spruced by marlene

A couple of months ago I got a sweet email from someone who’d bought my book. Here’s some of what it said:

„If you ever write a follow-up to Stilvoll, it would be great to include some tips for working from home. I’m always looking for an alternative to jogging pants, yoga wear and pajamas.“

As it’s currently taking me months to answers emails, it might be a while before I write another book. But, dear Birgitta, I’ll anwer you here instead.

Because it’s a really good question, one that I ask myself almost daily: How do you remain at least marginally put together in your home office when, really, you could just stay in bed with your laptop all day. No one will know!

I am, of course, writing this in bed. It’s a good place to write some days. But not every day. If you don’t have colleagues, have no need to leave your apartment and have scared the poor postman beyond repair, you have to find some other motivation to get out of your sleeping shirt and into something more humane. Because I do feel instantly more competent when I wear something nice to walk the five meters from my bed to my desk. It does the same thing to me as putting on red lipstick before an important phone call. No one but me knows about that either. But I’m a much tougher negotiator when my lips are talking Lady Danger.

Getting dressed should still be relaxing – there have to be advantages to working from home after all –, so I’ve come up with a few five minute fixes, a category from my book that I want to feature on the blog more often in the future. The name already says it all: These are outfits that you can grab with your eyes closed and still won’t look like you got dressed in the dark.

/ 1 / Double Denim

Double Denim (above) can look like this. But it doesn’t have to (although that picture never fails to delight me). What makes this so easy to wear is that you don’t have to waste any time trying to combine separates into a coherent look. Denim and denim already go together anyway. With a little trick: If the pieces have a similar wash, mix different materials like jeans with a chambray shirt. Conversely, create contrast by wearing the same material in different washes, like black jeans with a light-blue shirt.

| Shirt „Boy“ from LEVI’S MADE & CRAFTED |

| Jeans „Kick“ from LEVI’S MADE & CRAFTED (new season, similar here) |

| Slipper „Viola“ from AEYDE |

| Chicago Cubs Cap from NEW ERA* |

| Hybrid Smartwatch „Hagen“ Connected from SKAGEN |

| Cup from DESIGN LETTERS |

*If you’re into baseball, you already know that the Chicago Cubs recently won their first World Series in 108 years. And even if you’re not into baseball: go watch this 30 second clip right now. If Kris Bryant’s smile at the final out could be filled into bottles, I’d drink it in every Monday morning.

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/ 2 / The track suit

Birgitta asked for an alternative to jogging pants. My answer: chic jogging pants. Track suit bottoms got their comeback in a Chloé collection that looked like a self-respecting Brit Pop fan girls’s wardrobe in the 90s. You could wear them with a matching jacket like back in the day. Or, better yet, pair them with a smart wool jumper and a pair of authoritative heels. (Yes, I sometimes wear heels at home. For no other reason than that it pleases me.)

| Sweater from COS |

| Pants from ZARA |

| Ankle boots from COS (old, similar here) |

| Glasses „The Magnolia“ from VIU |

| Body Butter from KORRES (which I use as a handcreme, because it smells just lovely) |

| Calendar from NAVUCKO (via Luiban, Berlin’s prettiest stationary store) |

| Subscription to THE GENTLEWOMAN |

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/ 3 / The overall

I should call this the 1 minute fix, because that’s how long it takes to put on an overall. Which leaves four minutes to pick Arlo’s plastic animals up from the floor and store them in the extra big pockets for later. I think that there’s no wrong place or occasion to wear a jumpsuit and what I like about this one especially is how utilitarian it looks. After all, one needs to get shit done before one’s kid comes home from kindergarten.

| Overall „Kansas“ from JOSEPH (new season, similar and on sale here from Equipment) |

| Shoulder bag „The Miriam“ from JAMES CASTLE |

| Trainers from FRED PERRY |

| Bandana from TINY |

| Sunglasses from BARTON PERREIRA |

| Scented candle from JEHANNE DE BIOLLEY x ALEX EAGLE |

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/ 4 / The pajama

For all of those days when you imagine you’re Doris Day in The Pajama Game. And why wouldn’t you want to imagine that as much as possible? The difference between regular nightwear and the more sophisticated pajama is that you’d sleep in one but not the other. You can spend as much on an „I’ll actually wear this out to a fancy dinner“ pajama as on a five star weekend, in which case I’d recommend The Sleeper and Poplin. And as little as for a night with Airbnb thanks to brands like Bodas and Cos. The important thing is to get out of the cosy lambskin slippers and into some elegant mules. Doris Day wouldn’t have it any other way.

| Pajama from KENZO x H&M, top and bottom sold as separates |

| Loafer from NEW & LINGWOOD x ALEX EAGLE (old, an updated version can be found here. I recently bought this pair of mules from ZARA that I’ve been wearing with wooly socks) |

| Glasses „The Magnolia“ from VIU |

| Chocolate from TONY’S CHOCOLONELY (via Goldhahn und Sampson) |

| Weekend subscription SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG |

| Scent „Grand Chalet“ from ASTIER DE VILLATTE (via MDC cosmetic) |

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So, would you like to get five minute fixes more frequently? On what topics or trends? I can almost guarantee you that every fix will feature chocolate…

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