If you were (or are) working from home, how many of you would answer the phone, carry on your work all day, dressed in your nightie?! Ok, I know it’s a little extreme as a comparison, but the point here is that we have different ‘uniforms’ for different parts of our lives.

Nightie, PJ’s etc. are for sleeping in, shorts and T shirts are for lounging around at the weekend, walking by the beach and holidays, jeans and T shirts are for casual weekends, evenings out with friends, walks etc. BUSINESS DRESS IS FOR WORKING IN!

BUT, I know that the formal business suit is not always appropriate. It may never be a part of your working uniform as it may well not be the correct form of dress for your profession; all this has to be taken into account.

However, appropriateness is the key word here. Whatever we do, wherever we do it, the appropriateness of how we present ourselves should be at the forefront of our minds before we step outside the front door.

We all know that we make assumptions and judgements about people by what they look like, we might not like doing that as we believe the person on the inside is what matters. Of course this is true, who the person is on the inside DOES matter far more that what you see when you look at the outside. Trouble is, when you meet someone for the first time, you don’t know who they are on the inside and chances are you may not have the time or opportunity to find out. Even if you work with the same people every day, how well do you really KNOW them? Usually the topics of conversation are based around the company and the people in it, and we only gravitate towards people we ‘visually’ feel comfortable with anyway.

How comfortable would you feel going to see your Bank Manager for instance and he/she was dressed in very casual trousers or shorts, opened sandals, bright mutli coloured shirt or vivid low cut T Shirt? We have certain expectations of the people we interact with on a daily basis, and they have certain expectations of us.

The key here is to retain your individuality, be appropriate to the time of day and your profession/industry, and yet meet others’ expectations of you.

So – how DO you dress down with authority?

Let’s take the British office environment. There has now been a huge backlash to the whole dress down code as employers have been noticing that as the dress code goes down the instances of sexual harassment and bullying goes up. No surprises there then, if you dress for the office as you would for the nightclub, don’t be surprised to be on the receiving end of inappropriate comments.

Your dress code should be suitable for the job you’re being paid to do. For the office that means, NO: very low cut tops, dangly earrings (I’m talking very big down to the jaw line here!) floating scarves, visible underwear, too short skirts, too high heels – over 2 ½ inches – very professional but THE WRONG KIND OF PROFESSION!!, any piercing on show other than ears and a gallon of your favourite perfume.

Why? Because anything that will detract the attention from what you are saying as a professional woman should be avoided, you want people to hear what you are saying and listen.

To dress down yet keep your authority DO:

Keep your jugular covered – a high neck blouse/shirt/jumper or scarf isn’t necessary, simply a thin chain in the right coloured metal will do, if people are going to attack you the first place they go is the jugular

Trousers are absolutely fine, but make sure they are smart and tailored, even very smart jeans are fine, but tatty ones and faded are not, the darker the denim the more authority they will carry

A heel of some sort on your shoes – from ½ inch to 2 inches maximum, try to avoid open toed when not dressing down, but open toed on a dressing down day is ok. If you do open toed, don’t wear tights, if you have closed in shoes – ALWAYS wear tights!

Accessories of some kind, ie small earrings, a necklace – not too chunky or long, keep it simple and covering the neck area, rings are fine, but one or two over and above an engagement and wedding ring, not a ring on every finger otherwise you’ll end up having hands that look like knuckle dusters!

Make-up of some form, even if it’s just lipstick

Preferably keep to a jacket, but you don’t have to maintain the tailoring of your non dress down days, you could get away with an unlined jacket to dress down, but please avoid cardigans in an office environment!

Keep your top half smart and business like, a well ironed shirt/blouse, if tucked into your skirt/trousers, wear a belt.

T Shirts are ok, but again, suitable for the environment, so try and avoid sleeveless, ¾ length sleeve is the best, a bit of flesh showing between bosom and neck is fine, just be aware less is definitely more in the work place!

Personal hygiene is obviously a given, but avoid lashings of your favourite perfume, just because you love it, don’t assume everyone else does. A discreet squirt only between the hours of 9 – 5, people should only be able to detect your perfume if they come into your intimate zone (I’m talking personal space here by the way!!)

You don’t work in an office environment, yet still see clients?

All the above are just as relevant, remember the key elements:

Professional not fashionable – appropriate to your job and the industry
Practical – if you climb ladders and have to crawl around on the floor a lot, a skirt is not going to be working for you!
Too much flesh on show is a ‘no no’ on dress down days or any other day
Avoid the visible panty line – and the visible bra line!
Remember the triangle of influence – the most important part of your body is from the top of your head to your chest, this is where people are concentrating when they talk with you

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