“Feminine” and “appropriate,” often the two things that make dressing up hard

Jul 20, 2009 19:01 GMT  ·  By
Women often don’t know how to dress appropriately for the workplace, report says
   Women often don’t know how to dress appropriately for the workplace, report says

In their desperate bid to avoid what is known as “office dress” and thus spark talk that they’re trying to emulate their male counterparts in everything, many women have decided to go with their feminine side and dress accordingly at the workplace. According to Maureen Rice of the Daily Mail, far from making them dress prettier and look better, they have thus fallen into the other extreme, that of dressing for work as if for a day out shopping or, even worse, clubbing with gal pals.

No one should be judged by the way they dress, Rice says, yet everybody is. We live in a world where clothes say the first words before we even get the chance to reach out our hand and introduce ourselves and, for women, the task of dressing appropriately for each occasion is all the more difficult, since they will always be judged by their peers depending on their clothes first. As recent studies have shown, in an office working environment, picking the wrong shoes, or the wrong length of the skirt (not to mention décolletage) can have a negative impact on others’ perspective on the abilities and the professionalism of the woman in question.

“The way we dress for work has become a minefield. We live in less formal times, where dress codes have been all but abandoned and the old ‘power dressing’ rules for women were killed off when we stopped wanting to behave or look like men at work. As women became more confident and more powerful in the workplace, we felt free to be more feminine and more individual. Our dress codes relaxed. But relaxed has turned into confusion and led to a workplace awash with women who look as if they’ve just dropped in on their way to a hen night.” Rice writes.

From women who come to work in short shorts and flip flops, to those who think what they see in certain films might also hold true in real life and who don unbelievably short skirts, sky-high heels and tops that are about to burst at any given moment, and those who wear nighttime items to the office, finding a woman who knows how to dress smart is nearly impossible these days, Rice laments. This wouldn’t be a problem in itself, if it weren’t for the negative way in which it impacts on their careers, since it’s a proven fact that co-workers’ perspectives are shaped to take into account a person’s fashion style as well.

“Of course it shouldn’t matter what we wear – we should be judged solely on what we say or do. But it does matter how we dress – that’s the world we live in. Somewhere between visible bra straps and power suits, there’s a line that we must all navigate, and dressing well for work involves – and displays – all kinds of intelligence, from emotional and social through to old-fashioned IQ. You need to be able to judge the environment in which you work, and the work you do, to have the self awareness to judge correctly what messages you are giving off, and the savvy and self-respect to adapt them accordingly.” Rice concludes by saying.