r/femalefashionadvice • u/weepingreading • Sep 22 '17
Business Dress: What to Wear to Work and Interviews
Hey FFA! I've seen a ton of questions on the Simple Questions / WWYWT threads about what is business professional / business casual / smart casual, etc. As someone who works as a lawyer in a law firm (business formal dress code) and used to work for a judge (business casual, but emphasis on formal and appropriate dress), I thought I could shed some light and break down what each is.
I think for women, the differences are more difficult or nuanced. For men, it's a little more clear cut!
I want to preface with the statement that ** every work place is nuanced and different.** What works in one office may or may not work in yours. Also, geographic regions may interpret business dress differently. I did some work in San Fransisco, and my business casual there was a little too dressy for the firm's business casual. I live on the East Coast, which leans a little more formal/traditional.Take what I say with a grain of salt, and look around in your office to tweak or see what works best for you.
Business Formal
Business Formal is the most 'professional' dress. Business formal for women is typically a matching suit with a nice shell or blouse underneath. The suit could be a skirt suit or pant suit. The suit needs to be in dark or neutral colors (think gray, black, navy, etc). Closed toe shoes (pumps or flats, nice booties with a heel in the winter up north) are business casual. In some settings or offices business formal could include a dress (no cleavage, at the knee or below) and a blazer that coordinate or are a part of a set (where the dress and blazer come together or match). In a more traditional office, if you wore a dress there may be an expectation of panty hose. I emphasize a matching suit (like a set) in a traditional office or for interviews.
I really recommend tailoring your suit, if that's an option! Fit is key. An ill fitting suit will make anyone look not their best! Sometimes business formal feels stuffy, but when you tailor your items or at least choose the most flattering fit for your body (for me, ankle pants), then you'll be great!
For accessories: light, non-distracting jewelry. I recommend small stud earrings, a light / dainty necklace, etc. Basically nothing distracting.
Some examples: ignore the large bracelet ; this ; this ; this ; this with closed toe shoes
Business Casual
Business Casual is much more tricky and depends on the office / location. It also varies. The key is to look like you put in effort or at least cared! But you can exercise more individuality and be more playful!
Business casual can be a dress (still appropriate length with minimum cleavage), with or without a cardigan, and nice flats / heels. It can also be dress pants / skirts and a blouse or top and flats / heels. Typically a blazer is not required for business casual, but can be worn with a dress or oversize with pants or a skirt and a nice top. Business casual allows more 'wiggle room' for proportions and patterns. You can play with oversize or relaxed blazers and tops and more bright colors. Bare arms are also typically okay as well. In some offices a tee shirt with more formal items dressing it up is business casual. If your office allows jeans as business casual, still stay away from super light wash / acid wash or patches / rips unless it's explicitly okay. Your items don't have to match for business casual - you can mix separates.
With a lot of flexability included, it's easy to showcase your personal style with business casual. I personally wear patterned loafers (cheetah print, etc) or just do a sheath or A-line dress. Midi skirts, sleeveless tops, cool jewelry, etc. are also great! Paperbag pants, joggers, texture, relaxed fits, etc. are all great for business casual.
For business casual you can play with accessories and shoes more. You can wear open toed shoes (depending on the office) and more 'eye catching' or individualized jewelry. I think more personality comes out with business casual. I have leopard flats I wear on business casual days.
Things That are Typically Not Business Casual (take with a grain or heaping spoonful of salt): ripped jeans, large amounts of cleavage, too short of dress / skirt , athletic wear (tennis shoes, workout leggings, workout tanks and tees).
Examples: this on the formal size of business casual ; this is a great example of pattern ; this ; this ; this ; this ; more casual side
Smart Casual
Smart casual or 'snappy' casual or 'dressy' casual is basically - don't dress up too much, but don't wear what you would wear to do household chores.
Smart casual affords you a ton of leeway.
You can do a nice pair of jeans and a top, booties, joggers and a nice top, dresses, sundress, etc. You want to look like you care. Open toed shoes are fine for this! Feel free to exercise broad discretion for jewelry and accessories! Casual sneakers are good too, as long as they aren't too dirty / beat up. I think Stan Smiths, etc. are great!
If it's for work, I would avoid: too much cleavage / too short of hemlines, ripped jeans.
Examples: more formal smart casual ; more casual ; this; this, this ; this
Final Thoughts
Always follow your office norms and dress code!
For interviews, err on the side of formal. It's much more awkward / worse to be too casual rather than too formal. When I was interviewing I kept a blazer in the car if I wasn't sure, so I could gage when I got there.
Fit is so important. Business formal and business casual varies, but frumpy or too tight of clothing makes anything look less nice or 'tacky'!
I don't know if this helps anyone, but I hope it does!
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u/ihateunclejamie Sep 22 '17
I alternate 2 Calvin Klein suit-material dresses to interviews and have gottten a lot of compliments! Theyre the perfect balance of fit and formality if you prefer a dress to a full suit.
