Image Expert

How to Know What to Wear

Casual Business Attire: The clothing that is appropriate and acceptable to wear to the workplace either on casual friday on depending on the workplace, possibly a daily basis. It is important to consult your workplace ( preferably upon receiving your job offer) regarding what their standards for workplace attire are. They may hand you a sheet outlining the dress code, or simply provide you with information on the spot as to what is appropriate. With a variety of different careers comes a variety of acceptable clothing. A good guide may come from your boss, and the other employees who have been working at the company for many years. 

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Below is a video referencing an image expert named Roberta Hughes. She provides excellent examples of why your image in the workplace is so important, as well as helpful guidelines as to what is appropriate. 

 In posts to come I will discuss such topics as: the idea of casual fridays, the appearance of tattoos in the workplace, the  Do's and Don'ts for both women and men in the workplace, and suggestions on how to create appropriate outfits to go to work in. 

  

Appropriate Work Shoes

These Shoes Were Made For Working

"And Thats Just What They'll Do"

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The Appropriate Work Shoes for Women

The most important things to remember are to aways make sure that your shoes are well kept.

This means clean, shiny, no scuff marks, no dirt, and no missing accessories, or falling off parts.

The Do's and Dont's. . . 

Do NOT wear, flip-flops, running shoes, over the knee boots, ten inch heals, or bright colours

Do wear, two inch basic height heals, wedges, flats, boots (below knee), dark colours  

Following these simple guidelines makes finding appropriate work shoes a fairly easy task.

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The typical go to shoes that should be in every woman's closet, are a pair of black heals and black flats.

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 While fun, some heals are not appropriate for the workplace. Typically any heal with big, chuncky accessories (such as the ones in the picture to the right), or a raised toe peice (for example the picture underneath) are not appropriate.

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Colours will give the edge to your outfit that you may be desiring. Typically coloured shoes should have no more than two solid colours in them.

From here, you can add shoes that have a variety of colours, and tones,  such as beige, brown, grey, dark green, red, burgandy, white, peach etc.

Remember how long you need to wear these shoes for, as well as what you will be doing in the shoes (a lot of walking, standing, or sitting?) This may help you determine which shoe is best for you to wear on certain days. 

Tip: It is a good idea to get a pair of insoles to put into your shoe. While most recognize that heals can be quite painful after a while, many do not realize that flats can also hurt. Many flats are indeed . . . flat, meaning they have no real support for the foot. A good insole is a quick fix for any shoe. 

Casual Friday For Women

What to Wear- Woman's Addition 

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Women have a wide variety of options to choose from when it comes to what they can wear on casual days in the workplace. This can make the daily decision of "what to wear?" difficult. Below are some helpful tips, and ideas of what to dig out of your closet each morning for work. 

First, important rules to follow when dressing for work are little cleavage, skirts and dresses must be not more than an inch and a half above the knee (the shortest), and clothing in general must not be too tight. 

Go to Items include: Blazers, Skirts, Blouses, and Dresses. A couple well kept pencil skirts, and dress pants in neutral colours such as grey, black, and brown, or white are staple pieces in a woman's wardrobe. 

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Two or three blazers are also a good idea as they can be paired with dark jeans to create a classy casual look. The key to looking good is not necessarily wearing a three piece suit. 

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The key is knowing what to pair together. Some tips are as follows: 

- pencil skirt with a flowing top that is

   tucked in

- dress pants with a flowing top not 

   tucked in

- black slim fit pants with a flowing 

  top 

- black loose fit pants with a tighter 

  fitting top

- fitted dress with a fitted blazer or sweater

- loose dress with a cropped blazer 

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Mainly, remember that is the top is loose the bottoms should be a slimmer/tighter fit. Alternatively, if the top is more formed fitting, the bottom should be looser, or equally as straight lined. 

It is generally a good idea to keep colour accents to shoes, and shirts however many women find they can pull off a pair of coloured pants or a patterend skirt while still looking professional. Personally, I tend to stick with neutrals for the bottom and colours such as blue, purple, orange, red, yellow for the tops. My blazers are mostly black because I find it is easier to pair any shirt with a black beige, or grey blazer.

Shirts are the place to have some fun, they can be patterned, have accents such as lace, be bright and colourful, and that pop of colour you may be looking for. That being said, they may also be simple and refined for casual wear if that is your preference. 

Casual Friday for Men

What to Wear - Men's Addition

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To create appropriate casual dress wear for men in the workplace there are three simple rules to follow.
Make sure your clothing and accessories are:  

Clean, Well Kept, and (usually) Neutral Colours 

This may include: 

The neutral colour rule works best for pants and shoes. A pair of clean, well kept dark blue or black jeans often works well for a casual look. Light blue jeans or ripped jeans are not acceptable.

Neutral coloured shoes such as black, brown, or white are preferred. An acceptable shoe may be a sneaker or a dress shoe so long as they are clean, without the presence of scuff marks, dirt, or pieces missing or falling off. 

For a sweater and a shirt, often you can be a little more creative, that is,  if you wish to be. Neutral colours are still a safe bet, but if you want to add a little colour you could do it with a brighter coloured collared shirt. A patterned shirt is acceptable as well. The one rule to apply - Avoid Neon Colours! 

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If you are wishing to have a collection of shirts in your closet that are easy to create an outfit with, stick with colours such as black, white, grey, beige, blue, green, red and purple. It is also a good rule to make sure all your shirts for work have a collar. 

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If it is a windy day, pair your shirt with a neutral coloured sweater. Colours such as dark grey, black and blue work well. It is often a nice touch for a casual look to have the cuffs of your shirt hang out below the sleeve of the sweater. Also, a collared shirt with a sweater adds classiness to an otherwise too casual look for work.  

Now that we have the clothing aspect down, lets talk about jackets and brief cases (if you require one). 

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Appropriate jackets would be well tailored, possibly wool, or leather, with and a button up or zippered closer. Once again apply the neutral colours rule. 

Lastly, breif cases are an excellent way to appear organized, and prepared. A black leather brief case is the typical, but appropriate way to go.