Adding cardigans to your professional wardrobe is a good idea. It’s very simple to add a cardigan to a woman’s business suit. Cardigans are usually not so bulky that it looks weird wearing it under a suit jacket. One of the most chic ways to wear a cardigan is to have a basic, white blouse under the cardigan, with the collar sticking up and folded over it. A basic blouse, in traditional white or other color, gives a classy feel to any work outfit. In normal weather, you may have your classic business suit with a white blouse, but in chilly weather you just add a cardigan over the blouse, and it looks quite polished while keeping you warm at the same time. And in order to get maximum warmth, get a wool blend. If the cardigan is going to be thin, so as to not bulk under the suit jacket, it should be as warm as possible and then your best bet is wool. Or cashmere.

The buttons on a woman’s business suit is part of what gives that particular suit it’s style and look. Some business suits have buttons that stand out, as in the case with these suit jackets and coat above. Some suits have inconspicuous, or even hidden buttons. When you look a business suit over, pay attention to what kind of impression the buttons give. Some women like big buttons, some don’t. You can even repalce the buttons if you like. One way to improve your business attire and upgrade the image of a business suit is to go to a fabric store and buy some more classy, expensive looking buttons and sew them onto your suit jacket. These days some women don’t know how to sew, and if that’s the case you can turn it into a dry-cleaning place that does alterations. If you find a buisness suit that has a cut that looks really good on you, but the buttons are cheap looking plastic buttons, it may be a good idea to have new ones put on. The buttons can be considered part of the subtle image of your business attire.

A light business suit will keep you cool in hot summer weather. Keep your most comfortable white slacks at hand, and mix-match them with a cool, light weight, gray suit jacket. Use your white slacks and summer suit separate jackets to create casual business suit ensembles. But that alone could be a little bit bland. What makes this work outfit interesting is the accessory – the yellow necklace perfectly matched with the yellow top peaking out between the suit lapels. It’s worth spending time to find the right accessories for your business suit.

Does your black power suit bore you? Break it up with some bright yellow jackets. Business attire doesn’t always have to be dark to create a professional image. Buy a bright yellow suit jacket to wear with your favorit black suit pants.  Don’t let business attire dress codes restirct you in terms of color.

Here are two dramatic examples of black business suits with red tops. The first one is a black pant suit with very wide lapels, and black top under neath that creates a dramatic contrast. The second is a business suit with a skirt and a suit jacket that has ruffled lapels. It is also contrasted with a red top that shows in the wide opening of the suit jacket. Both of these power suits have lapels that are unique.

When you shop for a woman’s business suit, think ahead and plan out what else you can wear it with. Perhaps you have other suit separates at home that your new wardrobe addition can be mix and matched with. If not, you could look around the mall for other business suits, or separate jackets that can be worn with it. Don’t just buy one piece of clothing because you like it, think of how it can be recombined to make as many work outfits as possible.

Here are some examples of women’s business suits and suit separates in red, gray and white that can be mix and matched and recombined into many various work outfits.

How about adding some green to your work wardrobe? Pep things up a bit with a bright green top or jacket. You can mix in a green top with business suits in black and white. Or brighten a brown women’s suit with a green silk top that has a very slight shine to it. What about creating a casual office outfit with a green separate suit jacket to wear with a blouse, and your favorite black or white slacks? Perhaps balance it with a subtle green bracelet.

Working women are buying a lot of business suits in light colors for summer. Work outfits with suits and separate slacks and jackets in white, cream, bone and taupe is the order of the day. Here are some examples of how to accessorize light colored business suits with coral and orange. Short necklaces with big coral stones contrasts nicely with a cream suit jacket. Career blouses and casual tops in organge and coral creates a lovely spring office look. Combining work outfits by alternating long gold necklaces, beige bags, big buckeled belts and a few bright orange or soft coral tops brings your light colored suits to life.

How about breaking up your regular black power suit and wearing the pants or skirt with a suit jacket that has contrasting trim at the edges? This is a great way to create new work outfits, by mix and matching women’s business suits. The fundamentals of business attire for women is to build a wardrobe with classic matching pant suits and skirt suits. But after that you can add various suit jackets with design details that makes women’s business suits into whole new suits. When you go shopping for women’s business attire, don’t just look at the suit – look at what other work outfits can be created with it.

