What To Wear To…

What to Wear to Workout – In Front of Coworkers

by Kat on 05/24/2011 · 117 comments

in Comfort, Exercise, What To Wear To...

Reader M has an interesting question that brings us back to that old classic: what do you wear to workout or exercise in front of coworkers?

I am an articling student at a mid sized law firm and I have a “law day fun run” coming up, hosted by the law society. It just occurred to me that my running outfit (mini skort and a skin tight tank top) might not send the right impression even though it’s what I actually wear when I go running. I have seen male lawyers biking and running in skintight and/or revealing outfits before but I am not sure if I can get away with that as a female lawyer.

What should I wear?

I offered my advice on what to wear to the corporate gym way way back in 2008, and I’m curious to hear what readers today have to say about it. More and more companies are offering on-premises gyms for their staffers’ use, and even if they don’t, many people go to the gyms located near the office, where odds are high that you’ll see coworkers. (Pictured: Printed Chase Skort, available at Athleta for $54.)

Runners particularly can get into trouble here. Half of the runners I know rely on old (ollllld) t-shirts and shorts — the other half buy shiny, new, TIGHT clothing — running tights, sports bras-as-tops, and more.

A lot of this depends on your personal modesty. For my $.02, the skort and skintight tank sounds fine to me, if that’s what your comfortable running in. A few notes, though:

a) Whether your shirt is tight or not — please make sure that your sports bra is a good one and actually stops the bounce. If you have a less than stellar sports bra, not only is it bad for the girls, but wow, talk about distracting. As someone with a larger bust myself I’ve always sworn by Enell bras (such as Enell Maximum Control Wire-Free Sports Bra, available at Bare Necessities for $64.)

b) Wear an opaque shirt. Even though I don’t think twice of passing women on the street wearing nothing but a sports bra, it’s a wee bit different when you know that person in a working capacity. So wear a shirt, and wear an opaque shirt at that.

c) Whatever you wear on the bottom, make sure that it’s something vaguely flattering. Avoid pants that are skintight (and, please, pants that emphasize too-small underwear, as well!). If it were me, I would also gauge whether my shorts or skorts were overambitious, given the state of my legs. Don’t get me wrong, I wear a lot of shorts during summer months if I’m working out in the apartment or going for a run near the apartment — but it’s just a different calculus, for me at least, when I consider wearing those shorts to anywhere near the office. In fact, a friend was just telling me about a line of workout clothes featuring shapewear built into it — Apifeni.

Ladies, what do you think? Should shorts/skorts be off-limits entirely? Should only loose tops be worn? And what about hair — would anyone advise a friend to not wear a ponytail or pigtails?

{ 117 comments }

Resort Chic — for a Business Meeting in the Bahamas

by Kat on 05/12/2011 · 59 comments

in Business Casual, Business Etiquette, Weather, What To Wear To...

Reader L has a question about what to wear for a business meeting in the Bahamas…

Unlike many of your readers, I am not a lawyer but am an MBA grad working in Investor Relations. After a couple of years of trudging through the economy, the management team has decided to have our small strategic planning meeting in the Bahamas next month (yay!); however, I am at a loss when it comes to attire. The information provided says “resort chic”. I’m assuming that means clothing which does not consist of a printed hibiscus sprawling across ones chest. Can you give me some suggestions where I can go to find classy resort wear? Thanks a bunch. I’ll toast a fruity drink to you!

Well, I’ll do anything to have a fruity drink toasted to me. :) Honestly, though: why do companies keep doing these kinds of awkward retreats, without specific advice for women? The men who attend this meeting will show up in khaki pants and a button-front shirt and be A-OK; if they’re more formal some may have a linen blazer with them, whereas others may wear shorts with untucked button-front shirts (with the sleeves rolled up, of course). Either way you slice it, the margin of error will be fairly small for the men. Whereas for women — when one says “resort chic” my imagination runs from the casual hippie clothing like a maxi dress to the more high-fashion model look of someone 6′ tall wearing short-shorts, 4″ heels, and perhaps an expensive blouse, loaded up with jewelry and a sour expression. Or, of course, a great bikini… but none of those choices really seem ideal for your situation, because you don’t want to confuse vacation with a business meeting (Pictured: Bahamas Gazebo, originally uploaded to Flickr by bryce_edwards.)

