Plus size women can find some really nice styles for business outfits at Harper Greer in San Francisco. The Harper Greer collection ranges from size 12 10 size 26, and they use very pretty, high quality fabrics. Harper Greer is a great source for clothing in bright colors – they have a remarkable collection of materials and textures. This is a great store where plus size women can find some really unique and posh items to add to their professional wardrobe.

If you have a few women’s business suits in black or gray, you can find some nice career blouses and dressy tops here to make your suit reflect your personality. If you usually wear jeans to work with business casual outfits, you can find the popular jeans brand ”Not Your Daughters Jeans” here.  I recommend selecting a couple of tops in a slightly shiny material – it still feels comfortable, but looks  a little more dressy. Bring your favorit business suit to the Harper Greer boutique and spend the afternoon trying it on with a bunch of tops in different colors, and varied accessories. They are located at 522 Sutter Street, San Francisco CA. You can also order directly from them on-line here: HarperGreer.com

Some people get confused by what’s meant by “business casual”, and wonder if you can wear a t-shirt with a work outfit. Most people would say “no way”. But I say there are exceptions.  Here are what I consider to be the exceptions for t-shirts with your work clothes:

1. Silky material: If the material of the t-shirt has a slight silk-like shine to it, as many synthetic blends do, it will fit with your professional wardrobe.

2. Design details: It will work if there is some slight design detail, like the gathers and braided neckline in the t-shirt just below. 

3. Patterns: A pattern or texture in the fabric of the t-shirt will make it suitable for either business casual or formal business attire, depending on what you wear it with. 

4. Flowy material: Material that flows with a nice fall, makes a t-shirt or top look more dressy. (The kind of t-shirt that is not allowable has a stiff, wrinkly material.)

One might argue what should be called a “t-shirt”, and what should be called a “top”. What makes it a t-shirt is really how it is cut. The 100% cotton t-shirts you would typically wear with sweats are absolutely forbidden, no matter how nice the slacks are. And it’s even worse if it has something written on it. A plain, cheap, cotton t-shirt can’t be dressed up – not even if you iron it and wear it with pearls and a nice business suit.   Cotton t-shirts that you would work out in do not belong in your professional wardrobe – ever.

Above Left: This t-shirt is made of a material with a silky shine, and has design details that make it dressy. It will look good in a work outfit.

Above Right: This t-shirt looks just like a plain t-shirt in the cut, though it is made of a thick nice silky material that has a flow to it. Worn with nice dress slacks, this will work with a comfortable work outfit. 

Above: three are Armani t-shirts with prints and textured material. We could call them tops, but the cut is like a t-shirt. They would look good either with a woman’s business suit or with a casual work outfit.

While wandering around the malls yesterday, I noticed a color combination for suit separates that I haven’t tried before: orange, navy and beige. In two different stores I saw mannequins dressed in business outfits combining these three colors. I think it’s doable for a casual work outfit, and I might try it myself – it had never occured to me before to try orange and navy together. In the left photo we have a orange suit jacket, beige pants with a navy top. In the right photo we have a beige suit jacket, navy slacks with an oragne top, accessorized with a two layer silver necklace. This may not work for a super formal business meeting in which you have to wear strict business attire, but I think it would be a fun and spunky casual office outfit.

What should you wear to create a work outfit with brown pants? With pants in a warm brown tone, like in the first photo, you can wear a rich golden orange suit jacket. This suit jacket has a slight silky sheen to it, which gives this outfit a formal look.

With pants in a cool brown tone, as in the second photo, why not wear a purple blouse and a long off-white jacket. This makes a nice casual work outfit.

In the last two photos, we have the same pair of brown pants: once with ruffle blouse in a white and brown hound’s tooth design, accentuated with a bold brown belt. And again with a brown top and a casual off-white suit jacket. These last two are comfortable office outfits that can be mix and matched. A pair of brown pants that fit you well is a good basic, that creates a solid foundation for your professional wardrobe.

Brighten up the drizzly weather with some color accessories. If you don’t want to buy new business suits, then renew them with splashing shoes and purse sets. Why not urge Spring to return early by putting on a pair of hot pink peep toe heals and matching pink purse, with your black power suit? Or if hot pink scares you – why not a big, roomy medium blue bag with matching blue pointy toe heels in a fun animal print, like subtle snake skin? Either of these sets would accessorize a woman’s business suit in a new and fun way. Wear the hot pink or lime green shoes for casual work clothes, and the olive or blue pointy toes for more formal business attire. (And the rules about no open toe shoes with work clothes have been cancelled, in case anyone is wondering.)

The accessories from: Nine West and Bakers

By: Danielle Gonzalez

Wearing a dress to as a casual work outfit is a timeless tradition that never goes out of style, it’s feminine and classic.  While the weather is still cold a sweater dress can be a perfect fit due to the warmth that it creates and the ease of accessorizing.  However, the sweater dress can automatically become too casual an office outfit for the workplace because of the large use of knit fabric which can be bulky and shapeless.  To keep the look clean cut, black nylons quickly do the trick to avoiding exposing too much skin and keep you warm while it’s still cold out. To avoid the bulk, a thick belt in a different color adds an hourglass figure; a patent leather belt adds a touch of youth and sex appeal.  For a more mature finish; ballet flats, an imprinted patent belt, and a strong bracelet are an easy way to round off a simple, comfortable and casual work ensemble. 

Dresses by: Chadwicks and Net-A-Porter.

By Danielle Gonzalez

With Winter receding to the warmth of Spring, it can be a challenge to bring the brightness of the season into the still chilly climate.  By mixing a few basic winter pieces with essential feminine spring items, the look is effortless and flirty.  The dark colored items of fall accent the brightness of the season in a mature way for all business attire.  For casual work clothes grab the long button up cardigan that was your winter favorite and pair it with an airy patterned spring dress.   For a work outfit that goes from day to night without changing one detail, a colorful dress or skirt with the staple black trench, is polished and strong wherever you go. Getting ready for spring doesn’t mean putting away your winter wardrobe, it simply means incorporating it with your colorful and patterned spring pieces.

Clothing from The Limited

By Danielle Gonzalez

In the ever present quest for appropriate work attire, it is an eventuality that some days will not include the omnipresent black power suit.   However dear shopper, this need give you no extra burden of stress; women’s business suits are leaving the popular arena in favor of something more individualistic, giving  each woman the opportunity to express herself in a more unique way.  And though this new development does mean you have the opportunity to spread your wardrobes wings and really get creative with your day to day outfits, there are a few guidelines along the way to keep your look polished and effortlessly chic.

Should you be more conservative in your buisness attire, now is a wonderful opportunity to mix and match suit separates for a vibrant and fresh take – don’t be afraid to pair that white blazer that only comes out in summer with your favorite fall wear navy slacks.  Multiple colors and textures appear creative, just be sure to keep it under  2 bright patterns to avoiding looking like a kaleidoscope.  Also, layers are essential to keeping the look sophisticated: camisoles, cardigans, sweaters, belts, and even t-shirts can all be implemented to add depth to an otherwise boring look.

Always remember; casual work clothes can mean items bought on the cheap, but it doesn’t mean it suddenly doesn’t need to fit. No matter how good the sale! And as a general rule, you want to be casual enough to be comfortable, but pulled together enough to still be appropriate should your boss’ boss call together an impromptu meeting.

By Danielle Gonzalez

Updating an office outfit can be as simple as adding a little white to give your business attire some pop.  White on black especially adds a modern and polished tone to any ensemble. To spice up the classic black suit, a crisp white blouse underneath always does the trick, but to give the woman’s business suit some flair, go for an off white silk, it’s unexpected glamour adds a soft femininity.  A dress with a bold white on black pattern is mature and fresh, paired with a black cardigan and black pumps makes its an understated power outfit.  And don’t forget about the white or creme jacket.  A long coat is more appropriate for dressier occasions and seen during the evening, but a cropped white jacket can be paired with any classic or trendy look in your professional wardrobe.  Even white accessories such as a purse, jewelry, or scarf gives a striking impression that is impossible to ignore in its intensity.

Look at right from The Limited

Wearing a turtle neck sweater under a business suit in a contrasting color, is almost like a means of accessorizing. Regard it the same way, as when you put on a scarf in a different color to accessorize your suit. Sometimes we ad interest to our business attire by adding a scarf around the neck, but another way to acheive a silimar effect, is to purposly choose a turtle neck in a color that sort of “accessorizes” the suit outfit. This red suit jacket is contrasted with  a black turtle neck, which also ties in with the black buttons of the jacket. The black/white speckled suit jacket is accessorized with a white turtle neck, that blends with the white spots in the jacket. And last, this gray business suit has a pink turtle neck that adds a little extra life to the gray. (This pink sweater is not a true turtle neck, but it has the same effect). The last two examples have a lifting effect on the business suit, whereas the first example gives a striking, dramatic effect to the whole image. Having at least one turtle neck in a color is a good foundation for a professional wardrobe.

