We had so much fun with the last Style Flashback, we are doing it again. I am using the royal “we” and you are along for the ride. Fun, fun! This time, we are going back to 2012 and my back-to-work outfits following my first maternity leave. Bonus cameo appearance from my ill-calculated “new toddler mom” pixie haircut that was definitely not lower maintenance than my previous shoulder-length bob and took entirely too many years to grow out.
Let’s go!
First of all, yes: that is the same brown cardigan and belt from 2011. I didn’t choose the outfit for that reason; it just happens to be one of my favourites from that era. In fact, I’d probably still wear it now – the skirt is a touch short for my current taste, but it has the right ideas. As you might be able to tell from these outfits, I was beginning to experiment with pattern mixing and some bolder styling. These are all outfits I wore to work. At the time, I was a research lawyer in private practice; because my role wasn’t generally client-facing, I had a fair bit of leeway when it came to dress code, and my outfits ran the gamut from business casual to almost-business formal (not pictured here because, let’s face it, it tends to be pretty boring).
Apart from the outfit on the left, the styling and proportions wouldn’t work for me today – and neither would most of the clothing. Apart from the Louis Vuitton bag, I don’t own any of it anymore. I do wish I’d kept that pretty, patterned silk blouse from the first outfit, though. I love the collar! Otherwise, there are various design elements that don’t suit me anymore:
- Fitted blazers with “fussy” details
- Knee-length (or just below) skirts
- Dropped waistlines (middle photo)
- Peep-toe shoes
Here are some 2024 iterations of the same outfits:
The key changes here, for me, are the length of the skirt and the shoes. Look how much taller (and longer legged) I look when wearing a high-waisted midi skirt! But, like I said, the 2012 outfit is still pretty solid.
To be clear, if I were to put together a blazer-and-pants outfit today, it would look nothing remotely like this 2012 version. Indeed, if I’m wearing pants these days, it’s more likely to be with some combination of vest, men’s shirt, sweater, and (outerwear) coat, rather than a blazer. But in the spirit of the exercise, I tried to find the closest approximation of the 2012 outfit, black pants included. I also tried to stick to a restrained colour palette. You will notice the waistline is a lot higher and the pants are belted. The blazer is longer, less fitted, stripped of embellishments; visual interest is, instead, added via a textured, patterned fabric.
Finding a current version of this 2012 outfit was the most challenging of the lot. My lifestyle is completely different now, and I rarely dress to this level of formality for work. The outfit on the right is the closest I could find – something I wore to the office on one of my rare in-person visits. My current role is in-house, and most of my colleagues are, like me, working remote, so the office dress code is about as relaxed as it gets in the legal profession. My corporate goth era is long past, so I rarely wear head-to-toe black at the office; there are always at least a couple of other neutrals in play (white, cream, brown, and blue being some of my usual go-tos). There are still “embellishments”, but they are more subtle: coloured tights (not patterned), a jewel collar, a simple belt. The skirt is longer, but a less traditional style. The blazer is also longer and less fitted, almost a bit boxy. And the textural contrast has been dialed up, between the tweed blazer, the cable-knit sweater, and the corduroy skirt.
I will leave you with this thought: none of these outfits are objectively worse or better – they are simply different. It’s not necessary to completely disavow the things I once loved in service of the things I love now, nor hold them sacrosanct simply because I once loved them.
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