As a woman attending such a meeting, here’s my $.02:

a) Check with any other women attending the meeting what they’re wearing, no matter whether they’re junior or superior to you. Ignore anyone whose outfit involves a flower in her hair or a midriff-baring top, and sift through what’s left.

b) Figure out where the actual meeting will be held (you can call the meeting spot in the Bahamas directly to get this info if you want to). Inside in an air-conditioned conference room? Or outside on a sweeping veranda, with possible issues from heat, wind, and bugs? (If it’s held outside and you have hair that is long enough to pull back, I would advise doing that at the beginning of every day you’re in the Bahamas on business.)

c) Build your wardrobe around a few basics. For example: lightweight trousers in a cotton or even a linen can easily be paired with a t-shirt (either brightly colored or not) for a no-fuss wardrobe; you can add a cotton or linen blazer to the ensemble to make it more formal, or a colorful wrap to make it more casual. Being that you are in the Bahamas, I might bring sandals instead of pumps (but make sure you get a pedicure before you go). Other basics that might serve you well (with little space) would include a sheath dress, which you can wear to dinner by itself if you go somewhere nice with the team, or with a blazer for a meeting if things are more formal than you anticipated. Depending on how you feel about shorts personally, you may even want to pack a pair or two if they look good with a blazer. Personally I would avoid skirts and dresses for the meeting — just thinking of my own collection of sheath dresses for the office and jersey dresses for play, it seems far too easy to swing either too casual or too dressy for the meeting.

Even with those caveats, I must say I’m jealous you get to go to the Bahamas on the company dime. Try to take at least a day or two extra for yourself (and your honey, if you can) to enjoy the tropical retreat — and pull out those maxi dresses/short-shorts for those personal vacation days.

Readers, what are your thoughts on business attire for a meeting in the Bahamas? What does “resort chic” mean to you?

{ 59 comments }

Too Casual for a Weekend in the Office?

by Kat on 12/07/2010 · 136 comments

in Business Casual, Business Etiquette, Career, Fashion, Fashion Gaffes, Wear to Work, What To Wear To...

Today’s reader K asks a great question…

I’m a junior associate at a large corporate law firm, and I’ve been working a lot of weekends. During the week, I’m one of the more formally dressed people on my floor (there’s a fairly wide range). However, I walk about an hour to work as my exercise on the weekends, so I’m usually wearing sweats and a hoodie while I’m working on Saturday and Sunday. Personally, I figure that if I’m coming in off business hours, I can wear whatever I want as long as it’s clean and fairly neat. I have never run into a partner, and I usually just keep my door shut anyways. However, I have run into associates while going to grab food/coffee etc, and I’m wondering whether it’s inappropriate to let them see me in my truly casual clothes. Should I be wearing jeans, or something at least a little more fashionable?

I wrote a post on what to wear on a working weekend a long, long time ago that got some flack when it was picked up by Above the Law — I believe one of the AtL commenters said if they were working on the weekend, they felt they could come in wearing tighty-whities and roller skates for all the senior management had to say about it. In honesty, that post was inspired after I’d spent a weekend filing a brief with a partner — I had shown up at 10 on Saturday wearing jeans, wet hair pulled back, and a sweater, having finished the Friday night work around 3 AM on Saturday morning. The partner didn’t bat an eye, but the temp secretary I had to supervise (who had about 20 years on me) — well, that was a different story. She took one look at me, rolled her eyes, and (I think) perhaps even asked if I was a lawyer. Gee…thanks. (Pictured: Working on the weekend, originally uploaded to Flickr by jfranklin.)

So I think it’s important to distinguish situations when you’re working on the weekend.

Sweats are fine if you’re running into a colleague in the coffee room (or, hey, tighty whities and roller skates). (Personally, I’ve decided the Athleta catalog is my new inspirational “gee I wish my life/weekend fashions looked like that.”)
If you’re working closely with a colleague or superior, though, I’d say to make it “nicer” casual clothes. To that end, think trouser jeans or dark rinse jeans, and perhaps a top or cardigan from your workweek collection.
Dress for respect if you expect to supervise people — whether it be junior colleagues or secretaries. To that end, look for an authoritative blazer or cardigan. (C’mon, you know I love a blazer.) You can have fun with it, also — wear a hoodie under the blazer, or a concert T.

