In many work environments, dressing business casual has become the norm. However, when many people hear this term, they tend to focus more on the “casual” and less on the “business”. Sadly, this could leave you looking like you don’t take your job as seriously as you do and could result in you missing out on professional opportunities.
To help ensure that this doesn’t happen to you, here are three tips for creating a business casual look that you can be proud to wear to work everyday.
Choose Dress Shirts That Fit Your Body
Part of dressing in a business casual fashion means choosing clothes that are going to look good and feel great on you. To do this, you want to be sure that you’re choosing shirts that fit your body.
According to StylesOfMan.com, there are generally four styles or cuts of dress shirts that you can wear as part of your business casual attire. These include regular, slim, athletic, and fitted. Depending on the body type that you have and how you want to feel in your shirts, the actual cut that you choose will vary. Unless you know what your actual sizes are, you may want to try on shirts in all of the different cuts to see which one looks and feels best on you.
Vary Your Pants Material
In a more professional setting, you’re going to want to wear dress pants as part of your suit. But in a business casual workspace, you can vary the type of material that your pants are made out of.
Along with traditional dress pants, Robert Carnevale, a contributor to The Ladders, shares that you can wear khakis, corduroy, chinos, slacks, and even jeans in some cases. With jeans, you’ll usually want to go with a darker wash. And with all of these options, make sure you’re wearing pants that don’t have rips or holes in them. That’s one surefire way to look very unprofessional in a work setting.
Upgrade Your Sneakers
To really elevate your work look from casual to business casual, Dmarge.com advises that you save the sneakers for casual Fridays only.
On other days of the week, you’re going to be safest choosing shoes like loafers, Oxfords, monk straps, and more. Even if the clothes that you’re wearing are a little more on the casual side of business casual, having upgraded shoes can help your entire look appear much more professional. Just make sure you keep these shoes in good condition and choose colors that go with the outfit you’re wearing on any given day.
If you’ve been having some trouble nailing down your business casual look, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you get it right.
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