To Dress or not to Dress?

Before you get excited this isn’t an article promoting a ‘no clothes’ workday! It is about us ladies getting right tone for work in the office. Making sure your work wardrobe works, do you wear pretty dresses, a skirt or a formal suit. Here we take a look at top 10 business dress tips for the girls, whether you are returning to work after some time off, just starting out or maybe just stuck in a rut with your work wardrobe.

Check out your surroundings

Survey your environment, especially if you’re new on the job. Take your cue from other women employees. Observe what the most successful women are wearing, and listen in at the drinks machine for comments about what people in the office are wearing. Being known as a team player is very important in most businesses, so fitting in with others on the team is crucial. Don’t copy though; be known for your own individuality, in a subtle sense. If everyone dresses suits, wear a suit but add a pretty top, a neck scarf or subtle jewelery to add your stamp on the style. To soften a suit, replace the jacket with a contrasting cardigan.

Think about career progression when dressing

Whilst this is a light hearted look at fashion in the office, what you wear can seriously affect your job prospects. Rather than trying to make a fashion statement, keep the emphasis on the tasks at hand. You want to be known for your great work, not for your body.

People do get passed over for promotion or not taken seriously due to their dress sense. If the main topic of conversation at the drinks machine is what colour knickers you are wearing today, your skirt is too short! Even with a perfect body it is inappropriate to have too much of it on show or in tight fitting garments. Again look at the successful women, if your current salary doesn’t allow you to buy expensive suits there are some budget alternatives on the high street, you can bag a bargain for less than £50.00.

Appropriate for your job

Don’t think because you work in an office you will be seated all day and have to do nothing more than carry a coffee across the room. You may be asked to move equipment, set up meeting rooms or have long distances to cover between meeting rooms. You may have to walk through a work yard on rough uneven suffices, if so keep the heels chunky and low.  If your job involves some sort of physical activity, wear good fitting trousers, heels that you can walk distances in without being a cripple when you arrive at your meeting! If your job includes a fair amount of travel, you may also feel more comfortable in trousers.

Keep it Clean

What ever you wear, be well groomed at all times. Keep hair clean fresh and well styled, have a regular cut and if you colour your hair, keep the roots touched up, office lighting is vicious on showing up grey hair! Nails, keep them tidy and well manicured. If you wear nail polish, make sure it is chip free and a natural colour. Shoes, high heels or flats, keep them clean and shiny. Also if you have a favourite pair of shoes in various colours, make sure you wear two shoes that are the same colour. A colleague once found herself all day in one black and one blue shoe! If you travel in trainers or wellies in bad weather don’t forget to take your shoes, nothing looks sillier than a designer suit with a pair of green wellies all day! Even if your work clothes are not expensive, keep them clean and well pressed and you will look professional all day long.

Don’t be distracting

Make sure whatever you wear fits correctly, there is nothing worse than lumps of flabby white  flesh peeking out from under a T shirt, muffin tops over too tight trousers, bra straps that keep falling off or that common sin of gaping blouses! All of these elements are going to put you off your stride and distract your colleges and not in a good way. Keep jewellery subtle, one pair of earrings and a simple necklace, or add a brooch to a jacket lapel. Also out are low cut blouses, shirt skirts, split skirts, vertigo inducing heels, sleeveless tops are also a bit risqué in some environments, skin tight trousers, leather skirts and trousers and leave the thigh length boots for weekends! Be known for your work and not your inappropriate dress sense.

Good fitting underwear

Don’t forget what goes under your clothes, if your underwear fits well you will feel comfortable and confident all day long. A good fitting bra is essential in a tone that won’t show through your top, my worst day memory is getting dressed in a rush and arriving at work to look at myself in the mirror to be wearing a navy blue bra under a white blouse, luckily I worked in a small sub office and didn’t have to leave it all day! Pants, make sure they cover any bumps and bulges and don’t commit the cardinal sin of pants popping over tops of your trousers when you sit down! Very off-putting for whoever sits behind you!

The dreaded casual Friday

Monday to Thursday, you have your work uniform, then some smart person introduces casual Friday, that’s OK for the people with a vast wardrobe but if your wardrobe consists of work clothes and jeans then you are in for a bit of a rough ride. Generally speaking, jeans are OK for a casual Friday but make sure they are a darker blue or black, bootcut is the smartest cut and make sure they aren’t too tight. Team them with a smart T-shirt or casual shirt with a vest T under the shirt. Don’t wear logo T shirts, torn jeans (even if they did cost a fortune and are designer labels) or vest T-shirts with no shirt on top, also avoid hooded sweat shirt type tops or even sports wear of any kind.

What to wear

We have pretty much covered what not to wear, so what do you wear. Once you have sussed out the clothing culture of your company, e.g. formal casual or the dreaded smart casual, take the style of the successful people and make it your own. If the norm is dark business suits, get your self a couple of suits, try and go for those that have matching skirts and trousers to give you more mix and match scope. To make your outfit unique, add a patterned blouse or T shirt making sure fits, tie a pretty scarf at the neck of a plain top or add subtle jewellery to your outfit. Skirt buying tip for you, it may look an appropriate length in the changing room, but try sitting down in it, most changing rooms have stool or chair. You will surprised how much it rides up when you are seated. A subtle split when soon becomes a knicker flasher when seated – better finding out now than in that big meeting!

Keep it Smart and always be ready

If you have an important meeting with senior people or interview coming up you will dress for that day and make an extra effort, dress like that every day and you will be ready for whatever the day throws at you. Get up late one morning and throw an jumper over a pair of trousers that have seen better days, scrape the hair in a pony tail and you can bet your promotion that is the day something important and unexpected is dropped on you whilst you look more like you are dressed to watch  Saturday morning TV! As the boy Scouts say, ‘ Always be prepared’!

We can’t guarantee your dress sense will get you that promotion or great job, but at least it won’t prevent you from getting on in your career, the rest is up to you.

Recommended Business Dress Shops

For budget suits great for throwing in the washing machine – you can’t beat Dorothy Perkins. Try black suit jacket at £35 and team it with the pencil skirt at £22 or the matching trousers at £25, or for a more casual look team a cardi . Blouses from £14. Outfit including jacket, trousers and blouse would cost you £74.00

Black jacket £25	Crew neck cardi £16	Trousers £25