The clothing that you wear to a professional workplace and settings is known as business attire. Generally, you have full freedom to dress up as you want. But all of this depends on various things such as which industry you work in, your office rules, seasons, the occasion, etc.
There is a variety of business attires which range from casual to business formal. You can decide what is perfect for your workplace and create a perfect look. Lets, learn business attire tips for men and women below-
1. Casual
Casual attire means informal clothing which is worn not only in business but also for many things outside work. Casual clothing is appropriate for places where things like t-shirts, jeans, and open-toed shoes are allowed. However, avoid wearing casual dresses in interviews or meeting with clients even if the office is casual.
Casual for Women
Casual dresses for women include unique clothing designs such as T-shirts, blouses, sweaters on top. Jeans, cropped pants, or shorts are worn at the bottom. Casual shoes include low heels, sandals, or sneakers. You can even add a little fun to their attire with funny t-shirts for women.
Casual for Men
Casual dress for men can be items like T-shirts, button-down shirts, sweaters. The bottoms include jeans, khaki pants, or shorts. Shoes in casual attire include sandals, sneakers, or loafers. You can also wear funny t-shirts for men with jackets to complete the look.
2. Smart Casual
This is another form of casual business attire but it has got a stylish twist in it. In this business attire, you can include more trendy pieces of clothing. This business attire is more appropriate for flexible offers with informal settings. Also, you can wear smart casual in interviews. You can maintain a clean, professional look even in informal wear. This will communicate that you care how your appearance looks.
Casual for Women
Smart casual business attire for women includes items such as blazers, dresses, sweaters, trousers, skirts, blouses, heels, flats, scarves, etc.
Casual for Men
Next, these include items such as sports jackets, ties, button-down shirts, polos, dress shoes, boots, clean sneakers, belts, etc.
3. Business Casual
This form of dress is commonly worn in offices. There are many classic business staples that are used in business casual wear a lot including khakis. Business casual is perfect for client meetings, interviews, and other official settings. This attire is not very casual or formal, it is the perfect thing in the middle. This is an appropriate way to dress up if you are unsure about what to wear.
Business casual for Women
Women can wear pencil skirts, blouses, button-down shirts, trousers, blazers, khakis, and sweaters. You can accessorize with jewelry or belts. Shoes for business casual attire include flats, loafers, boots, mules, or heels.
Business casual for Men
For business casual, men can wear slacks, khakis, button-downs, polos, sport coats, trousers. Jackets and ties can also be worn. Shoes in this category include lifestyle sneakers, oxfords, boots, loafers.
4. Business Professional
Now, business professional is a traditional form of business attire. This is used in conservative settings or companies with professional and strict codes. These can also be worn to industries such as accounting, banking, government, or the law. These types of clothes are well fitted.
Business professional for Women
When dressing as a business professional, women can wear skirts, dresses, or slacks. Tops include button-down shirts, blouses with blazers. Shoes in business professional attire include classic heels, loafers, tidy flats. This attire can use accessories like minimal jewelry and belts.
Business professional for Men
Men can wear dark-colored suits and ties. The tie must be simple without any bright colors involved. Men can also wear button-down shirts and belts to complete their business professional look. Shoes for business professional attire include professional, closed-toed shoes such as oxford or loafers.
5. Business Formal
Business formal attire is reserved for award ceremonies, special dinners, events, benefits, etc. This type of clothes is similar to a “black tie”.
Business formal for women
Business formal attire includes dark pantsuit, skirt suit, suit dress. A long evening dress can also be worn for a few occasions. Shoes for business formal include flats, heels, oxfords, or loafers. Minimalist jewelry is perfect for business formal attire.
Business formal for men
Men can wear clothing similar to business professionals- dark suits and ties. A black suit with a light button-down shirt is also great for this setting. You can wear oxford or loafer shoes with these clothes. Avoid brown shoes if you are wearing a black suit. You can use accessories such as belts, tie clips, minimal cuff links, etc.
6. Gender Neutral Professional Wear
There are plenty of ways to dress for the workplace with various degrees of formality to choose from. You can also dress in gender-neutral elements depending on the situation.
For casual dresses, jeans, sweaters, shirts, funny t-shirts, motivational t-shirts, are great options. For little formal looks, you can select from slacks, trousers, or neat chinos.
You can even wear sweaters, button-downs, or shirts paired with cardigans.
Pantsuits are great for formal wear for both men and women. These can be worn with flat or slightly heeled oxfords or loafers.
Tips on Business Attire
Let’s discuss some tips on business attire
1. Dress According to the Workplace Necessities
Some offices can allow casual wear but some are strictly into business formal or business professional attire. Generally, many workplaces or offices have written instructions regarding professional wear which are meant to be followed strictly. However, some workplaces might not have some provisions for you to look at. In that case, you need to have a look at what other people are wearing.
2. Experience the Office Culture
Every office is different and has different office culture. It matters what you wear and how you dress yourself up as it represents the office to the outsiders. Some workplaces are strict about wearing particular attire but some have no problem with casual attire.
For instance, Nike is into sportswear and sports equipment. They have asked their employees to wear athletic dress up as per their companies profile.
3. Season Time
The professional dress-up also depends on the season. It helps you with the changing weather and also keeps the atmosphere at the office fresh and energetic to work in.
Light fabric, linen, and soft light dresses are perfect for summer. While woolen dress-up is best for winters. Next, white shirts can be worn for any season. Layers can be worn in winters to keep things stylish and warm. If you wear casual attire, you can go for matching t-shirt designs and women hoodies in different seasons.
4. Professional Color Combinations
There are no color conditions in professional work attire for any workplace. But depending on the attire, colors also matter. For men, colors that are best in professional suits are black, grey, brown, navy blue, coke, and brown. The Shirt combination includes white, black, light lemon and light shades.
Wearing dresses with one color of various shades is great to look professional and sleek. A brighter range of colors can be worn depending on different occasions and situations in the workplace.
5. Be Aware of What Others Are Wearing
People who do not know what to wear at their workplace can take a hint from others. They should be aware of the office environment and notice what other employees are wearing. In this way, you can easily select a professional outfit for yourself. Communicate with your work associates to get a better understanding.
Workplace clothing is not something you can just skip or not be serious about. How you present yourself and what you wear in your office says a lot about your personality and expertise. Moreover, If you look appreciable, there are higher chances of succeeding in the workplace. Thus, these business attire tips are quite useful if you wish to look impressive and fit in your business place.
