When we interviewed the man responsible for dressing one of TV's chicest career women, one takeaway was that yeah, picking out your battle dress can be fun, but you don't want the clothes to get in the way of what's *really* important: the work. Here, meet two young brands that, if successful, could make it so that we'd never think about what we're going to wear to the office ever again.
Elizabeth Clarke
Even if every single piece this New York label produces weren't stain-, odor- and sweat-proof *and* designed for function (#pocketsoneverything), it'd still be infomercial-level too-good-to-be-true, simply because it looks professional but also cool, that white whale of non-creative-workplace fashion. Melanie Moore, Elizabeth Clarke's founder and CEO, spent years designing the brand's tightly edited collection (one blazer, one dress, one pencil skirt, and a pair of trousers) to accompany its massively successful un-stainable shirt.
EC operates as a subscription service, so customers receive a quarterly box with the brand's shirts and/or pieces from the Unstainable collection à la carte. Also on the horizon: non-black colors and sizes up to 22.
Of Mercer
If only Emelyn Northway and Dorie Golkin's workwear kits had existed years earlier—that would have saved us a lot of embarrassment/stern talkings-to with HR. Earlier this month, the brand launched its multi-piece, customizable "Career Starter Kits," geared toward women at every stage of their careers, from "The Intern" to "The Graduate, Business Formal." (Side note: Have they got one that's "In-Between Adult/Child Hybrid Who Still Wears Clothes from High School"? Asking for me, not going to lie.)
Of course, there's always Of Mercer's streamlined, affordable main range to choose from, which will probably be the hardest bit of this whole process. Because after that, it's put it on, feel great, and go.
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