Readers, what’s your working-on-the-weekend outfit style? What are your thoughts on sweatpants, jeans, and blazers?

{ 136 comments }

What to Wear for a Month in Court

by C on 02/04/2010 · 102 comments

in Career, Fashion, What To Wear To...

Today’s reader mail comes from a reader who will be second-chairing a federal trial that is expected to last for more than a month…

First, do you think I should wear skirt suits every day or can I wear pant suits and save the skirt suits for days that I may actually get to examine a witness?

Second, how many suits do you think I need to keep on hand so that it doesn’t look like I am wearing the same suits over and over again? Any suggestions for making the same suit look different other than wearing different accessories?

And finally, any suggestions on where to find nice looking suits in petite sizes without spending an arm and a leg since I will not need that many suits after the trial is finished.

A good friend of ours did mock trial in law school (and did very well), and passed along her (esteemed) coach’s advice: wear skirt suits and be sure to cross/uncross your legs often if the other side is making a good point, and wear a lot of perfume. See? Golden advice. Whoever says sexism is alive and well is just crazy.

In all seriousness, though, wardrobe during trial is one of those times where the guys really do have it easier, because we guarantee you that they’ll wear, at max, three suits and five ties throughout the entire trial and not give a second thought to it. For you, though, we recommend sticking to dark suits, which, practically speaking, means we’d limit ourselves to three or four suits. One black, one navy, and maybe one in brown or gray. (If you’re prickly about your accessories matching, go with all black accessories and choose the gray suit.) Where possible, we’d get both the skirt and the pants to the set — J.Crew, Banana, Ann Taylor, or Theory all make separates (and, we think, petites). (For the petites question, we’ll be lazy here and link to our old post on professional dressing for petites for reference, as well as the blogs Petite Asian Girl ExtraPetite and Alterations Needed, both of which we have recently discovered and been meaning to point readers towards.)

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{ 102 comments }

Weekend Open Thread

by C on 10/02/2009 · 94 comments

in Basics, Fashion, Information Overload, Organization, Success, What To Wear To...

Something on your mind? Chat about it here.
Pictured: Mikasa “True Blue” Espresso Cup/Saucer, available at Macys.com for $16 (was $23).

{ 94 comments }

What to Wear To… A Professional Conference

by C on 08/03/2009 · 18 comments

in Business Casual, Fashion, Fashion Gaffes, Networking, What To Wear To...

One of the most difficult things to figure out is what to wear to a professional conference. In theory, you’re there to network, meet your colleagues and the “superstars” of your field — and, of course, to learn a bit in the process. The whole process becomes a bit more confusing when you add the “vacation” vibe that many conferences strive for, by holding themselves in sunny places like Hawaii. It seems to us that you need to take a number of different considerations into account. (A lot of these problems are alleviated if you only attend conferences in Second Life.) For example:

1) Are your work colleagues going? If your work colleagues are going then, by default, you shouldn’t wear anything you wouldn’t wear to the office on a weekday.

2) Are you at all involved in running the event? Is one of your colleagues speaking? Is your company or firm sponsoring the event? If so, wear a suit. Depending on the kind of conference and the location, we might suggest a pantsuit rather than a skirt suit — you’re not interviewing, and, after all, you’re quite possibly doing glamorous things like manual labor.

3) What is your purpose in going? Even if it’s just to get a ton of professional credits while surreptitiously playing Brickbreaker all day, let’s pretend you’re there to network and meet people who can help advance/guide your career. Either way, we advise against pulling out the sweats you wore to your grad school classes.

No matter what, we would pack a blazer for the event — air conditioning frequently runs amok at conferences, and a blazer is a professional way to stay warm. Wear it with trouser jeans if you think the conference is uber casual; wear it with a jersey dress if you’re in hotter weather (Hawaii); wear it with trousers and a blouse if you think it’s business casual.

We would also recommend thinking of your entire visit, including your time on the plane and in your down time at the hotel, as “work” time — dress and act as professionally as possible (while, of course, having a nice time).

Readers, any other words of advice for professional conferences?

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