Liz Brownbill, a Liverpudlian events manager living in Brixton, is hoping that M&S’ style advisers will inject her work wardrobe with a dose of summer colour. “I work in an industry that tends to veer from one extreme to the other,” says Liz. “On the corporate side it’s very formal – suited and booted – and there’s an expectation, certainly within events, that my role is to blend into the background. But when I’m with the more creative teams, I want to fit in without being mutton dressed as lamb. So balancing these can be quite difficult.”

Like many busy working women, Liz admits to being over-reliant on a couple of fail-safe looks: “I’ve realised having gone through this process that I actually have a uniform which consists of a variety of plain V-neck T-shirts and jeans, jeans, jeans – and a few more jeans!” And when it comes to colour there isn’t much choice: “I’m beige, white and grey – I love grey but I need to accept the fact that stronger colours actually suit me.”

Our M&S stylists wanted to find pieces to complement Liz’s personal style while encouraging her to experiment with colour; the rationale being that colour would bridge the gap between the creative and corporate workspaces. By adding just a couple of vibrant key pieces, they showed Liz how to make colour office-appropriate, from a lightweight navy shirt dress with a belted waist to a sleeveless tailored jacket in bold mustard yellow.

Liz’s verdict? “The big surprise was the dress over trousers, which is something I would never think of. I’m not a huge dress person but the one I wore is one of those pieces that would genuinely work with everything and look different every time you wore it. And the leather jacket… Oh, can we have a moment for the navy leather jacket!”