Dear reader,

Welcome to the Open Plan Surivor blog.
A fashion blog for desk-bound office workers.

As an avid reader of fashion blogs, I have often found myself wondering (or rather screaming to myself) "Why can't I look like that?" The answer is simple, because I am an office worker. I sit in front of my bulky and grey computer screen (obviously not a sleek Mac) all day and record activities from a small segment of the financial world. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. I'm a writer for a trade magazine/B2B/industry publication, sort of a financial journalist I guess you could say. Occasionally, my job can contain a slight element of glamour, when we attend drinks receptions, lavish pre-credit crunch parties or similar events. But yet, the dress code is not "chic and creative." It is appropriate office attire. For my first few outings with work, I wore a suit. Pin-striped and all. That was before I realised, that, although suits are probably the easiest thing to carry off well, unlike our male colleagues, we can afford to be more adventurous than that.

But where are the blogs with ideas and inspiration for the desk-bound workers? Apart from the career women pages in Harper's Bazaar, which mostly cater to the few impressive women who made it to board level, our options are limited. So, here we go. Open Plan Survivor to the rescue. It is a known fact that if you feel good, you will perform better. Empirically proven by yours truly. So on this site Open Plan Survivor (which by the way got its name from the office design de jour - the open plan - think The Office by Ricky Gervais) will publish photos of women who got it right, inspiration and ideas, stories of my own dressing to the occassion traumas, and tips and hint on shopping, grooming and simply surviving without throwing our fashion sense out the window.

May the forces of fashion be with us.

Yours truly,

Open Plan Survivor