I avidly read “Dress for Success”. It was the women’s Bible for how to dress to be taken seriously as a professional in the workplace. My mom heeded its advice religiously, wearing suits and pumps with modest hem lengths, leg slimming heel heights, and blouses with bow ties and modest necklines. When I entered the workforce, I chomped at what I felt were outdated rules, yet I too, wanted to be taken seriously. Seriously fashionable.
I did hew to the guidelines during the first half of my career: Dress for the position above you. Wear clothes that fit, but are not form-fitting. Express your style without attracting attention to your clothes. I noted what the female executives wore and identified the few who dared to wear, from those who safely blended into the background. It was a bright line, and I respectfully followed in the footsteps of the fashionable few.
As I moved up, I became more emboldened to take the fashion “risks” dutifully avoided by other female executives. While I maintained the armor of chic dresses, blazers, and heeled pumps, I began to don dressy jeans with a jacket and boots. I added leather pants, skirts, jackets and dresses into my outfits and wore knee-high and over-the-knee boots. My aim was exude taste, confidence and the courage to stand out. I like to think I enabled my staff and peers to redraw the lines of the corporate uniform.
The pandemic, with remote work, accelerated the loosening of workplace dress rules. Not having to don the traditional corporate uniform will hold as a generational shift. But, despite my own rebellion, the executives and leaders who judge on appearance still expect younger, junior staff to show their work wardrobe respect. Show up to the office in something more thoughtful than the absent-minded jeans and a tee. Wear the hoodie to the office, and remove it when you’re in the office. Flip-flops are like nail clippers - hearing them in the office sends an icky message.
Relieving yourself of the office uniform armor can work if you’re not meeting in-person or going into the office and interacting with others. But, please, don’t go uber-rebellious or abandon all professional care from your closets. Dressing for success does look differently today than before, but it does exist, if you dare to care.