Dress For Success

The most important thing to consider when dressing for work is your company culture. Although more than 9 out of 10 companies don't have a written dress code, almost all companies have an unwritten one. Learning and understanding the appropriate dress code in your company is the first step in dressing for success. No matter how much you hate to conform to a uniform looking attire, and how much you would love to express your own personal style instead, it is important to separate leisure wear from work attire. When dressing for business it must be your objective to get the job done, and to do well in your profession.

The best indicator on your company's dress code are the outfits of your superiors. Following the leader is the most important rule to consider. There are a few exceptions however. If your boss mostly sits behind a desk and doesn't have as much face to face client interaction as you do, his/her attire might not be the best indicator. If this is your case, than also look at other management, peers, and the CEO. Find out if your company us a "suit" or a "nonsuit" wearing company.

The industry and your company culture are good inductors weather or not your company is or isn't a suit wearing business. It is quite obvious that lawyers are expected to wear suits. In fact, clients have been conditioned to trust only suit wearers with important matters which they do not understand.

Besides the legal field, other industries typically wearing a suit are: Financial institutions, sales organizations, accountants, and consultants. If your company falls into any of those categories, than chances are high that a suit is expected even if no written dress code exists.

Industries that have less direct client interaction are more likely not to wear suits. A good example are engineering firms, creative design firms, as well as most blue-collar professions. If your CEO doesn't wear a suit than this will be a good indicator for you to leave your suit at home. After all, the most important rule in dressing for success is to follow your leader.

Keep in mind that it is your objective not to make a fashion statement, but to conform to your company culture. You want to dress in a way that projects your company's culture, and follows a dress code rather than expresses personal style.

The most popular suit color for business is dark gray and navy blue. Even though pin-stripes are occasionally worn, classic conservative business attire consists of solid, pattern-less suit designs. Both a dark gray and a dark navy blue suit is has the advantae that it is very easy to match to dress shirts and your neckties.

The most conservative dress shirt color is pure white, followed by blue. Unless you are dressing for a job interview, you should choose a solid white dress shirt, a light blue dress shirt might be an excellent alternative. Especially men with a low contrast profile (meaning little contrast to skin and hair color), look great with a suit and shirt combination that also has less contrast.

Your silk ties are your single most important status symbol. Although there are a few guidelines you should follow when choosing your ties, there is far more room to add a personal style that you have for choosing suit and dress shirt. Most popular for business are striped neckties or the so called rep striped ties. Ties you should avoid are so-called novelty neckties since they have a tacky reputation in business. When choosing your necktie, look at the culture of your company. The more conservative your company the better off you will be wearing conservative colors and designs on your ties. Dark navy blue neckties, and burgundy silk ties are excellent business neckties. Unless your company is very conservative lighter necktie colors such as light blue ties or even pink and orange neckties are quite popular in the spring and summer months,

Unfortunately most retailer don't spend the time anymore to properly educate their sales staff on different fabrics, the right fitting, or on how to match clothing. So instead of relying on the "hit or miss" opinion of the clerk at your local men's retailer, a little educating before you go to buy your suit is recommended.

The most important thing when choosing s suit is the fabric. Choose wool! If the different numbers of wool got you confused than know that the range is between 80 up to super 200s wool. The higher the number the finer and more expensive the fabric. The down-side of high number wools is that such suits will wrinkles quite easily. So if you are looking for a daily business suit choose one made from super 100 or super 120 wool. Anything higher will need special care and is less suited for a daily to wear garment.

Besides fabrics, choose the appropriate cut. There are three common styles. The first is the so-called American (standard cut). It is a good choice for regular body types. For tall and athletic men the so-called European cut suit is an excellent choice. Regardless of what cut you choose, your jacket should be single breasted -meaning that there is no overlapping of the suit's sides. Weather you choose a three or a two button jacket is a personal choice. Regardless of what you choose always leave the lowest button open!

Finally, any suit will need alteration to ensure a perfect fit on your shoulders, sleeves, and your trouser length. Here is some more information on Tips How to Find a Taylor

If you wear suit and tie then only wear a watch that suits the outfit. A sports watch or heart rate monitor would look tacky. It belongs to the gym and not business. If you don't own a dress watch, then don't wear one.

