive range of Spanish footwear brand Chie Mihara is now available Down Under as of this week. Woohoo!
WithPockets x
A new colour palette
In the words of Gillian Anderson’s new fabulously feminist Marks and Spencer’s ‘Chief Compliments Officer’ adverts, can I say a big ‘Love that!’ to Perri Cutten’s latest season of trouser suits? See below, they’re absolutely ‘chef’s kiss’.
Perri Cutten Alto Wool Suit in Bordeaux seen below with the Florence Leather Dress in Burgundy. Yes, even the dress has pockets!
Perri Cutten’s Adelena Suit in dusty pink is also beautiful – and it has an unusual long cut to the jacket and no lapels, which somehow looks completely new and different.
If you prefer a lapel but like the longer line, ME + EM do a really lovely light pink blazer. It has a twill weave, so it’s got a bit of character. Not sure how the light pink trousers will fare colour-wise after a domestic flight or two though...
Staying on the pale pink theme, Bianca Spender’s Powder Wool Mutual Jacket is pretty much the ideal Spring/Autumn transition jacket.
Regrettably, this jacket does not have pockets owing to its shape, which is a shame or it would be a strong contender for jacket of the year (at this rate, I’m going to need to do a whole article on jackets…)
Also at Bianca Spender, this (slightly pricey) shirt with a funnel collar caught my eye.
You can’t tell from the picture above but the website photos make it look very Fran Leibowitz, whose uncompromising trademark looks I can only aspire to in my Autumn years. I also love that, in the sea of dry clean only shirts in the shops right now (seriously, who thought that was a good idea?) this one is 100% cotton and would do fine on a cold gentle hand wash setting in the washing machine.
Considerably more affordable, is this Jaegar Cotton Modal Jersey Woven midi skater dress. It looks absolutely nothing like its name (with the exception of the fabric). I would love to show it to you, but sadly Marks&Spencer’s social media marketing is best described as ‘vibes based’ (lots of British people eating strawberries from hampers), with the exception of the Gillian Anderson campaign. The dress has a cowl neck, cinched waist and pockets (hooray!) and would look incredible in the office. Definitely worthy of a compliment from Gillian.
M&S’s own brand Pure Cotton Balloon Sleeve Jacket is a good (much cheaper) alternative to the Bianca Spender jacket above and will probably be sold out in about 5 minutes flat so I’d get in quick if I were you.
Finally, a confession. I meant to include another shoe brand in last week’s article on comfortable shoes and I only remembered it the next day. If you don’t already, you should also definitely know about Parisian shoe brand Carel, which stocks the kind of low-to-mid heel shoes that allow French women to effortlessly traipse the streets of Paris looking fabulous. My favourites are the silver ballet shoes with a slight Cuban heel (yes, really), which would go well with pretty much any of the clothes above
What’s caught your eye lately? And how do you feel about the prospect of leather shift dress? (or a light pink suit?) Let us know!