This post may contain affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
We haven’t discussed professional frump in far too long, readers! Particularly as we're (fingers crossed) coming out of the Year of Athleisure we’ve experienced — combined with the Very Strange Fashion Moment we’re having with prairie dresses, chunky sneakers, and mom jeans — I think it's a good time to have a discussion about it. What do you think makes a work outfit look frumpy? What are your best tips on how not to look dowdy at work?
(There’s also the whole social/cultural movement toward not caring about “things we ‘should' do,” seen in the common meme of “no Fs left to give” — which I can totally get behind. Allison at Wardrobe Oxygen had a great post a few months ago about the difference between not giving a sh@# and having no Fs left to give which I thought was excellent.)
{related: how to do a complete wardrobe revamp}
For example: My gray, frizzy hairs look totally frumpy, ON me, to me. But… I don’t think I want to go the route of dyed hair, and it’s becoming more and more (and more) common for women to rock their gray hair at all ages.
So in the future, for Important Work Events I might try to pay attention to smoothing my frizz — hydrating it, using serums or hairspray to control it, choosing updos or blowouts that minimize it — but I think my grays are here to stay. (So is my side part, but you do you.)
{related: how to cultivate style}
I actually agree with most of my advice in our long-ago post on frump, including to avoid the following:
- Wearing clothes that don’t fit
- Wearing the wrong accessories
- Not knowing your body type
- Wearing clothes and accessories that fit you in outdated ways
- Sticking with trends of yesteryear
- Having a hairstyle that hasn’t been rethought in several years
- Wearing bad underwear — things that didn't fit you when new, don't fit properly after you've gained 10 lbs., and have stretched with age so they are no longer fitting you the way they should
I think as we all start dressing for work again, fit is the top thing I’d emphasize. Wear bras that fit and don’t give you quad boob. Wear dresses, skirts, and pants that fit you without pulling or “smiling.” You may think the choice is more complicated than this — wide-leg pants! ankle pants! skinny pants! — but all choices will look equally bad if they fit you poorly. You don’t have to choose thong underwear, but you should probably know what your VPL situation is and make choices from there.
{related: If you're worried about accessories, there are some great charts in our roundup on style tips from Pinterest, specifically which necklace to wear with which neckline.}
I’m curious, readers, what are your thoughts? What do you think will look frumpy as we head back to the office? What are your best tips on how not to look dowdy at work? What workwear trends of yesteryear do you think are definitely dated? If you are swearing off underwires, heels, and tailored clothes after the year of athleisure, do you have specific looks or outfits you like that you think are polished for work?
Stock photo via Deposit Photos / VitalikRadko.
anon
More than the individual items itself, I would say I look frumpiest when my outfit proportions are off, shoes need to be polished or just plain replaced, or when things don’t fit properly. Weight fluctuations are rough for anyone who has to maintain a professional wardrobe because there just isn’t much margin for error. I’m in wait-and-see mode about go-to work outfits. The few times I’ve been in the office lately, everyone is dressing like they always have. I’m not seeing the trend toward casualization, though I wish that were the case!
Anonymous
I’m curious to see how the business v. casual trend plays out. I’m dressing more casually, but I see many others that are pulling out all the stops after a year of being comfy.
Anon
I’m mixing it up a bit. Today: silk shirtdress but with sandals instead of my old Lady Day pumps.
No Face
Well-maintained clothes and shoes that fit take care of 90% of frumpiness/dowdiness. A lint roller and clothes steamer go a long way too.
I’m wearing my old clothes (the ones that fit anyway…) to the office because I’m not willing to go out and buy a whole new work wardrobe. Plus, my office is freezing so I wear blazers over everything.
Anon
My office is doing casual things that kind of pass as business. Kind of what you wore to internships back in the day when you were trying to make do with what you had. Cloth summer dress in all black. Maxi skirts. Shells and jackets with work out pants that pass as work pants. Sandals. We are still closed to the public though and it is also a heat wave.
Anonymous
I think we should embrace some frump if it means that women can be more comfortable in the workplace. I don’t know anyone who is eager to go back to heels and thong underwear and underwire bras. As long as your clothing fits, is properly laundered, and is professional for your industry, you’re fine. It’s time to normalize things like VPL (you wear underwear. It’s fine.) and practical loafers for women and other things that have been deemed frumpy. Anyone who has ever had to evacuate from a building in a hurry knows the dangers of heels, unwieldy purses, and restrictive clothing like pencil skirts.
