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The Business of Business... Clothing!

Hello! :)

Today's post will be a shorter read, since I know last week's was so long!

I want to start a series called "Dressing Up!" where I will show you guys outfits for a specific event or place with a specific attire. For example, this post will be showcasing what to wear to anything that requires business or professional attire!

This show has THE BEST business fashion I love it so much (Show: Crash Landing On You)

'Tis the beginning of school everyone and you know what that means? Everyone is getting slammed with projects, debates, presentations, interviews, sooo many things that require "business" or "professional" attire. I think I've had 5 different occasions that I've needed to look nice for since the start of school it's crazzzzyyyy

I know I can't be the only girl out there who had no clue what to wear whenever we had schoolwork that the teacher said we needed to "dress nice" for. It was always "Guys, you can wear a button-up and slacks and, uh.... girls wear the equivalent."

Like, what does that even mean?

There are so many different combinations and options when it comes to girl's business/professional clothing, so I decided to make a guide on what the heck to wear!

* * * 

First, let's get the basics. I've found there's a few things to know when it comes to business attire.

Number 1: Get things that are easy to match with so you can get as many different combinations as you can with the least amount of clothes. It's not that often that you need to dress professional, but it's nice to have options and not have to buy a different outfit each time.

Number 2: DON'T get dresses/jumpsuits or anything that's a one-piece statement item. Go for skirts and pants instead. Dresses and jumpsuits, since they stand out a lot, have very little potential for different combinations, meaning you won't get many wears out of them. Skirts and pants won't be remembered as easily, so it's easier to mix, match, and re-wear. Of course, if you already have nice dresses/jumpsuits, do wear them, don't let clothes go to waste!

Number 3: Don't be afraid to wear professional attire when you have to. I used to get a little embarrassed when I had to dress up and wear it around school the whole day, but trust me, I've learned no one cares. If you dress in business/professional attire people will know you have a project or a field trip or whatever and, chances are, they've had to dress up in school at some point too.

Number 4: Some good places to shop for business clothes are stores like Target (so underrated), Kohl's, Macy's, or your mom's closet. These types of stores actually have a good selection of styles, especially Target, and have them for a good price.

Number 5: Make sure your clothes aren't too revealing. No tank tops, no short skirts, no low necklines, especially if you're going somewhere more professional like an interview.

* * * 

Alright, now that you've got some basics, I wanted to recommend some staple items you may want to have in your closet!

First, some bottoms! Black is your friend when it comes to business clothes! It matches with everything and looks super put together. I would recommend a black skirt or black pants depending on your personal style. For me, I have 1 black skirt and 2 pairs of black pants that I mix-and-match.

Any darker colors like navy or green will look professional too, but for more casual I-just-have-a-10-minute-presentation looks, some kind of khaki pants will work as well, since they usually tone down the "formalness" of an outfit.

For tops, there are literally a ZILLION options out there. There's much more freedom with colors and patterns, so you can really do any color you want because I found it's really the bottoms that make an outfit business style or not.

A good thing to note is blazers bring your professional-looping level from like a 20 to a 100. I would invest in a one because it is good to have to just throw on over an outfit and make it that much more professional. Mine is, of course, black, although I would love to get a pink one!

And finally, we have shoes! Shoes aren't that hard when it comes to professional/business attire because you can just get one pair and wear it to literally everything. With shoes, there is also more room to find something closer to your personal style. You can get flats, loafers, heels, anything. I have a pair of flats, a pair of kitten heels, and a pair of tall heels.

Aaaaaaand last but not least, I wanted to show you guys a few styled outfits using the above tips and staple items, so that you can have some inspiration for what to wear on your next professional/business venture.

These are a bit more formal, but you can always tone it down by changing out the top for a sweater/plain long sleeves, or by changing out the pants to some khakis or other nice pants (no jeans!).

First up, we got a black fit.


I love this because it's professional, but also really cute (in my opinion). I have on one of the two pairs of black pants I mentioned before, a black turtle neck, and, to show some possibilities for layers, I added a black coat. I also have on some tall heels. Be careful with heels because if you know you're going to be walking a lot, make sure you don't wear ones that will kill your feet. And finally, to displace some of the black, I added some light jewelry and a little red purse

Next is an outfit for those who prefer a less "girly" (for lack of a better word) style, or those who prefer a safer kind of outfit.


For this one, I have some nice straight-legged black pants, some flats (they're sparkly too, you just can't tell), and a suuuuper comfy striped button-up. I got two things I want to point out with this one: 1) that bag is a dark green velvet bag from Forever 21 that I got for fifty cents YEAH FIFTY CENTS, definitely one of the greatest steals of my career and 2) I tried to do some nice professional/business hairstyles to go with these outfits so pay attention to that too, if you're confused on how to do your hair. For this outfit, I just went with a simple, sleek low bun and for the one above, I did a sleek low ponytail.

Next is a more formal one!

oop there's the floor, so much for my nice background

The blazer makes all the difference!    、

For this one, I have a simple black pencil skirt, a black blazer, and a blue tank top-- yes you heard that right it's a tank top. You can wear tank tops, so long as somehow it's covered, whether it be by a blazer, a cardigan, or a shirt underneath.

It's all about how you style it!

And lastly, my favorite of them all!


With this one, I just wanted to point out some ways to style dresses/jumpsuits if you already have them, so that maybe you can get a few more uses out of it. My favorite thing to do is to put pieces underneath. Since this jumpsuit had some nice straps, I added a matching flowy top. You can also put a cardigan on top, other shirts underneath or put a whole sweater or other shirt over it. My hair is just held by a clip in the back, and my shoes are actually character shoes from the spring musical I did a few years back, but they make great professional/business shoes!

Also, notice how all of my clothing is black, white, and blue! It makes it much easier to match all the items together. I can do so many different combinations with these!

Ok everyone you've reached the end! I hope this guide was helpful to you or at least gave you some inspiration for what to wear to your next event with professional/business attire!

That's all for today!

Bye everyone :)




Comments

  1. I really love how you give a bunch of different ideas and have pictures for inspiration too :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have always been in love with fashion and trying new styles. This blog definitely inspired me a lot.I love your feedback and tips!. You nice, keep going ;).

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have never really been into fashion, but your blog makes me want to go shopping and buy amazing outfits. Also, I love how you give us so many ideas for outfits and even visuals.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I absolutely love your sense of style and manage to pull off the looks...maybe in the future you could do something like "(insert name of someone you know who has no sense of style or one far from yours) chooses five outfits and I rate them" or something...I think it's really fun to see the new perspective and know how you react to it

    ReplyDelete
  5. Once again, amazing outfits!! Thanks for all of the advice because I'm pretty sucky when it comes to picking out clothes and I'll be sure to take your advice when I have another presentation! It's so cool to see how basic pieces layered with some more stand-out pieces can totally change an outfit :) So excited for the next post!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This post really helps because I feel like I wear the same thing when ever I'm told to dress up no matter the occasion.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love these outfits!! I'd really like to see different types of clothing for different seasons Can't wait for more content!

    ReplyDelete

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