Wraps with suit pants or skirts make a great work outfit for casual friday. Wearing a wrap on a day when you’re supposed to be in your snazy proffessional attire won’t do though. A wrap would definately be considered business casual, and not formal business attire. But if the work situation allows, a wrap is a great item that you can be really comfortable in, and it looks a little bit dressed up if you wear it with pearls or semi-precious stone necklace. We ought to have at least one good wrap in our work wardobe. If you wear your wrap with jeans it really makes the whole work outfit much more casual, and you ought to think through which degree of casualness you want to go to. Usually, the best way to create a casual friday outfit is by choosing one item from your formal business attire wardobe, and then mixing it with one casual item. For example, a casual top (e.g. a wrap) with a pair of slacks from one of your business suits. Or a formal top (e.g. a suit jacket) with a pair of jeans. If you wear casual garments both top and bottom, then it is really no longer a work outfit. Mix one formal item with one casual item, and then you have a good casual friday outfit.

This post was contributed by Cafe La Moda, the social space for fashion tips and beauty advice.

So Career Fashion Blog has posted a few times about bags that help accessorize your work outfit, and bring a touch of colour to your working day, but what about when your bag needs to mean business? Whether it’s client meetings, an interview, or business travel, sometimes the bag you carry with you is taken as part of your business attire, and it needs to be absolutely as well-thought-out as the rest of your outfit. You might just need a discrete clutch bag to stash your keys and cellphone, or you might also have to take a laptop, notebook or iPad with you, and dumping those things into any old laptop bag could ruin your carefully tailored look.

However, there’s no reason to worry, since bag makers are more than aware of the need for bags for business, and there is a huge range of sophisticated, businesslike bags available to you.

Covers and sleeves for iPads

If you’re lucky enough to have a work tablet that you take to meetings, don’t run the risk of it getting battered and don’t risk looking unprofessional with a shabby cover. Invest in a good black leather cover,  perhaps picked out in an accent colour that matches your outfit: like this beautiful black leather sleeve with red leaf detail. Go to product

Laptop Tote Bags

If it’s a laptop you’re taking to your meeting, invest in a good quality laptop tote. Gone are the days when all laptop bags looked like school bags or briefcases, now it’s possible to choose a high quality laptop tote that’s beautifully designed to not only look elegant but also to make carrying a laptop a bit less of a chore: like this stylish Kerri Mack Albina Design bag. Go to product

Shoulder Bags

If you’ve only got to stash your cellphone and your keys somewhere that doesn’t ruin the line of your suit jacket, choose a small shoulder bag which doesn’t draw attention to itself. Go for a classic style if your bag needs to mean business, leave the tassles, zebra-print and flowers for another day, and pick something like this Guess Lina Top Handle Half-Flap bag, which is the perfect balance of elegant and businesslike. Go to product

Carry-on Bags

If you’re going further afield on business, the chances are you’ll need a travel or carry-on bag, and if you’re being met at the airport or at the hotel when you arrive, you might need to invest in a travel-size bag that’s all business. You don’t want to rumple your suit with a hefty shoulder bag, so go for a stylish rolling bag like this Glen Ellyn two-in-one. The rolling frame disconnects from the bag once you’ve arrived at your destination, leaving a stylish tote. Go to product

Wearing a beige woman’s business suit is a good choice for spring. I think it is a very good option to the white or off-white business suit, because it gives a similar impression of lightness, but it’s easier to keep clean. You don’t have to be quite as careful where you sit, and you can wear it a couple of more times before you have to dry clean it. Having several dark suits in your business attire is good,  is good, but it’s good to also have at least one light one. But what top to wear with it?

The most obvious choice is a white blouse, which I have omitted because I am trying to look at it from a less classic viewpoint. The least obvious choice is beige-on-beige as in the first photo, creating a mono chromatic look (one color) with a beige top in a very similar shade of beige. Wearing a top in the same color as the business suit is not common, but it works with certain colors. The more common choices would be something with a contrasting color like the two tops in pinks and reds. The pink top against the beige business suit gives pop, and ideally could be followed up with accessories and jewelry with a pink hue (adding a pink scarf I think would be overdoing it). The last photo has a black top with the beige business suit and this bold contrast creates a dramatic look. This would be well  accessorized with large gold pieces, perhaps large gold bangles. What statement are you in the mood to make with your business look today? Do you feel like subtly blending in and not drawing attention to yourself (and that’s not necessarily a bad thing), or do you feel like being bold and dramatic, getting people’s attention at a meeting?

