August 7, 2026
Let’s check in our bank employee, with career goals clearly in her focus! She’s chosen to dress in a manner reflective of the way the upper executives dress, while still keeping a foot firmly planted in her current position. It’s a balancing act to clearly appear “promotion-worthy” while at the same time not alienating or offending your current co-workers…
In order to help her in her focus and shopping discipline, our heroine has chosen this painting and color palette as her wardrobe inspiration:
Before any August shopping, our heroine already has 32 pieces in her wardrobe. She’s never at a loss as to what to wear!
A big reason that she dresses with ease every day is that she has a GREAT assortment of accessories. She’s particularly happy with her shoes – she has pretty much anything from sandals to boots to wear with her navy neutrals:
If she’s EVER going to find forest green and peacock blue (or petrol, or maybe even teal), it should be at the beginning of the cool-weather clothing season. And so she looks!
The corduroy dress? She debated at length about it, in her head. But she opted for it because it’s very much the kind of garment in which she’s comfortable, and it will be an excellent option for casual Fridays. It’s certainly not “corporatish,” but at the same time it IS a dress… She’s optimistic that she can find the middle ground of ambitious and still a member of the team!
Earrings – Anthropologie; peacock blue cashmere sweater – Nadaam; blue shirt – Eileen Fisher; green merino cardigan – L.L.Bean; necklace – Anthropologie; corduroy dress – COS; suede bag – Quince
Her 56-piece wardrobe template now looks like this:
When arranged in a more relaxed way, by color, it’s easy to see that she’s beginning to accumulate a good assortment of accent colors. She is still looking for pink and/or teal, however! A cashmere turtleneck maybe? Or a silk blouse?
And her accessories just keep getting lovelier! It felt a bit odd to not buy shoes this month, but she just didn’t feel the need; she thought that a cool accent handbag might be a better choice…
Of course, THIS heroine has thought about each and every possible way she will wear her new clothes. She’s very analytic…
Our heroine still has at least one more dress in mind – maybe a navy long-sleeved shirtdress, or a beautiful forest green…
love,
Janice
If you’d like to look back to the origins of this wardrobe, you can find all of the earlier posts here: Christmas Eve Preview, January, February, March, April, May, June, July
p.s. Ten years ago, I shared with you my little black dress sightings in downtown Chicago. Timeless work outfits…
Love these looks? Save them to Pinterest!
Yes to a green dress or maybe a teal one! In my humble opinion, skirts are better than dresses for dressing up or down which is perfect for this heroine. She could wear a thicker sweater with it in the cold weather and one of those sweater blazers would be awesome too.
Just thinking out loud. This heroine has captured my interest.
Agreed!
This is such a pretty wardrobe, based on such a pretty painting. I love all of the clothes….I especially *love* the new dress. I think it would be pretty with the pink blouse worn underneath it, jumper style. To me, this reads more of a wardrobe for academia, than for banking. The overall style and vibe, not to mention the colors, could be right from my closet. I see this as appropriate for a teacher anywhere from Kindergarten through University!
That being said, I’m 60 years old and have been a teacher since 1988. When I graduated from both undergraduate and graduate school, teaching was still a profession that dressed professionally. My first 5 years in the classroom, we couldn’t even wear pants, as per our dress code. Jeans weren’t allowed (unless you paid for it!) except on Fridays, until about 20 years ago. Now? It’s anything goes…my young colleagues tend to pajama bottoms everyday, along with hoodies. It’s my strong opinion, that if you want to be treated like a professional, you need to dress like one.
So…I’m digging this entire wardrobe. I just think it reads academia…..which I’m here for!
I agree with you on the academia vibes and also enjoy them!
Janice, maybe next April 1 you could do an entire professional wardrobe based on pajamas and hoodys.
Too funny. I totally agree about dressing professionally, Ellen. It drove me nuts to hear young teachers say they wanted the kids to treat them with more respect and yet they, teacher and student, both looked like they just rolled out of bed!
do u mean actual pyjamas?
Ooh, I wish for the beautiful forest green dress! 💚
Love these pieces you have picked this month! Before seeing your selection I guessed the wardrobe needed a green skirt and a lighter coloured dress. Though I guessed wrongly I was pleasantly surprised, especially by the green pieces and the dress!
I enjoy that guessing game too! I hold off on scrolling down until I’ve made a stab at what I might add to the wardrobe.
I’m always thinking about what MIGHT have been chosen for each wardrobe, in place of what actually goes into the mix! The options are endless…
love,
Janice
I saw that necklace at Anthropologie the other day and it keeps haunting me! Great choice for this heroine as it would look very cool with an office ensemble. I’m hesitant about the corduroy dress though – it feels too casual for an office.
Now I really want that Eileen Fisher shirt. Such a rich blue!
Love the wardrobe based on pajama bottoms plan!! Seriously, that green bag is sumptuous. This year I have made some significant investments into shoes and what a difference!! I didn’t realize that many of my wardrobe struggles were because I didn’t have quite the right shoes for any of my outfits, so it was always a struggle to get out the door. I just bought some Freda Salvador loafers which were way out of my regular price range but instantly opened up a huge range of options for existing outfits.
This month solidifies this wardrobe as my favorite! Loving your selections.
HURRAY, YES! This wardrobe is getting more and more “Noldy”. PS. I love the bag!