As I was walking down Rue Neuve the other day I saw that H&M now offers a Style Advisor service – two hours with a personal shopper, free of charge. As I needed some new clothes, and everything is a different shape to what it was, I made myself an appointment to get some help picking out some new outfits.

I had a very fun Saturday afternoon with the consultant, who apologised for her less than perfect English. This always makes me feel so embarrassed – English isn’t even an official language of this country. I can’t imagine someone working in a clothing store in Australia apologising for their imperfect French. We looked through some fashion magazine for half an hour, chatting about my likes and dislikes, as well as any practical constraints and the type of occasions that were likely to arise.

She disappeared for a while, then returned with a whole rack full of clothing for me to try on. She even had picked out matching accessories for all the outfits, and showed me how to put them all together. With each piece she analysed the fit and popped out to get a new size or style if something didn’t look quite right. I returned home with two new outfits, feeling a bit more like my old self and looking forward to getting out and about.

Most of the people in Belgium are very well dressed. Sometimes I will spend my whole commute examining how my fellow travelers have assembled their outfits. At the moment, there is an emphasis on jeans with boots, or skirts with patterned stockings. While most of the stores display very beautiful objects, there is one place in Bruxelles Midi train station that has consistently terrible clothing. Not only that, they like to emphasize this using clones to demonstrate that this was a deliberate and conscious act of ugly.

I am finding it very hard to dress stylishly for the office. I end up looking like Betty (above), while the rest of the women here resemble Amanda (below). My workplace is full of international women who shop in Paris and who have a knack for pulling together an interesting corporate outfit. I end up looking like a grandmother, a school child, or a flight attendant, rather than a competent business woman. I have no training for this. I have spent my adult life in university settings, where anything above track pants was considered glam. I don’t even know where to shop. I guess the first step is to change my shoes. I am going to try a tiny bit of a heel and if I don’t break my ankle on the cobblestones, I shall consider it a success.