Career Corner: Career Guide to Dressing Right: Business Casual vs Business Professional

Knowing your environment and audience is crucial to professionalism, specifically when deciding what to wear to follow proper dress protocol for a business event, interview or potential networking setting.

Understanding your environment is a necessary component to your success because what you wear can leave an impression on others for better or for worse. Can you imagine what others would say if you went to casual costume party wearing a tuxedo or if you went to a wedding dressed in a cat costume? So although you may have heard of business professional and business formal attire, you still may be unable to differentiate between the two.

Business professional is a term used in American business culture usually found in interviews or conservative professions like finance that indicates that the dress attire requires a higher level of professionalism in the form of a suit.

For men, business professional entails classically tailored dark suits (with tie) paired with a solid-colored dress shirt as well as your suit jacket matching the pants. Make sure that you are properly groomed and that your shoes match the entire outfit.

For women, many of the rules for business professional menswear also apply when selecting women’s formal business clothing, such as classically tailored, coordinated pant suits or skirt suits with knee or calf-length skirts, ironed blouses with conservative necklines and classic closed-toe and low-heeled leather dress shoes. You want to ensure that your hair is neatly styled and that you are wearing a minimum amount of jewelry.

On the other side of the continuum is business casual. Although the phrase uses the word “casual,” it is far from your typical definition of casual as it is not what you would catch yourself wearing on Saturday morning around the house or when hanging out with friends at the mall. In other words, jeans and sneakers do not generally apply.

For men, business casual entails wearing a solid-colored, striped or checkered dress shirt with a matching tie, blazers and dress pants. You can also wear khaki dress pants and a sports jacket or blazer when following a business casual dress code. Depending on the event (knowing your audience and type of event), at times a sports jacket and dress shirt with dress pants will be considered business casual as well.

Women can wear casual pants or skirts but neither should be tight. Fabrics should be crisp; colors should generally be solid; navy, black, gray, brown and khaki are always safe bets. Your skirt should come at least to your knees while you are standing. Wear a conservative watch as jewelry and scarf styles come and go. Keep your choices simple and leaning toward conservative.

Avoid extremes of style and color. If your industry is creative, you may have more flexibility than someone pursuing a conservative industry. Your shoes for business casual should be leather or fabric/microfiber. Appropriate colors are black, navy, brown, tan, taupe (to coordinate with your other attire and accessories); white and pastels are not appropriate. For the most conservative look, toes should be covered. Thin straps, spike heels, chunky heels and platforms are not appropriate. Your choices reflect your judgment. Make certain you can walk comfortably in your shoes;

Now it is understandable that you may have your own personal style and every office can differentiate in terms of expectations for attire. If you were going to work as a lawyer, you know that the expectation will be full suite and ties day in and day out. When you start working at an organization, pay attention to your surroundings and follow proper protocol based on the office culture. When in doubt, it never hurts to dress to impress.

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