Piping on a suit jacket (or on any other garment) is a thin strip of fabric inserted into a seam so that it sticks out a little bit. The piping fabric can be of the same color, or a different color for contrast. It can be of a different texture, it can be leather or even lace. Piping sewn into a seam on a garment creates sharper lines, and gives dimension to the garment. It can be a great design detail that makes a garment more interesting and less plain. It also shows that more effort and care was put into creating it.
Venture away from the standard woman’s business suit by selecting a suit jacket that has piping. This looks very conservative and business like, but it also makes your own business look seem a bit more personal when it has small design details, that make it a little different than the classic woman’s business suit that you would wear for business attire. The suit jacket you select could be part of a full business suit, or it can be a suit separates jacket wich you can combine with slacks or skirts from other suits you already have. Always keep in mind to ask yourself when you shop, if you already have pants or skirts that this will go with. Otherwise, it’s best to buy some on the same shopping trip, to avoid now having a great suit jacket in your wardrobe that you can’t wear due to lack of matching pants. The goal is to aqcuire at least two basic business suits first, and then venture out to find jackets and other pieces that are different – a professional business look that expresses your own personality.

What to accessorize a white blouse with – create contrast and drama with a black necklace. If you are going for a subtle, classic look, wear pearls. But if you want to give the outfit a little more pop, then a black necklace will add that extra contrast. You can also wear a thick garnet choker,  those dark red large stones against the white collar gives a similar effect.

And notice the thin red belt. It’s all in the accessories. Never look at a blouse just as a blosue. Look at it as a canvas. The same blouse can be given many different moods by just changing the accessories. When you try on clothes at a store, bring a few different sets of belts, necklaces and other accessories with you to the fitting room, to test different moods for the same blouse.

Although autumn has only truly arrived with fallen leaves recently, in fashion-time, it happened a while back. Catwalks had Christmas on their mind and the party dress sashayed, swept and shook down the runway in cute, cheeky and glamorous splendour.

One of the more notable developments is the future of Christmas glamour.

Dries Van Noten illustrated brand new ways of playing with the Christmas party dress, teaming knitwear and long draping skirts for a textured silhouette, exhibiting a look for the fearlessly fashionable and on-trend. Elsewhere, colour blocking continues to be a predominant factor. High street shops show off dramatic gowns in royal blues, chimney pot reds and blacks painting their thick stripes on soft billowing skirts of the maxi dress.

Thanks to the success of shows like The Only Way is Essex, high, polished glam is a look to nurture and be proud of. Off the shoulder frou-frou gowns with layers and frills on the derriere and shoulders for maximum feminine impact are popular power frocks for the party season and false eyelashes flutter and complement perfectly.

While there is no doubt that the sparkling, glittering party dress is a die-hard must-have for this season, there are challengers, like Dries Van Noten, who play on simplicity. The Mary Portas collection at House of Fraser plays down the glitz and keeps gowns tunic-shaped and simple, allowing for individual decoration. One of the more in-vogue ways to spruce a dress up is to make use of chunky accessories. Big necklaces, gentleman’s gold watches and thick, gold chains in their layers are all current trends and can make a simple silky off the shoulder dress a thing of maximum fashion beauty.

Heels to elongate the legs and a clutch are the ideal frame work for showing off your party dress to its full potential. As autumn falls, it’s worth taking stock of the various looks that can be tweaked and tried out for those Christmas parties.

Are you running around the office? Do dart down the street dodging taxicabs to scuttle from one client to the next? Do you have to really hustle to make it from one meeting to the next? Try wedgie shoes for your work outfit. Doff your regular pumps and donn some cute leather wedgies, with a little height but less slip factor. Sometimes flats are just too informal for a woman’s business suit, and if your heels are killing your feet, then wedgies might do the job. (Unless your purse is big enough for a pair of emergency sneakers.)

Should you always strive to be in the middle ground? Are there fine lines of what is too casual, and what is too fancy for women’s business attire? Having to stay within such a margin can be really limiting and frustrating. If you are going to err, then always “err” on the side of being too fancy, than too casual. Rarealy will you get complaints regarding your work clothes for “looking too nice”.

Here are two examples. The flanel blouse is too casual of a work outfit even for casual friday. The silk blouse is ok, but could be too fancy in some situations. If you  are dealing with a client who dresses very casual you can make her uncomfortable if you dress to formal.

But the rule of thumb for women’s business attire is that overedressed is usually better than under dressed.

