大象传媒

Smart, casual, smart-casual. The clothes we wear to work now often differ depending on the type of job and the workplace culture.

But is there a way that you can dress for success at work? Is it by wearing a smart jacket or comfy shoes, donning bold colours, or dressing down?

大象传媒 Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour spoke to six women from different occupations and backgrounds to hear their thoughts and tips.

It’s not vain to invest in your appearance

It’s not vanity to invest in your appearance, according to Lindsey Bauer, a teacher at Colyton Grammar school in Devon.
“I think sometimes when we become mothers and our finances are pulled in every direction and we haven’t got much time, we’re working, we’re frazzled, we just think, I’ll leave it, I’ll focus on the children, focus on work and home.
“But it’s really important to still take a care and a pride in your appearance because it really affects the way that people respond to you.
“It draws people to you, it gives you confidence and then also you get compliments and then you find yourself giving out compliments because you know how powerful they are and how much better they make you feel.”

How you dress is such a good way of connecting with people - Lindsey Bauer

Be audacious

“As a woman don’t let yourself become invisible”, adds Lindsey Bauer.
“Do be bold. Do wear colour, wear a red lipstick, wear purple. Just wear something that pushes the boundaries a tiny bit and be emboldened.
“I think how you dress is such a good way of connecting with people, especially with students.
“I really love working with teenagers and being a teacher. Until you get to know teenagers, you can be quite awkward around each other, but wearing something a little bit different, or something a bit interesting, really helps to break the ice.
“It can also help with students who are a little bit tricky.
“I’ve had one student who was quite often in trouble. One day I happened to walk past her in a corridor and I was wearing some emerald, green, glittery shoes and she just came running up after me and she said, ‘Miss, I really love your shoes, where did you get them from?’
“We just started talking and it was lovely because then every time we passed each other afterwards, I’d always have a chat with her and she’d say, ‘Miss, I’m doing such and such and I’m doing really well in English now’.”

Wear something you can forget that you’re wearing

“One of the most important things in being ‘successful’ is to define what success means for you”, says Viv Groskop, comedian, writer and author of How to Own the Room: Women and the Art of Brilliant Speaking.
“For me, it means being able to turn up, do what I’ve come there to do, which is usually to make a connection, to talk about something interesting, to say something insightful, to reveal something, to entertain, and I can’t do that if I’m thinking about what I’m wearing.
“So success for me means being able to put on something and have myself done up in such a way that then I can just forget about it.”

Wear comfortable footwear

Comfortable footwear is really important for being successful at work, according to Magdalene Abraha, who works in publishing.
“For me it’s trainers, but whatever it is, as long as it’s comfortable.
“If I’m comfortable, I can do my job very well. The nature of my job requires me to have a lot of concentration and so if I’m constantly moving around because something’s not comfortable and my feet hurt, then it sort of defeats the whole purpose.”

If I鈥檓 fully comfortable, I can do the task at hand - Magdalene Abraha

Actually like what you wear

“If I look at myself and I think I look pretty silly or I’m not particularly comfortable, there’s no point, so I have to be very happy with what I’m wearing”, adds Magdalene Abraha.
“If I’m fully comfortable, I can do the task at hand.
“A typical outfit for me for dressing for success would probably be baggy jeans, tracksuit bottoms and definitely, definitely trainers.”

Decide on how much time and energy you have for ‘wardrobe work’

For Dr Helen McCarthy, who lectures in early modern history at Cambridge University, it’s “quite important to decide how much time and energy you want to invest in what I would call wardrobe work. By that I mean the invisible labour that goes into getting a woman to work on time looking presentable, looking well groomed.
“In my field, which is academia, I don’t feel I need to invest all that much time in ‘wardrobe work’.
“In fact, I think there can be a slight suspicion towards academics if they look a bit too slick or they look a bit too groomed because we’re meant to be leading the life of the mind and therefore being a scruffy intellectual can actually be a good look.
“Although I think it’s one that men can pull off more successfully than women with their tweed jackets.
“I have heard the phrase ‘glamourdemic’ used to refer to glamorous academics, and I can think of quite a few of those, but on the whole, I think in the university, you don’t want to invest too much time in it.”

Think about the occasion

“If you want to dress for success at work, think about the occasion”, says Uma Creswell, who runs her own business and is Vice President of City Women Network.
“What are you going to do, who are you going to meet, what is it all about, what message are you going to be trying to convey?
“Once you’ve got a sense of the occasion, I have what I call two or three trusted outfits in my wardrobe at home.
“One of the faux pas I [made] early on in my career was thinking that I’d go and get something new for an occasion and then I’m fidgeting, I’m uncomfortable, I’ve not worn it before, it doesn’t sit comfortably.
“So by having my tried and trusted outfits, there is a sense of empowerment, confidence. It’s just automatic, it’s just donning a uniform and then I’m in the zone
“You’re then on it in terms of who you are meeting, or the purpose for why you’re there.
“If someone dresses smartly and impressively, what I take from that is that they have really thought about it, they’ve put time and effort into how they want to project themselves.
“It means they are taking me seriously, they’ve put thought and effort into it. This translates into the working environment as somebody who’s going to take it quite seriously.”

Preparation

“It sounds silly but use 10 mins on a Sunday evening with your diary to see what you’re doing in the week ahead, and then you can pull out all those outfits for the morning”, advises brand and image consultant Isabel Spearman.
“It means you can really think about what you’re doing on that day, you’ve picked the appropriate outfits to make you feel your very best, so you just get on with the job.”

You are projecting a personal brand, you are projecting an image and you are showing that you really want that job - Isabel Spearman

Dress for the job you want

“Emulate someone in the workplace, someone who you admire, whose style you admire, who’s job that you want, and dress up”, says Isabel Spearman.
“You are projecting a personal brand, and you are projecting an image and you are showing that you really want that job.”

Separate your work clothes from your everyday clothes

“Again sounds very menial, but it’s limiting that rush in the morning”, adds Isabel Spearman.
“If you’ve got kids, husbands leaving for work, that stress in the morning can leave you flustered and arriving at work in something that you don’t want to be wearing.
“By separating your wardrobe out, you know exactly what you’re reaching for in the morning. “Sounds tiny but makes a huge difference.”

Tailoring is great for an interview

Wearing tailored clothes “makes you feel pulled together”, says Isabel Spearman.
“My ‘go-to’ is always a dress with a good jacket, so I think invest in a really great blazer.
“I also love colour because you do stand out.
“If that person is interviewing 10 people that morning and you are wearing a great green, or a great blue, you do stand out, but avoid maybe anything with too much print and too much pattern. It’s distracting from what you’re saying.”

You can listen to the full Woman's Hour discussion about what we wear to work here.

Woman's Hour is on 大象传媒 Radio 4 on weekdays at 10am and at 4pm on Saturdays. You can catch up on all episodes via 大象传媒 Sounds.