I’ll tell you a funny story….

When I worked for Burberry, a colleague of mine told her best friend, as a harmless joke, that we were only allowed to sport 2 styles of footwear: Heels or Chanel pumps! A believable stereotype which was completely false, yet her friend, who saw herself as a fashion outsider, gobbled up the lie like a piece of pie.

On a casual event of after-work drinks, it just so happened that I donned a patent dove-grey pair of none other than Miss Coco’s ballerina’s. A few others joined us and my colleagues bestie happened to be part of the group. Completely amused by the coincidence, we exaggerated the point for some time before letting her know that it was harmless fun. In reality, the office dress code wasn’t strict at all.

The unwritten fashion rules at work weren’t specific to brands or price tags, but more so about looking smart, feeling comfortable and appearing well put together – fair enough. If I’m honest, I’m not much of a ‘heels higher than my standards’ kind of girl and I’m happy to ditch the extra inches for the safety and security of feeling as close to the ground as possible.

With that said, my happy alternative to opting out of heel hell has been to build a collection of good quality flat shoes! Side note: Whenever a woman uses the term ‘good quality’, she is simply throwing a blanket over the ridiculous price she’s embarrassed to say she paid for the item/s in question (guilty as charged!) Don’t get me wrong, just like every other woman in the office, I kept 2-3 pairs of ‘just-in-case’ heels under my desk, but those cases hardly ever presented themselves.

Designer flats are my power tool, super-hero cape and go-to for any work or casual occasion. Looking back on the first 15 or so YouTube videos I filmed for our channel, you’d think I was this shirt obsessed high energy maniac because I wore a different button down blouse in every single sitting. Did you notice? You probably didn’t but shirts give me good vibes too. I have so many! (Mostly borrowed/stolen from my sister).

And what I’ve come to realise is that everyone has an accessory, item of clothing or even a special colour that gears them up and gets them feeling their best. In the most common cases, slipping on a pair of heels, teaming an outfit with a structured blazer or wearing sentimental pieces of jewellery takes us from bedroom basic to boardroom boss in seconds! What does that feel like? It’s the quiet confidence of feeling good, feeling right and feeling ready. There’s a certain magic in knowing what works for you and using it to your advantage.

Once you’ve identified what your power player is, it becomes so much easier to put together a outfit when a big meeting pops up, you’re called back for an interview or when you have important people to meet. In 2017, let’s play to our strengths, dress well, feel great and sprinkle Pepper on the world!

What is your outfit power tool?