By: Danielle Gonzalez

When looking in a woman’s closet, most likely, it is filled with black; black sweaters, black blouses, black dresses, and black suits.  And though black does go with nearly everything and is a simple solution to most wardrobe questions, adding a couple colorful suits is a fresh way to add dimension and more outfit choices to mix and match with your professional wardrobe.  Shades of red are always a popular choice for business suits in the spring, don’t be afraid to find the right tone for you; coral, pink, and even peach are soft colors with a lot of professional appeal.  Navy is common also in the spring,  and should you be more daring, a softer blue can also be a lovely choice for a young woman.  But if you are more conservative when it comes to suiting colors, grey tones in tweed are an excellent choice.  When it comes to colorful women’s suits, make sure that you’re picking strong shoes in a color at least two shades darker than the suit, the idea is to look bold, not matchie-matchie. 

These suits from: Chadwicks and Barry Pace

By Danielle Gonzalez

When it comes to jewelry accesorizing many women are of the school of thought “Less is More”. And in some instances, this idea is a good standby, especially when wearing a work outfit that is very intricate and detailed. You want your outfit to have a theme, to make a particular statement, and too much of even great jewelry can take away from the look. But in most cases, more jewelry is simply that: more! Don’t be afraid to stand out with some eclectic and big jewelry, even costume jewelry is hugely popular in all social spheres. When trying to add on to a conservative professional wardrobe, oversized jewelry is a fast and fun way to instantly add drama to an otherwise blah look.

Tyra Banks showcased (at the President’s Inaugural Ball January 20) that a plain black blazer can become a wonderful frame for interesting and eye catching jewelry. And throw the notion that the items much match each other perfectly out the window; it’s all about pairing differing colors and shapes. It keeps the look fresh and youthful to go for something unexpected, like pearl and silver chains, gemstones and colorful beads, and even adding silver and gold together. Going a little overboard with jewelry while keeping the rest of your business attire subdued adds that extra “oomph” to any look!

Kara Ross New York, LLC
http://www.kararossny.com/press/celebrities.html REUTERS/Mitch Dumke

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.

It’s fruitful to pay attention to details as you stroll by the clothing racks in the stores. While hastily browsing through what I thought was a row of conventional business suits the other day, I noticed some amazing details on these skirts, pants and suit jackets. These images are of business suits made be English designer Karen Millen. She never sticks to traditional when she creates suits.

Notice the stitching on the pocket detail.

 

This gray skirt has a lot of design detail on the pocket flaps below the waist band, and also on the flaired part at the bottom. It came with a matching gray suit jacket, but can also be mix and matched with black jackets.

How about a green suit jacket to alternate with your black suit pants? What color are you in the mood for today? Here are some examples of various ways to wear a green suit jacket, to mix-match career clothes and woman’s business suits. The first one has a long coat-like cut, and when worn indoors looks best if kept unbuttoned so that you see the blouse. The second is a short conservative jacket cut with standard lapels, which looks very cute with a basic white blouse under it. The third is also short, but has a more unique cut in that it is rounded at the bottom, has hidden buttons, and collar style lapels. (With this type of collar you would not wear a blouse showing over the jacket.) When building a professional wardrobe, take into account what type of suit jacket cut best fits your own personality. Which jacket cut do you think is more like your style?

Here a 4 ideas on how you can use blouses and tops to create several looks for the same business suit. I have taken a classic black suit from Ann Tayor and put it with a few different blouses and a lace top to give you some ideas. For your professional wardrobe for 2009, why don’t you keep the same suits, and revamp your image by simply getting a few new blouses and tops.

Black suit with a basic red blouse. Red and black make a dramatic impression.

Black suit with a blouse with a fun print. Spunk things up with a lively design.

Black suit with a classic white blouse. This classic look is very professional.

Black suit with a lace top. Add pizazz by having a lace camisole show between the jacket lapels. (But keep the suit jacket on the whole day when you wear sleeveless.)

