I’m Wearing:

Trench – Storets (similar at & Other Stories)

Jacket – Cacharel (similar at Urban Outfitters, Farfetch and Monki  )

Jeans – Topshop

Mules – 3.1 Phillip Lim  (similar at Gianvito Rossi sale, Gianvito Rossi and & Other Stories )

Bag – Chloé

The post TRENCH LIFE appeared first on The Glossy Banker.

I’m Wearing

Blazer – Storets

Silk Shirt – & Other Stories

Trousers – Carven (similar at & Other Stories, Theory, APC and Max Mara)

Belt – Gucci

Watch – Cluse

Shoes – Gianvito Rossi

Bag – Aspinal of London, Lansdowne Bag*

Silk Scarf (on bag handle) – Aspinal of London, Lion & Key Silk Scarf *

* Gifted items.

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I’m Wearing

Silk Shirt – & Other Stories here and here (similar at J.Crew, Equipment, Theory and Frame)

Trousers – Topshop

Shoes – Gianvito Rossi

Bag – Aspinal of London, Lansdowne Bag* 

Silk Scarf (on bag handle) – Aspinal of London, Lion & Key Silk Scarf *

Pen – Aspinal of London*

iPad Case – Aspinal of London, A5 Padfolio*

* Gifted items.

Photos: Emma Pharoah

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Basics are key to that throw-it-on-without-over-thinking style, whilst looking on point. But what else can I say? It’s April and still freezing cold …… so evidently this is my favourite outfit to wear all year round.

Enjoy X

I’m Wearing

Coat – Topshop (similar at & Other Stories, Isabel Marant, Vince, TIBI and Mango)

Turtleneck knit – Massimo Dutti (similar at & Other Stories and Mango)

Jeans – Topshop

Boots – Miu Miu (Purchased in 2008! But similar styles here at Vince, Stella McCartney, and Saint Laurant)

Photos: Emma Pharoah

The post WINTER BASICS … STILL GOING STRONG appeared first on The Glossy Banker.

I’m Wearing

Jacket – ASOS (similar here and here)

Trousers – Zara (similar here and here)

Shoes – 3.1 Phillip Lim (similar here and here)

Bag – Chloé (similar here and here)

Photos: Emma Pharoah

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This is why I love today’s look so much. Worn on a typical ‘dress down Friday’, with a professional yet relaxed feel i.e. pairing this power blazer with these loose fit jeans. You really can wear this look anywhere, from the office to a Friday night out and even weekend lunch dates with friends. The look is powerful yet elegant and laid-back. The structure of this blazer draws parallels to strong architecture and when worn, naturally commands presence. A perfect example of how fashion can be your armour and expression in everyday life.

We shot this look at one on one of my favourite locations in London – the borders of the city and Shoreditch – with some of my favourite buildings in the background. A perfect way to look back at the square mile and walk way from a long week to an evening out in a fabulous outfit!

So for a little life update to explain my non-existence on social media, I have taken a few short vacations and moved jobs in September returning back to my old stomping ground in Canary Wharf. But the biggest news of all is that I had my civil wedding and a month of beautifully intimate family moments – celebrating my fathers 60^th, my in-laws 40^thwedding anniversary and spending lots of quality time with family. I think the civil wedding will require a dedicated blog post very soon! It really has been an overwhelmingly beautiful month.

With so many celebrations and events, I’ve not had any time to think about buying clothes. What I can safely say, is the last years wardrobe has me fully prepped for this years Winter. I haven’t done a Winter workwear wardrobe update yet, but whilst walking past Zara in Canary Wharf and doing a quick spot check of Net-A-Porter’s ‘New In this Week’ section, I’ve been so happy to see Fall trends showcasing heavy check and tartan prints.

Given I bought this blazer from Zara in April, it once again goes to show that some trends stand the test of time and re-enforces my thoughts on responsible wardrobe purchases! I checked out Sandro Paris in Canary Wharf and found blazers in similar prints and colours to this one, but the big difference for me was the quality of materials they used in their blazer compared to the one featured here from Zara.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this blazer, and this may sound like a Zara bashing, but I have really got present to just how much I have spent in Zara and how easy it is to fall into a fast fashion addiction. I have touched on having a responsible wardrobe, but just last week I did a major wardrobe cleanse and realised just how irresponsible I have been.

I filled a huge bag of unwanted one-time worn clothes, which is currently being passed around various family members before it makes it way to charity. What shocked me was that everything in that bag was from either Zara or Topshop – and it easily could have been worth up to£1k worth of clothes based on initial purchase pricing.  And yet so often I would feel I still had nothing to wear..… wtf?!