Some professional women don’t wear jewelry or accessories with sweaters because the bulkyness of the sweater can make the necklace disapear. The solution is to accessorize with long necklaces. For both casual work outfits and business attire, use necklaces that are at least 24” long, but perhaps up to 34″. If the sweater is thinner and has a tailored fit, you can use thinner necklaces, like chains. But if it is a thick sweater, like in these photos, you should use necklaces with big chunky beads or pearls. The size of the necklace should balance with the size of the sweater.

These necklaces from Ann Taylor and White House Black Market.

Here are some ideas on how to create work outfits with white pants (without using the obvious white suit jacket). First we have a casual, cute outfit, with a tomato red jacket over a black and white print top. That outfit could work very well with a black jacket, but the red adds some spunk. This outfit would be good for casual work clothes. Second we have a very formal business outfit, with a pair of flowy white dress slacks and a light gray plaid blazer. The gray blazer has a very slight shine to it, which makes it look even more formal. This is a good business attire combination to have in addition to the other matching formal suits in your professional wardrobe. The third pair of white slacks are worn with a simple gray blouse, that has a light luster to the fabric which makes it look more dressy. This work outfit could pass for either business casual, or professional business attire depending on what type of black suit jacket is put with it.

Check out the these two examples of a woman’s business suit in black: one is formal and the other is casual. Which do you think would be a better work outfit for where you work? The first one is a very traditional and formal black skirt suit, worn with a purple top (from Bloomingdales). This is definitely a power suit, and is a great piece of business attire.

The second photo is a black skirt suit, worn with an Argyle sweater over a basic white blouse (from Benetton). This suit, although also a black skirt suit, is pretty casual and would not be a power suit. There are subtleties in these two work outfits that make a difference.  Both of them would be good for a professional wardrobe. The second one is a very cute, youthful and energetic look, which would work very well for business casual attire.

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Here are four completely different examples of how to wear a cardigan with a work outfit. They are four different colors, four different styles, for four different women with different personalities. Which one is your personality?

1. The first is a long gray cardigan with a fun print top, over white pants. This will do well for a casual work wardrobe. It’s comfortable, but more dressy than jeans.

2. The second example is a little more formal, with a light purple cardigan over a nice blouse and brown pencil skirt.

3. And more formal still, the third example is very conservative, and you migth even say a bit of a strict look. A red cardigan and a crisp white blouse with the collar sticking up over it, over nice black slacks. This look will work well if you work in a very formal place.

4. And last, a very bold, unique look, that takes some personality to pull off – a very bright striking yellow cardigan, belted over a white top and black suit skirt. This look does fit within what one might call a professional wardrobe, it just takes some boldness to make a statement like that. But making statements is what fashion is all about – even business attire.

If you wear a cardigan with a business suit, make sure that it is not longer than the suit jacket – unlike blouses, it doesn’t look good if you see the cardigan sticking out under the jacket.

These outfits from: Banana Republic, Macy’s and Bloomingdales.

Excuse me, but am I the only one who has been told not to wear white pants after labor day? I saw several pairs of white pants on display at the mall. I gues that rule is of the past now. Well, in that case, maybe I’ll just go through the summer clothes I packed away for the cold season, and see if there is anything I can wear with my winter suits. I always did think that a pair of white slacks looks really good with a gray or black suit jacket.

Howie Mandel was taken to the hospital for a heart problem while working on his new show “Howie Do It”, and we wish him speady recovery. Here is a photo of a model named Aubrie from the Howie Mandel show “Deal or No Deal”, showing another great look for a casual work clothes outfit. Abrie is wearing a crisp white blouse with a 3/4 sleeve. She wears her white blouse untucked over the jeans, with a quite wide contrasting brown belt. This is another way to make jeans work for an office outfit – it looks casual but professional at the same time. She doesn’t wear a necklace, her only accessories for this outfit are the belt and earrings. You can see more of Aubrie’s personal style here: http://www.nbc.com/Deal_or_No_Deal/photos/models/#cat=401&sec=1688

Can jeans be worn at work? If you don’t work in a very formal place where business suits are mandatory, then there is a way. It all depends on what you wear WITH those jeans, rather than the jeans themselves. Here is a look that makes jeans work very well – wear the jeans with a crisp white blouse, a black suit jacket and a classic pearl necklace. For business casual, turn jeans into an office outfit by pretending it is a business suit only that you exchanged the suit pants for the jeans. And if you put a pair of nice pumps and perfect nails with that, no-one can criticize you.

If your work place requires traditional business attire, then don’t do it unless they have specifally said you can wear jeans on “casual Friday”. A professional wardrobe normally wouldn’t include jeans, but if you can wear casual work clothes, then the way to go is to dress them up with a suit jacket and a professional blouse.

