Archive for September, 2009

How To Dress For Success At Work

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

How To Dress For Success At Work

There is an old saying when it comes to dressing for success.  You should dress for the job that you want instead of the job that you have.  If you want to move up in the career world, you need to pay special attention to dressing for success.

Most people cannot afford to have a personal designer dress them when it comes to their daily wear.  You are going to have to figure out the right things to wear for the office on your own.  You can, however, take the following tips to help you navigate your way through career apparel as well as what to buy, what not to buy and how to dress for success at work:

1.  Purchase Quality

Look for quality clothing that will last rather than cheap, trendy clothes that will only be worn a few times before they rip, tear or fade.  If you purchase quality clothing, you can count on paying more money, but the clothing will last a lot longer than if you purchase cheap clothes.  While you can get away with cheap clothes that are trendy for clubbing and casual wear, when it comes to professional career wear, look for classic clothes that are name brand.  If you cannot afford quality clothes from the store, look for it in the second hand shops.  You are better off purchasing a quality fabric skirt from a second hand shop than a cheap skirt from a cheap clothing store.   When you are purchasing quality clothes, look for natural fabrics such as silks, wools and cottons as opposed to synthetics.

2.  Take Proper Care Of Clothes

Make sure that you take proper care of the clothes you have.  Look for a dry cleaner for those clothes that are not washable.  For fine washables, use a laundry bag for the washer and hang the clothes instead of tossing them in the dryer so that they last.  Use gentle detergents on fine washables.  If you take proper care of your clothes, they will last a good long time.

3.  Wear Classic Styles

When you are dressing for a night out in a club, you can get outrageous.  When you are dressing for the office, wear classic styles and stay away from trendy clothes.  Some styles, such as suits, do not go out of fashion quickly.  You can also re-vamp these clothes by raising and lowering hemlines in order to keep them updated.  Look for classic styles in clothes that are slightly conservative when you are dressing for success in the office.

4.  Stay Away From Being Too Casual

Many offices have casual day for clothing.  While this is a good time to wear more casual clothes, it is not an excuse to dress like you are there to clean the floors.  Wear casual clothes like Dockers and polo shirt when you are dressing for casual day at the office as opposed to your ripped jeans and flip flops.  There is such a thing as being too casual, even on Casual Fridays.  If you want to dress for success, be sure to look professional, even on days that are earmarked for casual wear.

Take a look at the people who have the job you want and emulate their dress style.  Always dress for the job that you want to have instead of the job you have and you cannot go wrong when you are dressing for success in the career world.

Resource:  If you want to dress for success, dress for the job you want instead of the job you have.  For more information on how to dress for success, go to Clothing Dept.