DANIELLE MUSTARDE MEETS A PERSONAL STYLIST AND DISCOVERS HOW TO DRESS LIKE A #WOMANONTOP

Have you ever wished you had your own personal stylist? Someone who knows your size(s) off by heart? Your likes, your dislikes, your ever-yearning desire to emit queer style icon realness? Yeah, me too. One area of my wardrobe that always crops up? Workwear.

I’M–A A DIVA (HEY)

We’re lucky at DIVA HQ to have a “come as you are” policy when it comes to ofice wear – but what about those celesbian-studded events and meetings with high-lying #womenontop?

It’s in those situations that Ifind myself lacking in the wardrobe department – and I’m not the only one. An article on women’s fashion website Man Repeller revealed that, of all the style-related enquiries they receive, “work outfit inspiration” is one of the most requested. “Intertwining your own sense of personal style with the confines of an ofice dress code is a common sartorial challenge.”

INSIDE/OUTSIDE

Growing up, I made some pretty terrible fashion choices. It was tricky. As a “tomboy” (as I was repeatedly branded by the adults around me), I got a little lost in the static when it came to reading the binary signals fashion brands sent out. Tween Danielle dressed “boyishly”, while as I got older, my friendship group was more femme-woman-ful (and arguably more heterosexual). And so for a short while in my late teens, I donned the conventionally femme facade – but it never quite felt like “me”.

Even now, as I prepare to wave farewell to my 20s, I still (in my professional life, at least) struggle tofind the balance between how I feel on the inside (androgynous, sometimes masc, sometimes femme, sometimes like a piece of spaghetti) with how I look on the outside.

PEAK MY PINTEREST

One tip that many websites recommend was to create a Pinterest board. Much like tearing your favourite outfits out of a magazine and creating an analogue mood board, Pinterest can be trés bien in helping us learn more about what it is that we like. Take a peek at mine: tinyurl.com/divaworkwear.