Work & Play From Home

Are you working from home because of the new “Shelter In Place” rules? It can be much more complicated than you imagined, right? We understand! This is a super stressful time, and we have been working hard to come up with ideas to help make things a bit easier for you to manage. 

SETTING UP A DAILY SCHEDULE HELPS.

Whether you are alone in your home or sheltering in place with a full house of family members, it’s important to create some sort of normalcy. This can done in different ways, but we suggest:

1. Get out of bed and get dressed!
2. Do some sort of exercise, even light stretching counts
3. Shower and dress for the day according to what is on the schedule
4. Plan a small treat for yourself, something to look forward to at the hardest time of the day 

ARE YOU CAMERA READY?

After you have set up some basic house rules, a defined workspace and “Office Hours”, stick to them whenever possible. Also, if you are now attending meetings using Zoom, Facetime, Skype, etc., it is IMPERATIVE that you look the part. This means planning out what to wear, setting up the space where the call will take place, and giving yourself plenty of time to get camera ready-hair, makeup, and what is behind you! What will people see besides your face on the camera? One woman forgot she was on camera, and went to the bathroom!?!?! Yikes! Plan for this like you do for regular in-person meetings. Virtual experiences are growing; what started as meetings, has expanded to all sort of things, from virtual dating to birthday parties, happy hours, weddings, even galas, with much more to come!

THE GOOD NEWS

Since these virtual meetings are seen from the “desk” up, you can be casual on the bottom half of your body. Concentrate on the top half. Don’t come to the meeting with dirty hair in a ponytail and in a sweatshirt hoodie please! We put together some examples of what to wear that are “work appropriate”, while being comfortable at the same time. These pieces will also be your go-to looks when you return to the outside world, and can easily go from boardroom to dinner (yes, Coronavirus will be in our rearview mirror someday!).  We realize that everyone is stressed about finances in these uncertain times, so we kept budget in mind. You don’t have to spend a month’s paycheck in order to stand out in Zoom meetings! We also added fun tops and jewelry for virtual social events, which are a little more playful, glam and a bit sexy too! Welcome to the new norm!

We leave you with a thought for the day from an interview with the fashion designer, Phillip Lim, in conversation with Bridget Foley of Women’s Wear Daily.

THOUGHT FOR DAY (PROVIDED BY THE FASHION DESIGNER PHILLIP LIM)

Phillip: Bridget, get off the bed! You’ll feel so much better! Right now, because everything is so unfamiliar, we’re searching for familiarity. Familiarity means routines like work, like the clothes we would dress up in to get to work. Any small reminders of what normality feels like are so helpful. And also, when you’re up and you’re in a certain type of clothes, you act and behave differently, and even your posture is different. THAT IS THE POWER OF CLOTHES.

We couldn’t agree more. Hang in there everyone, we hope this helps!