How on earth have I got myself into this situation? I checked my Zara account and saw that I had 20 items in my shopping bag! My last purchase from Zara was this blazer and 2 others in April, and it is still serving me well in November. But the question is quality versus quantity?

All three blazers in that April-Zara-spree were in the £80 region or more, and reduced to£20 in the sale (very sad emoji moment), highlighting the quality issue – if it can sell for as low as £20 and Zara needs to make a profit, then obviously making the blazer was even cheaper. As such, I have found that the quality after washing/dry cleaning has not remained.  Especially on my pink suit featured in this blog post.

Having seen similar blazers at Sandro Paris collection, with the richness of the materials used and yes a heavier price tag, I have become aware of just how much better it is to have less with timeless quality. Part of being responsible and sustainable is actually just buying and using less. I would now happily swap out that bag of unused clothes to have three Sandro Paris blazers for life any day.

So my challenge now is to see how long I can go without buying from Zara or Topshop whilst embracing my love of fashion!

Have a great week!

Priya xx

Zara blazer (Similar styles at Sandro here, here, here and here) | Topshop Orson Jeans | Louis Vuitton clutch (similar here and here) | Gianvito Rossi shoes

Photos: Emma Pharoah

The post BLAZER ARCHITECTURE appeared first on The Glossy Banker.

As I pursued my summer ASOS shop, little did I know as I filled my online shopping basket with this blazer and dress that I would find my perfect take on a monochrome summer work ensemble!

So, my solution to fixing plain black and white is mixing prints in opposite colours – this oversize white pinstripe blazer worn over a black polka dot dress! The white top layer creates a fresh, crisp, tailored summer look!

The blazer is from Monki and is my first sustainable fashion purchase (made from 65% recycled materials). The quality of the material has left me keen to explore the many fast growing sustainable fashion brands. It also has huge pocket for your phone and wallet, dare I say it…handbag not needed for those quick lunch runs!

The dress is from the ASOS vintage collection, and I finished the whole look with the pearl Gucci Marmont belt to cinch in the waist for a feminine silhouette with classic glamour.

More than anything, it was fun to create and wear this look, which is one of the main reasons I started this blog – to have fun with fashion whilst working within the constraints of what is deemed ‘work appropriate’!

Have a great weekend xx

Monki blazer | ASOS Reclaimed Vintage dress | Gucci belt | Gianvito Rossi shoes

Photos: Emma Pharoah

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 I haven’t given much thought to my summer wardrobe this year. Infact, I haven’t bought anything specific since April as part of my work wardrobe update! All I can say is not spending hours trawling through Net-a-porter, Matchesfashion, Topshop, and ASOS etc, has been pretty liberating. Just being creative with what I have and working with the London climate to get my everyday style, has led me to a “capsule wardrobe” state of mind.

So my summer capsule wardrobe, whether work or weekend is blazer, camisole, trouser/jean (Friday option), and sneaker (commute) /flats (office) / heels (to dazzle).

Never before did I take to slinky and strappy camisoles for work, but with London’s current heat wave I really don’t care. I now have about 6 camisoles and have my arms, shoulders and décolletage on display, as they deserve to be after all those workouts. The blazer also provides an elegant option to shield me from the office chills (thank you air conditioning).

It really has been such a wonderfully carefree sense of style, leaving me in a space of look-at-what-I-have, and thinking about do-I-really-need-this? Even if I am a blogger, do I really need this? Is this what capsule wardrobes are all about? Why didn’t I jump on this wardrobe-way-of-being sooner!

I have held on to so many pairs of jeans over the years, but when I sit down and think about it, I have worn 3 pairs consistently since 2016 – Topshop Jamie in Grey, and Topshop Orson in both the regular and shorter lengths for different styling options.  Nothing else has entered my mind on the denim front. So, this morning I mindfully and happily gave away 4 pairs of jeans, which were kept on the hangers for those just incase moments that never happened. Now I have space and feel like I can breathe!

Which is exactly how this outfit made me feel – free, easy and like I can breathe whilst being versatile too.

Have a great weekend xx

Zara blazer | Topshop Orson jeans | Uterque silk camisole | Anya Hindmarch clutch bag | 3.1 Philip Lim mules | Ray Ban sunglasses

Photos: Emma Pharoah

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If you follow my instagram or saw my last post, you may have noticed that my thoughts have started to explore a number of issues people are facing in the corporate world.

