Skirt outfits are fun to wear. They can be worn as suits, but it is also fun to mix and match, and put together different combos with jackets and skirts. Here are some ideas for office outfits. Skirts and jackets can be either casual work clothes, or formal business attire, mostly depending on how formal the suit jacket is. The two work outfits on the right are more formal because they are solid colors. The two skirt outfits on the left are more like “business casual”, as they are a bit more free and fun with the prints.
Changing the accessories can make a women’s business suit look like a completely different suit. The purse is actually part of the outfit as much as the shoes are. If you already have black shoes and black purses, then build sets of accessories in colors. The word in emphasis here is “set”. When I see a pair of shoes in a color I like, I look for a purse and other things to accessorize my suit with, that all go together – shoes, purse, and perhaps scarves, belts, necklaces, bracelets earrings. It’s best to buy all the accessories in the same trip, at the same mall (if possible) because then you have them all together as a complete set, ready to go.
If you have three completely different sets to accessorize your business suit with, then you can wear the same office outfit three times, and make it look like they are 3 different outfits. A stylish purse can add good flair to your professional wardrobe. Accessorize your business suit with items that suit your personality, and add to your professional image. If you are buying your business attire on a budget, then spend most of the money on a quality suit, and less money on the accessories. You can find things that enhance your look on sale – if the accessories match are combines well and look good together, it doesn’t matter much that they didn’t cost as much as the suit.
A set should have at least 3, but not more than 6, matching items in it. For example:
1. Shoes, purse, necklace, and perhaps also a bracelet and a belt.
2. Shoes, scarf, belt, and perhaps also a bracelet and earrings.
3. Shoes, purse, belt, and perhaps also a necklace.
It’s getting chilly and it’s time to buy a coat. Look at these white, long coats. There are many colors to choose from, but white (or off white) is very classy. I recommend getting one coat in a color, and one in a neutral, like white.
How bold can you get with your business suit colors? How far do you go with color? It depends a little bit on your personality. And on the field you are in. As long as you have your basic black pants covered, then why not get a bright pink jacket? Make a bold move. Cheer people in the office up. Let your professional wardrobe get a little wild once in a while. The rules of business attire are meant to be broken now and then. Don’t let the rules confine you; use them to express yourself.
Beyond the black business suit.
What do you do once you have acquired the black power suit? Well, the black business suit is a basic foundation in the standard professional wardrobe. And for a reason – it always looks good. Black is considered a power color, but what do you buy next?
A good second color is gray. It’s neutral, easy to match with things, and the gray suit jacket can be worn with the slacks from the black pant suit to re-combine into a “new suit”. There are a few different shades of gray – bluish gray, greenish gray, brownish gray, etc. – so compare a few different once and make sure you get a shade of gray that you like.
Then you can get suit jackets in black and white. But not with matching pants, that would be too much – wear the black and white blazer with black pants.
And last but not least, get a couple of fresh crisp white blouses for your wardrobe. It goes with almost any suit, and greatly enhances your professional image. They are timeless. Find good quality white blouses at BasicBlouse.com
If you aren’t in a good mood, lift yourself up with some color. Fall is here. It can be gloomy. Liven your self up with a color you like. If you had a bad day, go to the mall after work and try on some colors you usually don’t wear. Brighten up your business attire with a new color that no-one has seen you in. Get a new office outfit in a color you have never tried before. Go beyond the basics and select a nice top of color to add to your professional wardrobe.
Enough about Sarah Palin suits – what about her shoes? Is anyone really paying attention to her feet? Well, I had a look and discovered quite an array of shoe wear. She doesn’t only stick the basic black high heel, but also wears a surprising amount of red shoes. The plain red high-heeled shoes that she wears in the photo below with her daughter, is a great mate to the basic black. A black business suit with red pumps makes a great contrast.
The dark gray high-heeled shoe, lined with a thin stripe of black accent, is really great for business attire. It can go with almost every thing, and looks very formal. However, those sandals she wears – the red sandals, and the black and white sandals, are not formal at all. But she pulls the sandal look off quite well with her skirt suits. Some real estate agents I know wear sandals like that with their professional attire, because they have to take their shoes off a lot when they show a home.
Then we have the black medium heel shoes, with the buckle on the front, that she wears with the brown business suit below. If you look closely at the close-up photo of that shoe, you can see that it’s actually a sling back. In an earlier blog post about shoes I wrote that sling backs weren’t appropriate for office outfits, I guess that trend has changed now.
My personal favorite is her red high heel open toe shoes, with the buckle in front. They are imitation snake skin in patent leather, and worn with that black skirt, they make a major fashion statement if I ever saw one.
So, apparently there are very few rules on what pumps can be worn with the Sarah Palin suit. Hope this gives you some ideas of what shoes to add to your professional wardrobe. What I’d really like to see is Sarah Palin in some animal print shoes! Please comment on which of her shoes do you like the best.
Do you usually wear the same suit with the same blouse? Or do you try different things? Take your business suits out of your closet and hang them on the door. The go through every single blouse and top you have, and mix and match any way you can. Go through them all, test every blouse and top, with every suit. This way you may discover some new combinations you didn’t know you had. Creating a good professional image is not just about shopping right – it’s also about maximizing what you already have in your business wardrobe. You may discover an office outfit you hadn’t thought of putting together before. These four photos are all the same gray suit jacket with different blouses. The white blouse is the most basic and classic, but from there go ahead and add colored blouses. And why not a lace top? That gives a whole different feel to a woman’s business suit.
To accessorize, or not to accessorize – that is the question. That is not exactly the question Hamlet was pondering, but that is the question many professional women deal with. And my answer is almost always – yes.
Long necklaces have been in style for a while and they can add quite some pizzazz to an otherwise traditional women’s pant suit. These two photos are of two different outfits with the same long necklace. First we have a black skirt suit with a gray satin top. Imagine it with the black suit jacket on. This long necklace with silver beads and onyx, completely changes the feel of the outfit.
In the second photo we have a casual office outfit with a cardigan and a white blouse. It would of course look good by itself…but it looks better with a long necklace. Sometimes accessories are almost as important as the clothes them selves.
Managing a wardrobe budget is not always easy. Knowin what you look good in helps. But spending money on the wrong or right things, can make or break your fashion budget for the year. If you end up with every single garment you buy, being a keeper that you wear and use over and over, then you have spent your money well. But for everytime you have a garment hanging in the wardrobe with the tags still on, consider that you may as well have set the money on fire. Add up the total cost of the bad purchases for the year and consider it potential vacation money down the drain.
It’s especially hard for professional women who have to wear business attire, or casual office outfits. The garments they buy are more expensive. Therefore, for the professional woman it is even more important that they get something that works with their body type, that can mix and match to create more than one outfit, and is appropriate for their particular work situation. If every single item you buy looks great on you, and gets used on many occations, then the money is well spent.
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