1. The formal look – Get an accessory set with a fancy black stole (shawl) and sparkly little black clutch, and wear the dress to parties.

2. The warm winter look – Don’t let the weather discourage you from wearing a sexy dress. Make a warm winter outfit by wearing the dress with a pair of tall killer stiletto boots and a somewhat fancy black cashmere cardigan over it. The boots help keep your legs warm, but keep the cardigan open so you can see the dress.

3. The edgy leather jacket look – Create a completely different look by getting a pair of black stockings with a pattern (as opposed to solid) and wear it with a short leather jacket. Edgy make-up and a high pony tail. Don’t try to match it too much for this particular look, the purpose is edgy.

4. The black tuxedo jacket look – Wear a fancy blazer (not a suit blazer) made of black satin or black velvet, over the dress. Maybe a double breasted one. Keep it buttoned so that the jacket itself is the main feature of the outfit, but the dress becomes a skirt that makes the jacket more special. A choker necklace would go well with that.

(Never, ever regard a braidsmaids dress as a one night stand. It deserves a loving relationship like the rest of your dresses.)

For casual work clothes, wear a skirt. But what kind of a skirt? Here are two completely different styles – talk about dichotomy. Both skirt styles are casual, but nice. One style is pretty trendy, the other is quite conservative and shall we say… mature. When you put together a casual work outfit with a skirt, think about what personality you want to come across. Wearing a business casual outfit with a skirt is still more dressy than jeans.

Black pants is a standard ingredient in most womens work wardrobe. Of course, we have to have at least two pairs of well fitting black pants for work clothes. But let’s not get stuck in a pattern though. Take a work outfit that you normally wear with blank pants and try it with another pair of pants – like white pants for example. A turqoise suit jacket can be worn with both black and white pants. It creates a different mood. Try switching some of your different suit pants and suit jackets around to create different moods for your work outfits. But check yourself out in the mirror well before you decide to go with it, to make sure you are comfortable. You cold be the first one at your office srtart a trend.

If you are bored with your black business suit, then put some shock into it – wear it with a big, bright red or hot pint bag!  If your suit is too dark for you today, accessorize with a sreamingly pink purse. Nothing says “hello” more than that.

Separates with suit jackets in bright colors. Be bold – break out of the mold. Dare to wear. Your favorite black suit pants get a face lift.

  Have ever looked for a suit at H & M? It’s kind of hit and miss. Sometimes you find good things there, sometimes not. However for a gal who is shopping for casual work clothes on a budget, it can be a place to find an extremly reasonable jacket that can be worn as suit separates. You have to start building your work clothes wardrobe somewhere, and if you can’t afford the expensive brands, this good be a decent place to start. If your business attire wardrobe budget is very limited, go to H & M and shop only for enough clothes there to get you through one week. Then wash you clothes every Sunday, and SET ASIDE what you can, and save up buy one nice piece at a time. Don’t spend more than you absolutely have to. Once you have one week covered, then save your budget to gradually aqcuire a business wardrobe one suit at a time (and if you can’t afford a whole suit, then buy one nice suit jacket and wear it with mix-and-match pants).

Alright, you’ve got the basic shoe colors covered (black shoes, gray shoes, tan shoes) – now get pink round toe shoes for you suit! Most women have too many black shoes in their closet. It’s true that we need them. But we can’t keep on buying ONLY black shoes. Add some color to your shoe collection. Especially if you wear business suits for work – then it is more important than ever to add some color to your professional attire. Match the color of the shoes up with the blouse, or purse, or other accessories like the necklace if you like (but don’t go TOO matchy-matchy).

Here are two suit jackets with the lapels flipped over. The gray pants suit is open, while the coral suit separates jacket is buttoned. Personally, I think that having the lapels flipped over on a suit jacket like that looks untidy and sloppy somehow. This does not make a good work outfit. What do you think?

These two women’s business outfits both use orange and brown. These outfits use the same ensemble concept of open suit jacket with a top, rahter than a blouse, underneath. Both make good suit separates. But one is very overstated and the other one is kind of understated. Which one you should wear, depends on your complexion and coloring – how much orange can you stand? The work outfit on the right has a very deep orange, and a very deep, rich brown. The left suit ensemble has an orange that would be more appropriately labeled coral, with a very soft brown suit jacket. It’s very light and sort of summery. All these items might also mix and match well to create more than one outfit.

