How to elevate your office outfits

What is happening to the way people dress in the office?

In the last few weeks, I have had so many chats with friends and colleagues about what people are wearing to work and with bosses who want their up and comers to lift their style game.

People have told me graduates in the public service are wearing boob tubes and crop tops to the office, those working in small businesses are wearing matching tracksuits and sneakers. Men working in larger businesses are rocking up wearing shorts. None of these are office appropriate.

Since Covid, we dress a lot more casually and that has spilled over to the office. The time we spent at home in athleisure changed things to focus a lot more on comfort. For men, suits have been replaced by chinos and a shirt. Women wear looser fitting pants and tops.

 That’s all fine but somewhere along the way, dress standards have slipped a bit too far.

Without changing your outfit, you should be able to go from work to dinner or drinks, not work to the gym or work to the couch to binge your favourite show in your lounge wear.

How you dress is an extension of you and your personality. It’s how you present yourself to colleagues and bosses, clients and prospective clients.

You want to be professional, approachable and give off a good impression. It’s about your expertise of course but how you dress shows how seriously you take your job and your career.

How much you care about how you present yourself, to some, could be an extension of how much care and pride you have in your work.

So how do you figure out your personal work style?

Obviously everyone has different tastes. Some like classic styles, others prefer bold colours and prints. There is no right or wrong answer here but there is a checklist of sorts.

1.      You want to be comfortable

2.      You want to feel like you

3.      You want outfits that make you check out your reflection when you walk past a mirror or window

If you look good, you feel good and that confidence shows in the office.

You want to look professional and effortlessly put together but a bit of effort actually goes into it.

Ask yourself a few questions:

1.      Is there a work colleague whose style I like?

2.      Is there a celebrity’s style I like? For me it’s Victoria Beckham – the epitome of effortlessly put together.

3.      Am I a pants or skirt person?

4.      Do I like colour or patterns?

Once you scroll social media or Pinterest, save some photos or take some screenshots, a style theme will start to emerge. I don’t want you to look like a carbon copy of the celeb or person you follow on TikTok but it’s about getting inspiration and adding your own personality.

All this is a process. It takes a while to determine your style and then it will evolve over time, as you get older or your lifestyle changes like having kids.

So where do you start? With the basics.

·       Black pants because you will wear them on repeat, mixing and matching

·       I’d also recommend a cream pair of pants for versatility. Navy is also smart but is harder to match

·       I recommend a blazer or two

·       Skirts – again black and neutral but if colour is your style, find something bold and bright, even a pattern but a patterned one will be less versatile

·       Button shirts whether a cropped one or something you can tuck in. There are a lot of oversized shirts as well and I won’t discount the style but if you choose this one and opt not to tuck it in, make sure it looks neat and be conscious what you wear it with – preferably bottoms that aren’t too billowy, which is a more casual, relaxed look.

·       For men I like a button shirt and light weight jumper with either jeans or chinos. You can also wear the knit and a blazer as a combination or try a t-shirt and blazer

·       With shoes, I’d do a black flat like a ballet flat or something with a point, maybe a higher heel black pump or a kitten heel, go with something nude or neutral as well 

What you’ll find with this list is that you are building a wardrobe that you can mix and match. Ideally you can wear some of these pieces on weekends as well.

Once you have the basics, then you add more and expand your work wardrobe throwing in linen or satin pants, maybe a dressy pair of jeans.

My number one style tip, once you have even a vague idea about your style and how you want to present yourself is to go shopping and try things on. There is no silver bullet to finding your style and building your wardrobe.

Grab things you would never have thought to try on and see what happens. You don’t have to leave the changeroom if it’s that awful. Try different stores – you never know what’s in there and it might surprise you.

You will find the pieces that fit perfectly and make you feel confident.

If you think you need a hand putting together an elevated work wardrobe, get in touch here to chat about a personal shopping session.