What I Wear To Work: Emily Austen
How the founder of Emerge PR and author of Smarter gets dressed for work.
Hello friends and welcome to the final-ever dispatch of Workwear Inc. You’ll find out more on where things go next at the end of this newsletter – but for now, please enjoy this interview I did a while back with Emily Austen, the author of a fabulous book called Smarter and the founder of Emerge PR.
What do you wear to work when you’re one of the top PR gurus in London? (Besides head-to-toe black, of course.) In the case of Emily Austen, the founder of Emerge and one of the most well-connected women in London, you may be surprised to learn it’s less about performing glamour and more about ease and versatility. After all, these days she’s not just a businesswoman with a roster of top clients but also an in-demand speaker and author-about-town. Her latest venture is her book Smarter in which she shares her tips for a better, more productive life – and good news: it doesn’t involve getting up at 5am. Below, you’ll find her formula for going from corporate gigs to client meetings to evening events at Annabel’s and not looking completely frazzled in the process, plus what she hopes people will take away from her post-girlboss guide.
What does work look like for you at the moment?
I’m basically in the Emerge office in Soho every day. Our team have the option to work remotely on Wednesdays, so if I was going to work from home, that’s the day I would do. I tend not to travel that often for work, and if I do, it’s usually to the US – I was in LA earlier this year. Typically I get into the office at about 9am, maybe 9.30am, and then it kind of depends on the week. The latest I’ll stay is probably 7.30pm, but I can often leave by 6pm.
Since Smarter came out in November, I’ve been doing more corporate talks at companies like Experian, Amazon, Santander and Canva. I probably do two a month. And then being a PR is so social and you make friends with the people you work with, so I’m lucky to get to go to interesting events and dinners, and I tend to use those as networking and catch-up opportunities.
How do you like to dress for a day in the office vs when you’re outdoing talks?
If I’m in the office, it’s usually jeans and a T-shirt with a blazer – the creative corporate girly look. If I’ve got no meetings, I’ll even wear my sports kit. But I definitely dress differently for talks. When you’re a PR or publicist, you typically wear black for events and you’re basically invisible because you’re working with talent or a client and they’re the main event. I started experimenting a little bit more last year with what I was wearing. Nothing drastic. But it just made me realise that I didn’t really want to be drawing attention to what I was wearing – I wanted to draw attention to what I was saying.
For talks, I always have my hair up because otherwise I just play with it and then I get distracted. And then I tend to pretty much wear black trousers – I’ve got these great black trousers from MaxMara – and a belt and then a pointed shoe, always. I usually style it with a shirt, although Abercrombie is one of our clients and they’ve got these really great lightweight round-neck knits, so I’ve been wearing those recently.
When you’re doing talks, is it about dressing for confidence or about portraying a more “serious” corporate image?
It’s definitely about confidence. I feel like if I get my hair done and I’m wearing something a bit smarter, then I feel better. But I think there’s some power in the idea of a uniform – I’m not wasting a decision on my outfit and I don’t want people to be distracted by some elaborate thing that I’m wearing. That’s why I tend to keep it a bit more muted.
Are there any brands you rely on for workwear?
I really like Sportmax from MaxMara and shirts from With Nothing Underneath – I actually wore the white Dress Shirt (pictured above) to my book launch. I love Aquazzura shoes. Abercrombie has some great basics like T-shirts and jumpers, and the jeans are really good. I mix and match a lot – I have quite a few bits from like Zara and H&M that I find to be pretty reliable, and I buy a lot of stuff second-hand.
I’ve been way more conscious of not buying trend pieces and asking: “Am I going to still like this in a year? Will I just want to wear it once because apparently it’s trendy or is it something that I can actually kind of continue to wear?” I’ve definitely simplified what I buy and where I buy it from.
Heels for work: yes or no?