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.

These classic gray women’s business suits are brightened up with tops in bold colors, like pink and purple. Contrasting a gray suit jacket with a top in a bright color, like purple, is a great way to lift your mood if you are in a funk. You might cheer people up in the office with this type of work outfit. Pink and purple tops work well if the gray suit has an undertone of blue in the gray, but if the gray has an undertone of green, it might not. Match up the top with your business suit in the day light, if possible.

Leopard print shawl, necklace and purse.

Here are 4 rules for accessorizing a woman’s business suit with leopard print accessories:

1. The various leopard accessories have to match each other. Just because it’s all leopard print it doesn’t necessarily mean they will look good togehter. They don’t have to be a “set”, but compare the brown tones in between the spots of the leopard print and choose the accessories that harmonize.

2. Limit the amount of leopard accessories you wear at one time with your business suit to 3-4. If you wear too many, it may look like you escaped form the zoo. This type of “over accessorizing” is what makes people wonder if it’s a good idea or not, but it’s just fine as long as you stay away from over-kill.

3. You ought to have a few items in brown tones that match the browns in the leopard accessories. It’s not necessary to wear anything brown when you wear leopard (as in the example of the black power suit above), but it’s good to have handy in your professional wardrobe, as it gives you more flexibility in creating work outfits. For example, get a brown blouse, a brown belt, a brown scarf, etc. Note: It is much easier to select leopard accessories first, and then look for clothes that has a similar shade of brown, than first buying brown clothes and then trying to find a leopard print in that tone.

4. Experiment with gold. Try on a gold belt. If you wear leopard jewelry, try layering it with gold jewelry.

Here you can find some leopard jewelry at Macys: http://www1.macys.com/search/index.ognc?SearchTarget=*&Keyword=leopard+jewelry&KEYWORD_GO_BUTTON.x=15&KEYWORD_GO_BUTTON.y=15

While it’s cold, wear a turtle neck sweater under your woman’s business suit. Transform your regular business outfits to winter outfits, by finding turtle neck sweaters that have high wool content – this way they’ll be thin enough to be worn under a suit jacket without looking bulky. Sweaters made of cotton or acrlylic yarn are not as warm, and therefore it takes more bulk to generate the same heat as a wool or cashmere sweater would. Bulky sweater are not suitable for a professional wardrobe. If you are cold at work, create winter office outfits by layering yourself with a comfortable cotton t-shirt, then a wool turtle neck sweater, then the suit jacket. If that doesn’t do it, you could accessorize with a shawl. If you wear turtle neck sweaters without the suit jacket, accessorize it with a long necklace. (Short necklaces don’t look as good with turtle necks.)

Photos: This is an example of how you can create two different looks with the same gray suit jacket, by changing red and white sweaters with it – can be found at Macy’s. The first phot is an example of how to accessorize a red turtle neck sweater with long necklaces – can be found at Ann Taylor.

Next time you shop for business suits, really look at the lapels. There are other interesting cuts out there, besides the classic and traditional lapels. Pay attention to what is around in terms of lapels and collars on the suits. You can build a professional wardrobe having a few business suits that have traditional cuts, but then add a couple of suits that are unique. There are many ways to design the neckline of a suit. Here are a few examples of a brown suit jacket, and two gray suit jackets with necklines that are very unique. Stand out in the crowd.

To belt or not to belt? Here are a few examples of skirt suits worn with belts over the suit jacket. Accessorizing these skirt suits with a belt, gives the suit a new look. It adds style, and can make you look a bit thinner. Not every business suit looks good with a belt; you have to experiment and try a few different ones to compare. A belt can re-new and old office outfit. Why don’t you go down to the mall wearing your best professional suit, and bring your camera. Then try on ten different belts with your suit and take pictures of each look. Later go over the photos with your friends and get their input.

One thing to keep in mind about accessorizing suit jackets with belts, is that you have to make sure the end flap of the belt doesn’t stick out. With pants that have belt loops, that isn’t a problem. If you find a belt you like, but that is too long, ask if it comes in a shorter size – often they do.