SUCCEED WITH STYLE: Business Casual Blunders

Monday, April 18, 2011

Margaret Batting, Image Consultant and Personal Brand Strategist

Selecting appropriate business casual attire can be more challenging than you think. Couple it with warm weather and you can send a company’s dress code into a tailspin. After a long winter, we look forward to shedding heavy business attire in favor of lighter clothing.

But unfortunately, in my experience, during spring and summer months, professionals tend to look more like they are on the way to the beach than the office. Believe it or not, wardrobe blunders can compromise credibility and impact your chances for a promotion. Two of the biggest clothing mistakes professional women make?

1. Revealing too much skin and; 2. Dressing too sexy. It’s hard to be taken seriously when the focus is on your body and not your professional presence.

You may have heard some of these tips before, but the fact that I still see these blunders (made by both women and men) shows me they are definitely worth repeating:

1. If you wear it to the beach, it doesn’t belong at the office. (Yes, this means absolutely NO FLIP FLOPS.)

2. Avoids tops that reveal your cleavage or tummy. This means no tank tops, halter tops or shirts that are just a smidge too short that when you lift your arms, everyone can see your tummy.

3. Save fabrics that are too sheer or overly clingy for the weekend.

4. Guys: Wear an undershirt, especially when it gets super hot. It will absorb perspiration.

5. Cover your tattoos.

6. Piercings are not professional. Cover them up at the office.

7. Save shorts for the weekend.

8. Keep skirt length to no more than two inches above your knee and save the maxi style for the weekend. This is not a professional look.

9. If your dress code allows open toe shoes or sandals, make sure your feet are well cared for and toes are polished. No one wants to look at neglected feet.

10. If you choose to wear white pants to work, invest in nude under garments. If the pants pockets show through, cut them out and have them sewn shut. Seeing anything through your clothes is distracting.

11. Skip Low Rise pant styles that reveal under garments.

What you CAN do? Create a polished and professional style that is authentic and radiates confidence, credibility and competence.

Margaret Batting is the Corporate Style expert for GoLocalProv.com. Margaret is the owner and president of Elevé Image Consulting and the only certified image consultant and personal brand strategist in Rhode Island. She travels the country as the national corporate image consultant for CareerBuilder and serves as the style advisor liaison for Dress for Success Rhode Island, which will hold a fashion show fundraiser at the Biltmore on April 28. For more information, visit www.eleve-style.com.