For events, yes, but otherwise I find them so inefficient because I can’t walk fast! I’m very into boots, though – I’ve got an amazing pair of Miu Miu boots that are quite high but they’re very comfortable, and I’ve just bought these leopard print boots from Toteme that I love. I would say nine times out of ten, though, I’m in either a ballet flat or an Adidas trainer, like a Gazelle or a Samba.
Have you ever made any blowout purchases, such as a watch or a handbag, to celebrate big career wins?
I’ve never done the watch thing because there’s just something mentally for me about all that money being on your wrist. I have bought a coat from Khaite about two years ago that was really expensive. Also I’m really superstitious so when we’re pitching to a brand and we win them, I always buy something from the brand. I definitely had a good year where I bought a pair of chunky Gucci horse-bit loafers and a YSL red camera bag in one sitting. But otherwise, I’m really into auctions and estate sales. I have an amazing Hermès jacket that I bought in an auction for, like, £80. There’s an app I love called Auctionet that basically aggregates all the European auctions and it’s such an untapped secret.
I feel like no one is more qualified to give advice on dressing for ‘day to night’ than a PR. Any tricks?
To be honest, I always change in the office. I also take off accessories because I’m usually wearing way too many. It depends on the venue, too – if we’re doing something at Annabel’s or a club with a dress code, you have to wear something smart and usually a pair of heels. I’ve got this great long skirt from H&M that’s kind of silky and goes with everything – you can tuck a shirt into it, you can wear it with a jumper. And then I’ve got a great pair of Jimmy Choos that I bought in a charity shop that are backless and black and pointed. But it will always be black and it will always be smart, and more often than not it will be either a skirt and top or a long dress and then a blazer.
Otherwise, if I’m attending an event, say a friend’s dinner or something, I’ll generally go pretty casual as long as it’s not disrespectful to the dress code – maybe jeans and a T-shirt with a Sézane cardigan. And then all the jewellery that I own.
As I mentioned, you’ve written this fabulous, no-nonsense book called Smarter. Who is it for – and who is not for?
So, it’s not for the bare-minimum-Monday, take-it-easy-Tuesday, I-want-to-not-work people. It’s for people who are ambitious, people who want the picture to be filled with more things rather than less. And it’s really for people who are on the journey, who haven’t quite made it or who are looking to achieve something. And I really specifically wanted it to not just be for business owners – it’s become quite a sexy thing to be an entrepreneur, but in reality it’s not very sexy. Plus, I’ve worked with so many brilliant people who are not the founders and I just felt like they were kind of being overlooked and there wasn’t really that much marketed directly to them.
Finally, if you had one tip that you want people to take away from your book, what would it be?
Create your own definitions. I think we spend so much time borrowing definitions from others of what success is, what body positivity is, what financial freedom is, what relationships are, what balance is. I’ve certainly spent a lot of time looking online and all these other people are telling me success is X, Y, and Z – but it never felt truly connected to what I actually thought. Since I really defined all those things for myself, I’m so much happier.
A New Chapter
Life has changed a lot since I started this newsletter. I turned 30 last week, for one. The sensible corporate career pivot I mentioned turned out to be completely different to what I’d hoped (but your twenties are for figuring these things out, right?). And deep down, I’ve realised that I truly miss magazines and being creative. In any case, as much as I’ve enjoyed writing this newsletter, Workwear Inc. no longer felt like quite the right fit. There’s nothing I enjoy more than sharing recommendations and seeking out great clothes, but corporate workwear now feels like a narrow field of study and not fully aligned with my passions. Weirdly, this newsletter has been a bit of a metaphor for my career and my life in the last year, and what happens when try to follow what you think you should be doing rather than what you know deep down is your “calling”.
It’s not the end entirely, though. I’m so delighted to be setting up a new Substack called Late Filing. It’s a bit more authentic to my own tastes and interests and will include reflections on style, culture and contemporary life, as well as lots and lots of recommendations – not just for clothes but also beauty, books and travel. I hope to catch you over there.
Fedora x