About Business Professional Dress Code

Although more and more companies adapt business casual and sometimes even street casual dress codes, there still are firms that promote business professional attire (also known as informal attire, international standard business attire or business formal dress code) and expect their employees to follow its rules devotedly.

According to Gallup polling 9% of American workers were wearing business professional attire to  work in 2007.

Let’s see what does “to maintain a business professional look” really means.

Business Professional Dress Code for Women

♦ Strictly speaking, business formal attire for women equals dark coloured suit with white or beige colour blouse or skirt-and-blouse combination.
Lately though, conservative black, dark gray, navy or earth tone wrap dresses or A-line dresses are acceptable. Trousers with creases + a coordinated blouse combinations are allowed too.

Business Professional Women

Longsleeve Tops
Heels

♦ Any revealing clothing is a no-go; avoid  see-through fabrics and choose skirts that are at least knee length.

♦ If you like jewellery try to stick with neutral and tasteful design. Avoid excessive earrings, necklaces or rings that could distract clients or coworkers. Favor jewelry that complements your status of a professional business person instead. For example, if you choose to wear watch, make sure it is one of a good quality. Take a look at JohnGreedJewellery, they have a huge collection of subtle and at the same time incredibly elegant accessories to offer.

♦ When choosing footwear look for formal, closed toe shoes. It is allowed to wear flats or low to medium heel dark-coloured shoes or solid beige colour dress shoes.

Casual Trousers
Heels

♦ All tattoos must be covered. Also try to keep piercing to the minimum.

♦ Make sure you always have neat professional hairstyle (Sleek Low Chignon, The Long Bob, High Ponytail,  The Curly Ponytail or similar)  light make-up, moderate amount of perfume, manicured nails and fresh breath.

See summary of Business Professional Dress Code for Women in PDF format.

Business Professional Dress Code for Men

♦ Suits are required business formal attire. If possible, choose one of a good quality, especially if you have to wear business professional clothing on a daily basis. Avoid wearing the same suit two days in a row.

♦ Keep in mind that trousers must always match the jacket. When shopping for a suit, consider buying a second pair of matching trousers as the dress pants usually suffer more than the jacket.

♦ It terms of colours, plain dark suits are the safest choice. Try black, navy, dark brown or dark grey. Slightly more daring alternative is a pinstripe suit. Those are regarded highly in the finance industry and in management.

Suits
Belts

♦ When choosing a shirt favor white or some neutral color like ivory, champagne or soft blue. Always look for dress shirts with spread collar. Avoid button-down collars, as they are still  seen as a more sporting style.

Botton-down collars were introduced by Brooks Brothers in 1896. They were made after the shirts of polo players and until 1950s were used exclusively on sports shirts.

♦ Ties are essential. Although bow tie is considered to be the acceptable item of business professional attire, it is very unusual to wear one. We suggest to stay conservative and favor classic neckties.

Ties
Belts

♦ Just like ties, cufflinks are necessary. You can skip these accessories only in case you know your coworkers don’t wear cufflinks or if wearing them would be impractical due to the nature of your work.

♦ Your socks should be the same color of the suit and at least as dark as your suit. Stick to solid colors; there should be no logos, patterns or pictures on the socks.

♦ When choosing footwear look for lace up dress shoes and classic oxfords*. Business professional footwear must be leather or suede and should preferably be black or at least as dark as your socks. British footwear brand Barker has a great collection of formal shoes to choose from.

*An Oxford is a style of laced shoe characterised by shoelace eyelet tabs that are stitched underneath the vamp, a construction method that is also sometimes referred to as “closed lacing”.

♦ Speaking of accessories, a good quality watch is desirable. Of course, wedding or engagement rings are always allowed, but any other rings should be avoided.

♦ All tattoos must be covered. Also try to keep piercing to the minimum.

♦ Always make sure your breath is fresh, you have neat professional hairstyle, trimmed nails and little or no cologne or aftershave.

See summary of Business Professional Dress Code for Men in PDF format.

3 General Tips on Business Professional Attire

1. When you are attending a job interview, choose business professional clothing. When it comes to first impressions it is always better to look a bit too official than overly casual.

2. If you want to “fit in”, pay attention to the way your colleagues dress and attempt to look alike. This will help  with interpersonal communication because people generally feel they can work and cooperate better with persons who look similar to them.

3. On the contrary, if you are willing to show your ambitions, dress to the standards of the role that you are planning to take up one day. As Epictetus said:

Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly.

Do you have questions about Business Professional Attire or you feel we forgot to mention something? Come talk with us! Leave your comment below!