Purposely buying business suits and work clothes where several pieces are interchangeable, and can be re-combined into new office outfits, is a clever way to plan a professional wardrobe. Here is an example of 8 garments found at Macy’s, which are all interchangeable, and can be mix and matched in many ways. These 3 suit jackets and 3 bottoms can all be worn together. And the 2 tops can be worn with all of the suit combinations. The trick is to not buy one piece of clothing at a time when you shop – instead you can save the money you would have spent on those single items, and go buy 8 coordinated items at the same time. Some stores purposely plan their collections to make it easy to mix and match items. By shopping for several pieces of work clothes at the same time, you are more likely to end up with a professional wardrobe where many of the garments re-combine into new business suits easily.

Here’s math riddle for you – how many work outfits can you create by mix and matching the pieces in the above photo?

Holiday Office Party Wardrobe Plan:

Bring in your purse 1) dressy jewelry, 2) evening make-up, 3) dressy shoes or sandals. Buy a couple of dressy party tops for your professional wardrobe, that you can wear under a business suit.

As the snow descends on us we ought to bundle up in the office. The malls are full of sweaters, but don’t select one for comfort alone – pick out a sweater that is warm, but also gives your body a nice fit. You may as well get a sweater that looks good with your office outfits, as well as keeps you warm. If it’s too bulky, it doesn’t fit in with your professional wardrobe. And why not accessorize it with a  necklace. Wear the skirts you wear the rest of the year, just with thicker stockings, and choose a sweater that looks chic with it, not bulky.

To avoid bulk, get sweaters with as much wool content as possible (at least 70% wool). Or cashmere. If the sweater is made of wool or cashmere, it will keep you warm, even if it isn’t super thick. If it is thin, you can also wear it under a business suit, without it looking bulky. Don’t buy sweaters made of 100% cotton or 100% acrylic. The cotton sweaters look bad after just a few washes, and they aren’t that warm anyway. And acrylic will inevitably accumulate fuzz balls in short order. Stay way from acrylic sweaters, no matter how pretty they are, because they will get fuzz balls pretty soon (unless it’s a 60/40 acrylic blend with wool or cashmere).

When you wash them, remember that wool shrinks and must be washed in cold water. Don’t ever wring a sweater – gently squeeze out the water without wringing, and lay them flat to dry on a towel on the bathroom floor. If you put sweaters through the washer, use a very gentle cycle. The dryer will usually shrink them. Hand wash or dry-cleaning is best.

  Create an interesting casual work clothes look, by wearing black and white print tops. Choose a blouse or a top with a busy print pattern, and wear it with nice black dress slacks. You can wear a round, circular pattern (left), or a square, geometric pattern (right). The type of the pattern you wear depends on your personality. Black pants that fit well are accentuated with a black and white top. This is an easy office outfit that will make you look classy without having to think too much in the morning. A suggestion: organize your wardrobe so that the print tops and blouses hang together, and the solid blouses and tops hang together. This makes it faster to choose your outfit in the morning.

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.

While scouting the mall today, I saw three things: purple, gray and black. In several stores I saw the same thing: business suits, fall jackets, dresses, slacks in these three colors. Even black boots, gray boots and purple boots. It’s only September, but we are seeing some business fashion for fall already.

When planning a professional wardrobe it is a good idea, in general, to stick to 3-4 colors that all go with each other. This way you’ll end up with work outfits that match, where you can change around the gray slacks with a purple blouse, a purple coat with a gray dress, black pants with purple suit jacket, etc. Always think about how you can mix and match things together when you shop. Don’t be afraid to put color in your business attire. You can use neutrals like black and gray power suits, then add one bright color to the outfits – like purple for example.

What to wear when it is so hot? Dying of heat stroke in a business suit, is not a price a professional woman should have to pay, for looking good. Choosing a summer outfit for the office is hard without crossing the line of casual work attire. We have to face it – it is almost impossible to follow formal business attire if we are going to stay cool. There is no easy way around it. When the temperature goes over 90, the pant suit will have to go. For a few days anyway.

My suggestions is to simply wear a nice skirt, with a crisp white blouse. It’s simple and good. Easy to put together, and looks very proper and chic. If you want to, you can also wear a sleeveless dress with a conservative cut. Some companies don’t allow sleeveless at work, so check first. And don’t wear a low neckline. These work outfits in the photo to the left from Ann Taylor, are some examples of what you can wear in the office in the summer when it’s hot. (And they easily convert to winter work outfits, by wearing them with a black suit jacket or blazer, thicker stockings and boots.) A note of caution though – don’t wear skirts that are too short, or casual spagetti strap dresses to the office.)