STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

DC Shopper · Dooney & Bourke

yarp! business professional attire

bex · Chanel

i've found it is better to err on the side of conservative in the beginning until you get a feel for how others in the company dress. usually i am much more conservative than i need to be, but i feel it is better that way.

"business professional" can mean a plethora of things in these days and times... its hard to define if you don't know for sure...

Farrah · Marc Jacobs

You do not necessarily have to wear suits, but I would wear dress pants with button down, collared shirts. I have a bunch of the cute semi-fitted ones from Express that I wear to work and I always get compliments on how nice and professional I look in them when I wear them to work. I also wear them with nice pencil skirts and it looks really smart. Hey - I'm wearing one right now;)!!

Best of luck with the new job - you are going to be fabulous!!

-- Edited by Farrah at 18:10, 2005-04-13

LA Gal · Kenneth Cole

If you don't already have one, I would invest in a basic black 3-piece suit - that's a jacket, pants and skirt (or dress, although I prefer skirt since you can change the look more easily with different tops). You can always wear the pants or skirt without the jacket if you figure out that a jacket isn't required everyday.

A black suit may sound boring to some, but IMO it's essential in a conservative business environment, especially if your budget doesn't allow for lots of different color and style suits.

-- Edited by LA Gal at 18:14, 2005-04-13

Elle · Hermes

Maybe invest in a good 3-piece (skirt or dress, pants, jacket) to maximize your mix/match opportunities while keeping to your budget? I think that 'business professional' does mean suits or equivalent. Would some brightly colored scarves work for you? Like this:

One would think that as long as you are covered and appropriate that something like this would also work:

or

Adding a colored suit might help break up the monotony (maybe later in the summer once you get a paycheck or 4)

DC Shopper · Dooney & Bourke

quote:
Originally posted by: Farrah
" Best of luck with the new job - you are going to be fabulous!!-- Edited by Farrah at 18:10, 2005-04-13"

thanks, farrah!

Thanks everybody for the ideas...keep 'em coming...I probably do need a black suit -sigh-

scarves might be cute, and express is a good place for button downs...

bean · Kenneth Cole

"business professional" doesn't necessarily mean only suits. As long as you keep your bottoms pretty tailored (trousers, pencil skirts, etc), you can pair them with button-up shirts, nice blouses, fitted sweaters., etc without a jacket. I would take a cue from others in the office.

FashionPrincess · Hermes

Darling, I fear that business professional, especially in your new position, means suits. I would check out the outlets, like BR and JCrew. Ann Taylor makes some nice looking suits. Scarves, brooches, necklaces are great ways to jazz up a suit.

lsubatgirl · Gucci

BR also has some really nice fitting button downs (I do better at BR than Express with my boobs - not sure if you have that issue). They had a bunch just on sale too. You might want to check.