Transitioning your work wardrobe from winter to spring can be a tricky task when the weather has been as mercurial as it has recently, but with a few essential additions to your Monday to Friday looks, together with a flexible approach to layering, you'll easily nail down a stylish and sophisticated work aesthetic right through the season.
What Fabrics Work Best?
First up, don't do anything too radical such as vacuum bagging everything you own that is constructed from wool. Wool is a perfectly good spring cloth since it is excellent at regulating temperature. You can probably put away your big deep winter wool coats in favour of lightweight technical cotton styles such as our Penpol raincoat and Hythe jacket, but hold fire on hiding away your wool knits and long-sleeve knitted polos for another month or so. Spring weather can be unpredictable, so it's important to have some warmer pieces in your wardrobe that you can layer under some tailored separates or over a button down Oxford shirt.
Fabrics such as organic cotton and linen are your go-to cloths since they are lightweight, breathable, easily layered, and have some subtle textural qualities. Cotton or linen shirts can be dressed up with smart tailoring for days in the office when you need to look put together but not formal, or on more relaxed days when you can wear them with chinos and sneakers. When the weather drops, you can just at a lightweight knit, or a classic blouson, such as our Coram or Hythe jackets for a polished utilitarian touch.
Coram Jacket Kildale |
Hythe Jacket Penpol |
Hythe Jacket |
If your workplace has a casual dress code, then a cotton or linen overshirt is a really useful addition to your spring wardrobe, since you can throw it on over a plain tee and wear it unbuttoned with denim or chinos, but if you need it to work a little harder, you can button it up and layer a blouson over the top.
Brook Shirt |
Claremont Trousers |
Milton Jacket |
Use Bold Colour Accents
A simple yet very effective way to elevate your wardrobe is to use bold colour accents in an otherwise muted or understated wardrobe. We're not talking shock and awe tactics here, just the inclusion of, say, an ochre overshirt, or a check button-down, or maybe something as simple as a pastel tone polo to wear with a softly tailored suit. If you wear a lot of navy, then perhaps contrast it with some more cream or white tones for a relaxed business-like look. Charcoal grey provides the perfect backdrop for strong accents such as blue, ochre, and lighter green shades. Otherwise, lean into more neutral tones such as taupe, cream, beige, together with softer green and tan tones.
Roxwell Knitted Jacket |
Long Sleeve T-Shirt |
Drawstring Trousers |
Layer Up Wisely
Changeable weather and office air-con can often play havoc in the spring when the weather seems to change on a dime, which makes sensible layering even more important. Really good organic cotton tees are an essential part of a spring wardrobe, especially plain white styles which can be made to look smart if necessary. As a clean neutral layer, there is nothing better, and provided you choose a high quality style such as our Heavy tee, then they can look perfectly presentable on their own when worn with tailored trousers. Otherwise they provide a warm base layer on colder days when you can layer up with a shirt, lightweight knit, and blouson.
Grandpa Raincoat |
New York Special Shirt |
Judo Trousers |
Invest in Timeless Outerwear Silhouettes
The one standout thing about spring outerwear - you can practically wear it all year round. Other than the depths of winter, classic spring blousons such as bombers, truckers, Harringtons etc can be worn pretty much year round. They've got enough substance to them to be warm and protective, yet their cotton or linen construction means they carry none of the bulk or winter coats. Tailored blousons with spread collars will be better suited to workplaces that require a smarter version of casual, whereas bomber styles would be better off in a relaxed place of work. Longer, lightweight coats in technical fabrics have the added benefit of being weather-resistant, while also remaining smart options to layer over tailoring.
Kingsley Walters Downham |
Bleue Burnham |
Porter-Yoshida & Co Olive |
Accessories Can Make The Difference
Attention to detail can be the difference between a good look and a great one, injecting an extra element of personality and self-expression. Whether it's a piece of jewellery, or a handmade tote, use your accessories to add a flash of colour or a contrast texture to your outfit. Bags, especially, are a really good way to brighten up a spring work look, and our new handmade leather and cotton canvas tote styles by Kingsley Walters can really add a point of difference to your wardrobe.