How to Dress for the Office

Dressing for the office is completely different to dressing to impress friends or attract women. Think about who you are trying to impress. You want to show your boss, and any other important superiors that you might unexpectedly drop by, that you are professional from head to toe. If you interact with clients, you want them to think you?re the best person to handle their custom. You also want to communicate to your co-workers that you take yourself seriously. Even if you?re not angling for a promotion any time soon, it is still prudent to dress professionally.

It depends on the culture

Exactly how you dress depends on the culture of your office. In a conservative place, you will want to wear a plain, black suit, with limited accessorizing. In a more youthful office, wearing a dowdy suit every day would make you look out of place, so you would want to modernize your look by wearing a tighter-fitting suit and wearing the occasional colored accessory.

Should you wear a suit?

You should always wear a suit in an office environment. The only exception is the type of office which fancies itself as being young and unique, most commonly found in tech start-ups. It may seem annoying to have to wear a suit, but once you have a decent suit it will last you years, and you won?t have to think about what to wear every day. Think of it as a uniform.

Always wear a tie

It may feel overly formal, but you should always be wearing a tie with your work suit. For a conservative office, you will want to pick fairly safe ties in unassumingly boring colors; for a more youthful look, mix it up with different patterns, especially patterns that are currently in fashion. A floral tie is a very 2014 look.

The white shirt

Your basic office shirt staple should be a long-sleeved, perfectly white shirt. Shirts are one of those items that often need replacing if you want to look absolutely clean; a firm collar and no discoloration is important if you want to look professional. Only a small portion of your shirt should be showing however, as you should (almost) always be wearing a suit jacket.

What to wear when it gets hot

During the summer, you are at risk of sweltering in a suit. But, there is no excuse for not wearing one, short of the office air conditioning being on the blink. It is sensible to adjust your office attire to the weather, but there are some methods which undo all your hard work putting together your work suit. It is never appropriate to substitute your suit pants for shorts, at the risk of looking like an awkward school boy, but it is totally fine to loosen your tie and remove your blazer. You should still wear a long sleeved shirt; a good cotton or silk shirt will be light enough that you won?t overheat in sleeves.