Plenty of hard work (and fashion, of course)

What a productive day! We spent most of it wandering into town on secret (top secret) missions that cannot be released on this blog until they actually happen. As it turned out, town couldn’t help supply any of our needs, so we had to head back home! Despite the pointless trip, we then proceeded towards working – with a point!

Ben’s car has now been beautifully T-cut and scrubbed till I was coated in wax head to foot (no exaggeration). The result was worth the effort – our little corsa has been turned from a strangely faded pink car, into a glowing beautiful red one. It was like watching magic happen, as my scrubbing and buffing and shining revealed the red car that has been waiting beneath that crusty oxidised exterior!

Working like a dervish all day resulted in me being a sweaty and terribly unattractive person – all be it one with the talent to t-cut a car. I have a feeling guys only see that as an advantage if I can do it in hot pants whilst delightfully sweat-free with an exposed bra region! This is exactly the role for women in Transformers 2 – unless they were being eccentric or straddling a motorbike and pouting, then they simply weren’t worth including. Megan Fox, you have really let yourself down by letting them portray you like that! *rant*

Whilst having all the undesirable effects, working hard like this has also made me think about “work wear” that looks beautiful and stylish. The practical items that you simply wouldn’t wear in a dirty environment for fear of damaging! Is it possible to find outfits that are fashionable and exciting, or is work wear simply far too practical to be any fun?

Here are my favourite work-wear style picks from the fashion marketplace. Any one (or combination) of these should make working hard look like walking the runway! Just don’t expect to actually do any real work in them!

• Get the shoes right first – these simply can’t have a heel. Even when playing at being a manual worker, heels will look far too contrived. And this is coming from a heel addict! CAT shoes are the ultimate worker shoe – I own a lighter coloured pair of these myself, and they get soo many complements!

• If you are brave enough, baggy vintage t-shirts and black leggings can look surprisingly good. I won’t lie – I look ridiculous in this sort of get-up, and I wore these outfits decorating as a kid. If you are reasonably petite and can pull off baggy outfits, however, then this Mickey Mouse t-shirt would make a great functional painting outfit!

• Thankfully fashion has headed in  work-wear inspired direction in the past few years. Because of this, great denim dungarees and cute jumpsuits (for the tall and well proportioned amongst us) are everywhere. The most loyal to the work wear cause are this stunning acid denim jumpsuit from Topshop, and a lovely simple and actually functional pair of dungarees from AG Adriano.

• Gloves – perfect for keep your delicate girly hands (joke!) all safe! Sexy yet practical gloves can look great with a delicate floaty outfit, or with cute yet practical outfits. My favourite and most brilliant pair are vintage, and quite fantastically detailed yet rugged.

• Finally, keep all that wayward hair of the way with an oh-so-practical hairband (alice band). These looks really cute and is actually great for making sure fringes etc don’t get in the way. If you are a sparkly girly girl at heart, your should love this gem-encrusted hairband. If you like things a little quirkier, then I think this unusual handmade band from Etsy will suit you best.