Dressing for a “No Dress Code” Office
Our founder and personal stylist, Natalie Tincher, shares her expertise on ways to navigate an office environment with no dress codes.
Even before COVID, dress codes and wardrobe guidelines were loosening up or being eliminated, especially in more creative industries. While this may feel liberating, I have heard from many clients that this causes more confusion and anxiety when it comes to dressing for the office. On the other side, I have consulted with businesses expressing exasperation at the way some of their employees are dressing but they don’t know how to communicate their expectations in an empowering way.
So what do you do if you are confounded by your no dress code office style? I’ve put together some thoughts and guidelines:
Decide How & What You Want to Communicate
First and foremost, you know one of our core principles is that by putting on clothes you are communicating something. When it comes to the workplace, ask yourself:
What do I want my style to communicate?
How do I want to show up?
How do I want to feel?
How do I want to be received?
What would my style look like in order to meet these goals?
Now assess your work wardrobe and start piecing it together. Look at the individual pieces with these questions in mind. Put together looks and ask yourself if these looks are aligned with the above answers.
Don’t forget that if you are in a flexible work environment, meeting a variety of clients, traveling, etc., your wardrobe will be varied and lean on varied style personalities and dress code levels depending on the day. Once you have a good sense of your overall style brand, you can hone in on it and dress for the nuances of each day.
Do Your Own Discovery
Now, you need to align your style brand with your work environment to make sure your professional presence is helping you reach your goals in the workplace. Look around, gather data, and ask questions to get answers:
The easiest place to start is just to ask! Talk to your Human Resources department or a trusted senior colleague to see if there are wardrobe guidelines or expectations—formal or informal. Once you find a listening ear, ask specific questions:
Are there different expectations and guidelines based on the days of the week (e.g., “casual Friday”? Client meetings? Season? Location?
How do they define the standards? For example, what does “casual” or "business casual” actually mean? Are jeans accepted? Sneakers? If jeans are accepted, are there certain expectations (e.g., no holes)?
If you can’t get a direct answer, look at your colleagues and pick out one or two whose executive presence you admire and who you believe always get it “right.” This doesn’t mean you have to dress like them, but you can use their wardrobe choices as a guide for the level of dress that is appropriate for your various work settings. Observe how they are showing up to meetings, work events, and more. You can take cues from their professional wardrobe to match their dress code levels using your own style brand as a guide.
Dress Accordingly
Now that you’ve discovered your style intent in the workplace and put it together with the expectations, you can begin to combine those pieces to craft your unique workplace style brand, whether it be business formal, business casual, smart casual, casual—or a hybrid!
Remember that in today’s world, your personal brand is more important than ever in reaching your career goals—and your style brand is an inextricable part of your personal brand.
Want to learn more about your current and goal style brand? Take our self-guided original assessment to get started: