You know what gets my goat?

...Unacceptable office attire. I'm not talking here about mini skirts or crop tops. I am talking about something worse. Something more offensive. More detrimental to the feminist movement than topless darts. I'm talking crap Polyester 'suits'. Be it trouser or skirt. Usually grey. Sometimes black. Hey, sometimes checked or striped. Bootlegged. Fishtailed. Whatever, I abhor them.  They are the definition of 'blah'. Though fictional, this conversation in class 80s powerhouse movie Working Girl sums it up completely.

Jack Trainer: You're the first woman I've seen in one of these things that dresses like a woman, not like a woman thinks a man would dress if he was a woman.
Tess McGill: Thank you I guess.

You don't need to dress like a man to get ahead in business. Equally you don't need to dress like a slut. I wear trousers but i also like wearing skirts and dresses.  If i feel i look too girly i try and edge it out with ankle boots or a sharp up do. Some women might like wearing aforementioned 'suits' but in my opinion, (and after all isn't that exactly what blogs are for?) they fall into the neither use nor ornament category as in they're neither comfortable or pretty.

For perfectly blah examples of this, see The Apprentice. Ruth Badger, Debra Barr, Kate Walsh, and they are just the memorable ones. I work in PR for a male dominated financial services environment but do try out as many new looks as i feel appropriate. Others may question the appropriateness of my outfits but i am confident in my professional ability and happily married so i dress purely for me. What i like and feel comfortable and confident in. Not to progress my career or boost my sex appeal. I regularly browse the blogs to see other examples of this being done well. My favourites include Audrey http://www.befrassy.com/ (Parisian chic at its most contemporary) Morven http://morven-catsandrockingchairs.blogspot.com/ Antonia http://thirty-days.co.uk/  and even even though it's not her usual contemporary casual style, India Rose has spoken about the shape her working look would take - (SEE BELOW)

IMAGE CARE OF http://indiaroseblog.blogspot.com/

I feel those in a fashion or female dominated industry have more of a free reign so i do feel slightly less creative than some of the blogs i've mentioned, like the less fashionable relative. But would urge the trouser suit brigade, next time you have an important meeting or job interview, mix it up a little. Hit the blogs or even Sex and the City reruns. The closest i have come to a trouser suit in recent years is a blazer, cropped cigarette pants and a vintage tee a'la Carrie on her date with Berger in Season 6. Why there is a Yes in Polyester, I'll never know...x Talia