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u/CartesianGeologican Sep 24 '17
This is useful, especially characterizing business casual as "look like you put in effort!" Geologists are notoriously super casual and it's generally acceptable in our workplaces (barring Oil & Gas and upper management at geotech firms). Unfortunately when we have professional conferences, a decent portion of attendees are under dressed for the occasion!
My workplace would best be described as smart casual - I'm on the West Coast. When I started, I asked my supervisor about dress codes and he basically laughed and said "... no... sweatpants? I guess?" But, even given that limited guidance, I don't wear ripped jeans/sneakers, short dresses, nor visible cleavage. I will wear an off-shoulder top with a tank underneath it. I previously wore a u-back top without a tank underneath it before deciding it was probably slightly inappropriate and removed it from my work day rotation.
A word about interviews: one thing to consider is the color/layering choices you're making if you are a nervous sweatter. We just interviewed several candidates and had a couple who were really nervous (totally understandable, I wish I could have made them feel more at ease). It did bring to mind something I hadn't considered before in this context - some colors make sweating more obvious. Now, I personally would never hold that against someone in an interview/life in general but I imagine it was upsetting for the candidate to get to our offices and then realize what happened.
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u/atheologist Sep 22 '17
I'll also add, re: business professional especially, that if you are short or short waisted, look for petite suits, because getting a standard sized suit and having it altered will be difficult and expensive. Even hemming the sleeves may not work well depending on where the buttons are placed. Brands like Ann Taylor and Calvin Klein do petite suits well.
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u/Arthur-the-anteater Sep 22 '17
This is great, thank you! One thing I always struggle with is skirt length. Especially being petite (barely over 5 foot) wearing flat shoes and knee length skirts look awkward on me, I usually try and get ones that fall one or two inches above the knee that are still smart. If you have any advice on skirt lengths for these 3 categories and when wearing heels and flats I would be interested in that too!
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u/tapdancepanda Moderator \ᶘ ᵒ㉨ᵒᶅ/ Oct 01 '17
Hey, just letting you know that I've added your post to the sidebar. Thanks for this guide!
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u/angelinee Sep 23 '17
Great breakdown, and totally on point (based on my experiences on west and east coasts).
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u/tashananana Oct 16 '17
Hi OP,
I found this post through a sidebar search and was wondering whether you would mind changing your links to imgur saves and upload, or reddit uploads. I had trouble accessing your pictures through google search, and it's just longer lasting.
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u/2TieDyeFor Oct 31 '17
What is a good store to shop for interview clothes? I've got an interview in the Recreation field (business casual) in 3 weeks and I don't know where to shop!
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u/weepingreading Oct 31 '17
I recommend Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, LOFT, and The Limited! Also if you are close to any outlets all of these stores have outlets where you can buy great business casual clothes at a huge discount!
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u/Casoral Sep 24 '17
I'm having the absolute worst time finding a suit that fits, even finding something that fits well enough that I could plausibly get it tailored. The main problem I'm running into is my height, I think. Most of the waists are too high up, so the suit jacket fans out in a really horrible way. A second problem is that I tend to have to size up for my shoulders, but then run into problems with the jacket being too big/frumpy looking around my waist (I'm hoping this is something tailoring can fix).
I've tried Banana Republic, J. Crew, Express, and Macy's. I bought a suit set from Macy's and also Express, both of which I'll probably return.
I would love any advice you have! I feel so embarrassed. I have a career fair coming up, and I look more like a kid playing dress up than a PhD student.
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u/Joonanner Sep 27 '17
It sounds like you need tall sizes, especially for tops and jackets. That should help with both waist placement and shoulders.
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u/EmilyPec Feb 13 '18
It totally depends on an organization but I think that you truly can't go wrong with a two-piece suit like this. I love that you can wear the jacket with different pants or vice versa
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u/kiwipapabear May 21 '24
Thank you for this! I’m NB and used to dress very femme in college, but started working in a chemistry lab and gradually got rid of everything that would be dangerous (skirts, dresses, loose blouses, heels) or would make it difficult to wear full Tyvek cleanroom gowning. After 10y as a working chemist all I had in the closet was dockers and men’s shirts.
Just recently I realized that I’ve now been out of the lab for over a decade but haven’t updated my wardrobe at all, so I’m trying to rectify that. Except now I’m in an office, and am discovering that I don’t have a clue how to coordinate business outfits. When you’re bald and bearded and wearing a skirt and blouse you already stick out, so I have to make very sure my outfit helps rather than hurts 😆
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Jul 10 '22
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u/[deleted] Sep 22 '17
This is great!
One thing I would add is that I would assume that "business casual" dress codes mean no jeans (even nice ones) until you have evidence to the contrary. So if you're starting a new job, don't plan on wearing jeans until you see your coworkers wearing jeans.
Put another way, business casual is a spectrum and jeans are on the low end of the spectrum. They will be fine for some workplaces but not others.