Interestingly, in my current job I have become very present to the lack of diversity in my division: often in meetings I am the only ethnic minority and the youngest in age. It’s strange. That’s not to say the company is not diverse, but I feel as though my team and the two floors I have worked on are lacking in diversity! I am now seeing diversity or the lack of it in many forms, inside and outside of the office…. and this mustard suit got me on a right train of thought!

I completely get that this suit has loose flowy fit with a long flared trouser style. However, I had spent £39.99 on these trousers, and additional £12 to have them altered. Even after taking them up by 3-4 inches for my 5’5 frame, and wearing 4-inch heels, this pair of trousers still managed to sweep the streets of London pristinely clean. They were not just altered; they were changed into a whole new bloody leg length!

So yes, I get the style, but when trousers are that abnormally long for an average woman’s height there is only so much you can take the hems up before they distort the flared effect of the trouser. This is precisely what happened to my pair which looked less flared compared to the models on Zara’s website.

And here we have the issue. How the hell is the fashion industry still based on one body type; that 5’9 plus tall and skinny model? I would consider the model body shape to be a minority body type, and even if the fashion industry continues to use the model body type on the runway and for fittings (which I hope is going to change for the next generation of women) then that DOES NOT EXCUSE huge brands like Zara for not providing alternative leg lengths to consider shorter and average height women!

If Topshop can do it then Zara can. Topshop has petit, regular and tall ranges. As does Next. I have met many women who say Zara’s trouser never fit them and that the trousers are too long. It’s a shame because this wouldn’t be a huge dent in Zara’s costs to provide a petit or regular fit and make Diversity and Inclusion part of their mission, given the brand is adored by women from all over the world.

If anyone is as YouTube-beauty-obsessed as I am, then you maybe be aware of the social issues beauty Youtubers are presenting around lack of diversity in the beauty game. Top brands with huge profit margins are not providing enough foundation shades to include darker skin tones. The biggest controversy came when American beauty giant Tarte released their Shape Tape foundation with 15 shades, where only 3 were for deeper skin tones (one for very dark). It was obvious to see they considered a huge range for lighter skin tones highlighting the lack of diversity. Large brands like that have no excuse; as we saw with the release of Rihanna’s own range Fenty Beauty. Her foundation has 40 shades with 10 shades per skin tone group of Light, Medium Tan, Deep. Therefore, representing and including everyone EQUALLY.

Why shouldn’t we hold the fashion industry to the same standards? I discuss the beauty industry, as being Indian, one of the biggest issues is finding the right shade of foundation for my skin tone. With so many beauty brands in the market that shouldn’t be hard, but it is. Similarly, with so many ‘fast’ fashion brands, it is still so difficult for me to find the perfect pair of trousers for my non-model body shape.

In my view, fashion and beauty is for everyone. When someone reached out to me on Instagram asking what size I went for in the trouser and how the fit was for this suit, I had to be honest. But it does make me wonder if brands look at their analytics to see what people are buying and returning. For me, I have a huge number of blazers from Zara, but very few trousers, and I wonder if other women experience the same?

So come on Zara (and other Inditex Group Brands), be a cause for change and start to include everyone in your size and fit considerations. It will only be a positive thing, and it may just reduce the number of returns you process everyday!

Zara suit | Zara | Topshop cami | Chanel bag | Gianvito Rossi shoes

Photos: Emma Pharoah

The post TALKING DIVERSITY IN MUSTARD YELLOW appeared first on The Glossy Banker.

It’s been playing on my mind – why do I feel I couldn’t wear this pink look to work?

This city of London is a sea of blue, grey, black and white, where the business dress code palette is very limiting. Do you think we are hooked on an outdated view of what professional looks like?

Am I worried I won’t be taken seriously if I wear this outfit to work? Or am I afraid to stand out from the corporate clones?

Diversity and inclusion considers race, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion and sexuality. What if we could use dress code to promote diversity and inclusion?

Diversity of dress code would allow freedom of self-expression, and freedom to be yourself in your own style.

Just maybe that grey city vibe could transform into colour and creativity leading to a happier and expressed workforce that helped to break down stereotypes.

Just maybe our identities are concealed from 9 to 5 with “professionalism” and its time to give the professional dress code a makeover far beyond dress down Friday!

So, would you remember the woman or man in the bright pink suit or would you judge her or him for standing out?

Zara blazer | Zara trouser | Topshop cami | Gucci bag | Aquazurra shoes (no longer available)

Photos: Emma Pharaoh

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