From College to Career: What to Wear
Going from wearing anything you want everyday, to working full-time and trying to dress professionally everyday, can be quite the adjustment. So one of my best friends, Sasha, suggested a while ago that we "share tips for dressing professionally while also expressing your personal style" and I thought it was perfect!
Question: After going to school and being able to wear whatever you want, what do we wear to work that still expresses our personal style?
After doing a lot of thinking and digging, I think I have come up with some tips to help solve this problem.
1. Organize your closet
This may not make a lot of sense at first, but going through my closet helped me realize I actually had a lot more "professional" attire than I realized. When I moved out of the closet I shared with my roommate in college and into the new house my parents had bought, I had the opportunity to go through my clothes and hang and fold them in an organized manner. I seperated all of my blouses from my t-shirts, my dress pants from my denim and cargo, and organized my dresses and skirts by sleeve length.
From left to right: long skirts and dresses, dresses by sleeve length, new dresses, dress pants, blouses by sleeve length and blazers.
I started to realize that I had a pretty good collection of skirts, a couple really nice pairs of dress pants, and a bunch of cute blouses, but I knew it needed work. I put away my clothes keeping each category of clothing together, so that navigating between my youthful t-shirts and my new professional attire would be a breeze.
2. Keep the clothes you have that are versatile
When looking at the clothes you have, you may realize that the frilly shirt you bought in high school from Abercrombie & Fitch would actually look really good with high-waisted trousers and a cute blazer. Shop your closet for professional attire before going shopping because you will be surprised at how many versatile items you have in your wardrobe.
I feel like this is a lot easier for men, because they can keep the nice khaki pants and chinos they have, the dress pants they wear to church or had to buy for that one wedding they were invited to, and then add to their button up shirt and polo collection.
3. Get some inspiration, and find the items your wardrobe is missing
So you've discovered a lot of the clothes you love can be versatile and can be worn to work, but you still don't know how to style them. This is where Pinterest comes in! Pinterest is probably the best place on earth to find inspiration for fashion, interior design, beauty, weddings and so much more. Pinterest is where you can search "work attire", or "business casual", or "professional outfits" and find lots of inspiration. When you find an outfit you like, pin it to a new board, and keep scrolling under that image to try to find similar outfits.
I personally always search “minimal work attire” because that is more my style. Once you get a feel for the look you want to go for, you can start to shop for the items you are missing in your wardrobe. I suggest the app Screenshop if you are interested in finding items exactly like the ones you see on Pinterest.
4. Try it all on, and make it YOU
Now that you have bought a few more pieces to help grow your professional attire collection, you need to try things on and make some outfits that you like. This part can be depressing at times because not everything we see on Pinterest works on us the way we pictured it, but I encourage you to keep mixing things up until you find what works for you! Then throw your own spin on it with accessories and some makeup. Oh, and while you are trying things on, make sure those shoes can we worn for 8-9.5 hour shifts!
5. Be true to yourself and the style transition will be a breeze
The reason why I suggested shopping your own closet first is that I believe the best way to make the style transition from college to career is to be true to yourself and your own style. Don't just wear what you think you are "supposed to" but make it unique and express yourself through your style choices. I hope that this blog gave you some ideas! Now go send out those resumes!
With love,
- MGL