Compare these two women’s business suits in light summer colors. One is rather casual and the other is more formal. They are of a similar colors scheme and follow pretty much the same formula – suit jacket with separate pants. What is it about them that makes one look like business casual and the other like formal business attire? Is one more expensive? No, not necessarily. The business casual outfit is made of fabric that wrinkles easily, and where the indentations of the wrinkles stay (until next time it is pressed). This doesn’t necessarily mean that it is less expensive – there are many women’s suits that are made of wrinkle-prone material that are high priced (often too high priced in my opinion).

The other suit, on the right is made of a fabric that wrinkles less, is less stiff, is more “flowy”, and has more “fall” as we call it. The fact that the fabric doesn’t wrinkle is the main thing that makes a business sut look more formal or casual. And this may or may not mean a big difference in price. You just need to check the fabric when you shop for your work cloths, and the way to check is to grab a handfull of fabric in your hand and squeeze it like an apple – then watch how much/little the wrinkles stay when you let go.

When wearing a bold or bright colored dress with a work outfit, it is important to select a suit jacket that doesn’t detract from the colors of the dress. This white suit jacket makes the bright colors of the dress pop. It shows the colors. If you were to put a black suit jacket over this dress it would bring the colors down and make this work outfit slightly dull, and less visible. Although, on some days perhaps you feel like being less visible. This style of bright dress with jacket would be a good work outfit for someone who works in advertising or a creative field. Or perhaps for casual Friday.

Notice the little bit of red in this black business suit? Formal business attire for women doesn’t necessarily have to completely dark. Your all black business suit doesn’t have to be “all black”. It doesn’t take much to perk it up. When you have a work blouse in a bright color that shows up just a tiny bit between the lapels, you get just a hint of color accent that almost acts like an accessory, even though its a blouse. All you need is a little “triangle of color” to show.

Blouses in black and white make a dramatic look. Wearing blouses with big bold prints make a more fun, playful look than wearing a blouse in a solid color. However, big prints in crazy colors can get a little too crazy sometimes. Wearing black and white prints with women’s professional attire works very well. You can choose a black woman’s business suit and make it just a bit more wild with a printed black and white top like thise. Also a taupe or beige business suit could work, possibly gray, but in that case it’s important to get the right shade. If you wear a blouse like this with just nice slacks and not a matching suit jacket, then this work outfit becomes more like business casual, rather than formal women’s business attire.

I’d have to say, the most basic jewelry you can accessorize a woma’s business suit with is pearls. A pearl necklace is a tried and true accessory that never goes out of style – it’s classic and elegant. Jewelry and accessories can do a lot to give personality to a business suit, but when building a professional work wardrobe, the first thing you should get is always, always, always a pretty and simple pearl necklace along with a pair of simple pearl studs. Don’t buy any other jewelry for your suits before you have covered these basics. The pearl studs and the pearl necklace are timeless. And they never make you look overdressed or undersdressed – they simply are what they are. I think that 100 years from now our grand daughters will still be wearing pearls with their work clothes. They go with almost evrything, and you can resort to your safe pearls in moments of dressing in a stressed-out rush when you just don’t have time to figure out what to wear. It’s a staple, a basic building block – kind of like the classic black business suit for your wardrobe, the classic pearl necklace is the main staple in your jewelry box. And keep in mind, your pearls don’t have to be white – they can be cream, slightly pink, brown, or dramatic gray (like Tahitian pearls).

When I have to pack lightly for business travel, often the only earrings I bring are pearl studs. They don’t take up any space, and go with almost everything. I sometimes wear a pair of inexpensive pearl studs when I do outdoorsy things, because they are small so they’re not in the way, it won’t hurt my budget if I loose them, and it adds just a little bit of elegance even though I’m in casual clothes. Some people call me a snob, I just call myself a “classy hiker”.

Here are some examples of different looks you can create with cardigans. These cardigans are not twin sets but they are in harmony with the blouses they are worn over. They make a complete outfit and don’t contrast so much that they take away from the blouse. When you shop for a cardigan, try to find 2 or 3 blouses that will go with the same cardigan without breaking off too much. In the summer when it is too hot to wear a jacket with your business suit, a cardigan could be an option to throw over your shoulders in the evening if it gets chilly when you go out with friends after work.

Do you feel restricted by having to wear a business suit for work every day? Well, if you are bound by business attire they way to express your very own fashion style is with jewelry. Accessorizing with your very own unique style of jewelry is where you can take license and be very creative. There are hardly any rules. Try to find your own style with a necklace that makes your suit pop.