Besides watches you have the option to wear cufflinks. Cufflinks are worn with so-called French cuffed dress shirts. While your neckties should be classic business, your cufflinks can have much more personal style. Use them to express yourself! If you like sailing then wear a pair of sailboat cufflinks. Also, to match your cufflinks: silver and gold should be matched to your belt buckle and wrist watch. Colored cufflinks should compliment other colors found on your clothing.

The idea behind dressing for success is a simple, elegant, and professional appearance that is stylish yet not over-the-top trendy and/or flashy. The classic look is dark colored suit, white or light blue dress shirt, and a tie that matches the overall color-theme and your own color profile (complexion, hair, and eye color).

In addition consider certain accessories that go with the overall professional appearance. Good examples here are briefcases, coats, scarves, hats, gloves, cell phones, money clips and wallets, and so on. Everything has to go with the overall professional theme. For some more information I invite you to read my article titled: Briefcases that Match your Outfit.

While dressing well and professionally will help boost your career, dressing like a slob will hurt just as much. Not only does it show ignorance, but it also can be interpreted as disrespectful by your boss. Here are the top 5 mistakes you could make:

1. Your Socks:
Make sure that your socks match your pants. There is nothing worse than white tennis socks. Also make sure to pull your socks up. No skin should be showing at any time.

2. Wrinkled Shirts
Make sure to have several dress shirts. This will allow you to rotate them on a regular basis and always ensures you have one or two freshly pressed shirts in your closet. For a daily suit and tie wearer 5 shirts are recommended. Choose at least 2 or 3 white ones, and have at least one light blue one as well.

3. Too Much Bling
Keep your jewlery at a minimum. Cufflinks and a matching wristwatch is all you need. Rings are only appropriate if you are married, and gold chains are only an option if you are Italian and run a pizza joint.

4. Novelty & "Big Picture" Ties
These "conversational" ties are not suited for business. They are tacky, and you would be better of not wearing a tie at all then one with Batman on it. Keep these ties to special holidays - if at all.

5. Bad Shoes:
Make sure to have your shoes always polished. Brown shoes are must be matched with brown belt and are only suited for tan, brown, olive, and navy color suits. Best are classic black dress shoes. Tennis shoes are the exact opposite. Never wear them unless you are going to the gym!

6. Backpack?
If you don't own a briefcase don't bring a backpack or gym-bag! For the interview a simple leather-bound notepad will be perfect. They look professional, are practical, and don't cost much money.

7. Bad Personal Hygiene
Even the nicest and best put together outfit wont cover up bad personal hygiene. In fact, cleanliness is even more important than the type of clothes you are wearing. Make sure that you get a hair-cut once a month, regularly cut and clean your fingernails, shave and/or groom your facial hair, shower, use deodorant, and wear odor free clohtes.

8. Hats
Although a hat can make an excellent accessory for the "Suit & Tie Look" most head coverings are unsuited for business settings. The only time hats are acceptable are during winter, and this only for certain styles and colors that coordinate with the rest of your outfit. Popular are mohair hats for example. More formal fedora hats are only suited for certain industries such as design and fashion but not for "normal business attire".

If you found this lens helpful, than I have a few more lenses that you might like. As always, I am always looking for feedback on how to improve my lenses. Your comments are always appreciated.
How to Tie a Necktie
The name should tell it all! This lens will teach you different ways to tie a necktie from simple knots perfect for the beginner tie wearer to the complicated knots designed for the experienced tie aficionado.

Black Tie Dress Code
This lens teaches you all there is to know about men's black tie dress code. Learn how to dress for classic black tie as well as more casual alternatives such as "black tie preferred", "black tie optional", and "semi-formal dress".

How to Tie a Tie YouTube
I found this YouTube channel by online tie shop Cheap-Neckties.com. Right now there are three videos posted on different necktie and bow tie knots. The videos are brand new and I was told that new videos on necktie knots, matching ties, dress code tips, and more will be posted soon.

Thank you for reading this lens!