“What about a post sharing the  pieces you would absolutely have to have if you were still sometimes going to work?” asks a reader named Trinatinglum (not a typo). My current office is located approximately twenty steps from my bed, so it’s been a long time since I’ve had to think about appropriate work attire. And I always worked in offices that were pretty casual (at least in the sartorial respect) and I wore jeans just as often as I could get away with, which I pretty much always could as long as I was also wearing a sufficiently sharp blazer.

I also like blazer-adjacent jackets like this one from Iro, which is a little Chanel and a little rock & roll, and which comes in several colors. It’s excellent for those who think they look awful in blazers.

I’d also likely invest in a few nice drapey-but-polished blouses like this one. Here’s a similar-but-cheaper option.

I think this looks like it’d be pretty versatile too.

And because I’m not entirely allergic to color, I might acquire something like this well-priced top.

I’d also definitely pick up a pair of skinny cigarette pants, because they look so polished, and you can wear them with just about anything. Here’s a cute and cheaper pair.

To wear with those pants and jeans, I’d go for Rachel Comey’s now-classic Mars bootie. Their heel is high enough to be flattering, but low enough to be walkable.

On most days back when I worked in an office, I wore dresses, because that was the easiest, most one-step thing to do. I did then and still now prefer an interesting print like this one.

This looks so comfortable—I am always a sucker for a drop waist—and I dig the tonal print.

If I ever were to find myself in an office again, it would likely be at a job that didn’t have the best perk of my last one—a clothing allowance—so the vast majority of my shopping for Zero+Maria Cornejo dresses would happen on The Real Real. Much of the ZMC I’ve acquired lately comes from there, and I’ve picked up some choice items. I would wear the hell out of this unstoppable print were it available in my size. I used to go for big prints like this not infrequently back in the day, but I’d tone them down with tights, boots, and a dark cardigan of some kind.

I almost always wore dark knee-high boots with my dresses, especially this time of year (and not, obviously, in summer). I like this slightly clunkier, stacked wood heel number, too.