Men can make you feel down. The worst is when you’re not even choosing to be in a relationship with the men in question. That’s right, I’m talking about your bevy of office boys – though normally they are no longer boys, but grumpy old men who have clearly had their top button done up for ten years too long.

Here at Luscious, we refuse to let these men get you down and demand that you do not deny your Luscious self in the workplace.

Business Blackberry
While having a blackberry is a style statement on its own, it needs to be looked after (with our list of contacts keyed in, these babies are our whole world). 

And while a boring business-like-case is fine for, well, boring people, us Luscious types prefer a little more.

Handmade in Spain of gold python-print Italian leather and satin lining, this purse features individual slots to carry your credit cards, your gloss, your well-travelled passport and your baby. Just watch the heads turn at your next power lunch.

The gold python Blackberry Purse is available from www.thecoolhunter.com.


Power Pencil Skirt
Power dressing once meant hiding your body under exaggerated shoulder pads, now the modern women needs no masculine influence in her office wardrobe thanks to the pencil skirt. Not only does it assert femininity, but it also asserts power.

Clothes can have a strong effect on our self-esteem, and you are going to need it when bringing down the boys in the boardroom.

Posh is a great ambassador for the power of the pencil skirt, and while none of us mere mortals share her waist measurements, remember Miss Monroe had smoking pencil skirt curves too. So stride confidently and stay true to your savvy self.

Operation Outing
Get your mind off number crunches and get out of the office on your lunchbreak. Sit in a nearby park, do a spot of window-shopping, eat at a café or get a mini-facial.

Designer Desk
Add a few little luxuries to your workplace abode. I love Richard Jarvis of Pall Mall Hippo, Lion and Crocodile staplers. Just one quirky little desk addition to relieve the stress. Available from www.richardjarvisofpallmall.com.

See also kikki.K coat hanger paperclips (scroll down this Career Gal page for more).

Give it the nod
The merger men intimidating you? A US study has found that nodding your head while you speak strengthens your confidence in what you’re saying, which makes you come across more persuading. (Even though us ladies already have an innate ability to persuade)

Source: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology2003;84: 1123-39

Water idea
Water is a workplace essential. It keeps you hydrated and your skin a-glow! The KOR One Hydration Vessel is a perfect for rehydrating in the workplace.

It not only features a hinged no-leak cap, a mouth big enough to fit ice cubes into it (which also makes it handy for those intense Bikram Yoga classes), BPA plastic (which means no nasty chemicals); but also features a disk that fits into the cap that contains an uplifting quote.

KOR also donates 1% of all sales to not-for-profit organisations that focus on water-related issues.

Visit www.korwater.com.

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Work for me involves toiling away from 9 to 5 in an office in the city.  Having worked in an office environment for several years, I have experienced different dress codes and office cultures that take form in the workplace.

There are certain rules and etiquette that should be taken into account when selecting what to wear to work.

Here are my top ten tips I’ve collated to help you get through the working week as a corporate fashionista:

Picture: Emma Watson for Burberry

• Cleavage: For those lucky enough to have some decent cleavage, please refrain from showing too much during office hours. A little hint is ok, but you want your fellow colleagues to be able to concentrate on what you’re saying, not trying to stop their eyes slipping down south.
• Mix it up: People are spending more and more time at work, you may even spend more time with your work colleagues than your own family. So make sure you don’t become as predictable as a uniform. You don’t have to change your whole wardrobe, but by mixing different pieces together and choosing different accessories, you can really make a difference to your current wardrobe.
• Underwear is NOT meant to be seen: This is a mistake that is all too common. A woman has selected a lovely fitted skirt to wear to work, the stretch cotton/jersey looks fantastic draped around her hips and thighs, she is happy with her appearance and waltzes out the front door, only to her unsuspecting horror, she is sporting a severe case of the dreaded VPL! Don’t let this happen to you, remember you have a back view as well. If wearing anything fitted on your behind, you will need to either wear a g-string, seamless or figure support undergarments.
• Skirt/dress length: Now this one is really dependent on where you work, however, if you are an office worker, The Wharton School of Business, one of the most prestigious business school in the U.S., recommends that skirts be no shorter than 3" above the knee to maintain a professional look. I’d advise wearing hosiery as well for a smoother, sleeker look.
• Wake up to make up: Too much, or none at all. We all need to take care of our skin, and ladies should wear at least some minimal make up to work to look professional. Even if it’s just some tinted moisturizer, a quick coat of mascara and a touch of lip gloss. However, please don’t go to the other extreme and get too carried away. Too much foundation and powder or having bright, inappropriate shades of eye shadows and lipsticks will have you looking like a clown!
• Fresh and crisp: Make sure your not walking around the office with chocolate melted on your pants, or Bolognese sauce on your jacket. Remember your office basics - nothing looks better than a white, beautifully tailored, freshly laundered shirt. Make sure you keep your clothes as stain free as possible and iron them regularly for a crease free work life.
• Colour clash: You love to wear your fluorescent yellow ruffle skirt, but does it really go with you red tweed jacket? Colour is fab, but make sure you tone it down a little for a corporate workplace. If you do like your brights, stick to one bright colour, and tone it down with a neutral colour and remember, no fluorescents, metallics or sequins, save for the evening.
• Heeling power: For a corporate workplace, don’t underestimate the power of the heel. Wearing high heels can instantly flatter your legs, making them look slimmer, more shapely and sizzling hot.  
• ‘Jingle Jangle’ is what you can hear from a few hundred meters in the distance, go left 20 meters, past the photocopier, turn right after the tea room and keep going straight ahead towards the lift well…there, spotted you! Your 5000 bracelets and bangles are really lovely, but do you need them all on at once? Be sure not to over accessorize, as the theory goes, less is more!
• Confidence rules: The most important thing is to feel comfortable and professional in what you wear at work. Walk with confidence, have pride in your appearance, hold your head high and you will notice the difference not only within yourself but you’ll be more likely to improve the quality of your work as well.

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Be luscious in the office

As a writer, stylish stationaries are a little desktop lusciousness. Now thanks to kikki.K’s coat hanger paper clips, designed to celebrate their ongoing partnership with L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Week; notes can be hung as fashionably on your clipboard as your couture hangs in the closet.

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Here at Luscious we would like to consider that we bring a little inspiration to your own Luscious lives. That said, we feel the need to give a little ‘cheers’ to the Luscious ladies whose successful careers or determined dreams have indeed inspired us.

We suggest that every woman should pop these books on their bedside tables (and move them to the coffee table when entertaining guests to spread the word) for a little feminist inspiration:

How to be French
Margaret Ambrose
As a five-year-old Margaret Ambrose not only thought she was a princess…but a French princess. Thirty years later, the stuck-in-a-rut writer still had dreams of glamour, sophistication and champagne, which lead her to enrol in French lessons.

How to be French tells the story of how Margaret’s determination and dreams, would see her become a fluent French speaking journalist, jet setting to Paris to interview some of France’s most famous celebrities.

New Girl on the Job: Advice from the trenches
Hanna Seligson
New Girl on the Job provides you with all the information you always wanted to know about workplace success but were afraid to ask. Through interviews with some of the brightest businesswomen such as Jill Herzig, executive editor of Glamour magazine, meticulous research, and one-on-one chats with hundreds of New Girls starting out in their careers when competition is fierce, office politics are unavoidable and the road to success is not always an easy one. New Girl on the Job is filled with valuable information we could all put to use:

• Assistant-ized: How not to get stuck with all the administrative tasks
• The Sweet Spot: Finding the middle ground between bitch and doormat
• It's Just Business: How to develop the ultimate office tool – a thick skin
• Mistakes Happen: How to deal with them when they do
• Perpetual Perfectionist: Why staying late at the office could sabotage your career. 

Beauty in Bloom: A collection of beautiful inspirations
Natalie Bloom
Natalie Bloom started Bloom Cosmetics at the age of 22 and went on to become one of Australia’s most successful businesswomen. In Beauty in Bloom, Natalie shares with us her inspirational, eclectic and stylish compendium of all things beautiful.

From the love of makeup to inner beauty, nature to notebooks, from perfumes to Paris, Beauty in Bloom is about making us look beautiful, feel beautiful and above all be inspired by beauty. Featuring striking illustrations by rising young illustrative star, Rebecca Wetzler.

 
Backwards in High Heels: The Impossible Art of Being Female
Sarah Vine and Tania Kindersley
Sarah Vine and Tania Kindersley present over 300 beautiful pages with advice for the modern woman. The pair deal with everything from vitamins to moral relativism; beauty to politics; feminism to face cream; debt to motherhood.

They even delve into recipes! Visit their blog for more motivation from these two women.

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Need more lusciousness to divert you from some of the dreariness of life?

Why not visit our other Diva Darling sections:

5 minutes of fabulousness

Luscious gossip

Cashola

Geek gal

Emporium: Retail therapy