Could you dress in the same outfit every day for a MONTH? Woman who wore shirt and trousers to work says it boosted her confidence AND made her better at her job
- Jackie Brown is an editor at women's magazine Good Housekeeping
- Fed up of her daily fashion dilemmas, she decided to try a work uniform
- She wore a £59 pair of navy trousers from Cos and £29.99 H&M white shirt
- Told FEMAIL it saved 15 minutes every morning and made her feel calmer
For many women, deciding what to wear for work every morning can be a stressful and time-consuming experience.
While men tend to wear variations of the same suit each day, women feel greater pressure to make multiple decisions for every outfit, wasting huge amounts of time dithering in front of the mirror.
But Jackie Brown, 49, from Surrey, was so fed up of her daily fashion dilemma that she decided to put an end to the problem - by wearing the same outfit every day for a whole month (washed and ironed regularly, of course).
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Journalist Jackie Brown, 49 from Kingston-upon-Thames in Surrey, wore the same white shirt and blue trousers to work for a month
Jackie used her shirt and trousers as a base and changed her hair, make-up and accessories to vary her outfit
She decided to simplify her mornings by getting dressed in the same simple pair of blue trousers and white shirt every morning.
It may sound boring, but Jackie, an editor at women's magazine Good Housekeeping, found that removing her style dilemma from her daily routine helped to start the day on the right foot and boosted her confidence.
She also discovered that despite being worried that she would look boring, nobody noticed that beneath her accessories she was sporting the same garb daily.
She told FEMAIL: 'I'm usually quite organised but when it comes to getting dressed in the morning I just can't seem to manage it.'
Jackie found that she saved 15 minutes every morning by having a 'uniform' for work
Jackie found that she became more adventurous with her hair and make-up as the weeks went on
Like many women, Jackie found that even if she planned an outfit the night before, it wouldn't always feel right in the morning.
She said: 'It could be that my hair felt wrong or the weather was different.
'I'd generally try one thing on then have a couple of changes and invariably go back to the first thing, which is just a waste of time.'
So instead of wasting time on what to wear, for a whole month Jackie went to work in a £59 pair of plain navy trousers from Cos and and white shirt from H&M, which cost £29.99.
She invested in a couple of pairs of the same trousers and four of the shirts to launch her into her month.
The outfit on the left was one of Jackie's favourite choices, whilst she also found that she became bolder with her accessory choices (right)
Jackie found that the experiment saved her hundreds of pounds as she avoided clothes shops
Jackie says having a work uniform saved her 15 minutes of indecision every morning, reducing her getting dressed time from 20 down to five minutes.
The experiment was of financial benefit too - rather than spending her usual £200 to £300 on work clothes, her only outlay was a £40 jacket she bought to jazz up the basic outfit.
But for Jackie, who has written about her experience in this month's issue of Good Housekeeping, the biggest win was how her simple work wardrobe made her feel.
She said: 'I used to leave house flustered and in a rush and it wasn't a good way to start the day.
'Also, I would often feel that I hadn't quite pulled off the outfit.'
The result of the experiment was that Jackie felt calmer and more in control and as a consequence
Jackie says that she enjoyed the first two weeks of the challenge but then started to get bored
'I'd constant be asking my husband, "Does this look frumpy?" which I think it used to irritate him.
'I also have a five-year-old to get ready for school and I'd waste precious time on deciding what to wear.'
'And I found not having to decide about clothes freed my mind up to think about what I was doing that day.'
The result was that Jackie felt calmer and more in control and as a consequence, she felt those around her reacted more positively to her too.
She said: 'I felt good about myself and felt people treated me with more reverence and smiled at me more.
'I thought it was people responding to the outfit, but I think they were actually responding to my general aura.'
In the middle of the month, Jackie started wearing more lipstick to give her look added interest
Jackie admits she felt more 'polished and together' during her month of wearing the same clothes than usual
The new issue of Good Housekeeping is out now
But of course the experiment had its low moments too.
'I felt great for the first couple of weeks but I have to admit it did start to get a bit boring around week three,' she says.
'My husband thought it looked a bit medical - like a dental hygienist's shirt.'
But without the option to change her outfit, Jackie had to focus on other ways to give her style a lift and started experimenting with her hair and make-up.
She said: 'I started wearing more lipstick and felt I had to make a difference elsewhere.
'A lot of women put effort into their clothes, bag and shoes whereas actually you could buy a nice lipstick or blow dry instead.
'You don't always have to be changing your wardrobe.'
And despite a few moments of boredom, Jackie admits she felt more 'polished and together' during her month of wearing the same clothes than usual.
So what was her best look? 'I think the blue jacket day was my favourite and I also liked when I accessorised with a big [silver] statement necklace.'
But not everyone was quite as taken with her regimental dress code, especially Mary Portas, who Jackie interviewed for this month's issue.
'She likened it to eating the same meal every day,' says Jackie. 'She was horrified.'
The full feature is available in the September issue of Good Housekeeping, on-sale now
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