Anonymous
Oh also, I think we way overthink the gray hair issue. I know at least 10 women in my field (government and government-adjacent) who rock gray hair and it’s seriously a non-issue. I’ve never once thought they looked “unprofessional” – because your natural hair, as long as it’s appropriately clean and basically groomed, is not unprofessional.
anon
+1
all about eevee
Can we please be done with the word “frumpy”? To me, it just reads as a codeword for “old” or “overweight”.
Anon
User name checks out
Senior Attorney
Yeah, I think it’s past time to toss it in the trash bin (along with “spinster” and “frigid” and “bossy”)! It just seem so misogynistic at this point.
Mal
Yes, the fact that I’m not waiflike (and never have been) make me concerned about frump, and I’m still young. It’s a cancer. Burn it all down!
Anon
No matter what you call it, I still want to look “off” and that very well could be a product of internalized misogyny from society, but it doesn’t change the fact that I want to avoid it.
all about eevee
Please feel free to avoid whatever you want to. I personally plan to avoid using misogynistic words to describe women who wear clothes I don’t like.
Anon
I so agree. Ageism isn’t cute on anyone.
Formerly Lilly
I feel fairly certain that my “classic” is someone else’s “frump”.
I don’t think frump is the same as slobbish or in need of basic grooming. It does feel like a misogynistic descriptor to me, as I have only ever heard it used judgmentally in a negative way against women. Instead of a “don’t be frumpy” message, I’d rather hear “find your personal style and polish it”.
Mal
Yes! Didn’t think about till you said it just now – men are never called frumpy. I think it can be used as another way to remind women of the cultural enforced importance of looking hot always, which sucks! I’m only 30 and I’m already so OVER IT.
Anonymous
Yep. We need to challenge the assumption that “professional = attractive” for women. It doesn’t.
Senior Attorney
Men are “rumpled,” which is often considered charming.
Anonymous
Meh. I think of “rumpled” as sloppy which isn’t appealing on a man. I also think men can be frumpy. For instance, dad sneakers, while trendy in years past, always read frumpy to me, as well as mandala and certain stodgy dress shoes.
Of Counsel
I just posted a longer comment (in moderation) about this but yes! These are often although not always code for “it looks like something a Gen X’er/Baby Boomer would wear.”
Anon
Eh, I think “frump” can describe someone thin too – usually wearing too big clothes. When I think frump I think: ill fitted (too small or too big) clothes, clothes that need repairs or a lint roller or a steamer, and egregiously dated items (think bubble necklaces)
Anon
Getting an in-line water filter for our house was the #1 improvement in my dowdiness. I thought I was just an idiot at laundry and couldn’t figure out how everyone else had such well-kept clothes, when mine would immediately fade, pill, and come apart after a few uses. Turns out our water is a corrosive disaster that chews up fabric (while of course just barely meeting legal limits for a whole mess of chemicals).
Lydia
ooh that is super interesting and not something I would have thought of at all!
Anon
Similarly, switching from drying clothes in the dryer to hanging them to dry made such a big difference in the life and quality of my clothes.
Of Counsel
I will confess I hate the terms frumpy and dowdy because they are often used to mean older and/or fatter. (Full disclosure: I am in my 50s and was thin for about 1 minute in my 20s and another 30 seconds in my 30s.) What a lot of posters on this site call frumpy, I call age appropriate. But then I do not personally subscribe to the often expressed belief that women should wear whatever they want regardless of age or body type. (Please don’t @ me; I try very hard not to be judgmental of others’ choices; although confess I have raised eyebrows at women wearing the trendiest clothes long past the point I think they should. But absolutely nobody including me wants to look at my flabby upper arms.)
But clothes that do not fit properly or are in poor repair are #1 on my own frumpy list. Nothing like a dropped hem on a too long, too tight skirt to make someone look frumpy. It used to include hose with runs or hose the wrong color but nobody seems wear those these days except royalty. Clothes that fit the trend of the moment ten years ago tend to go the same way. Add to that excessive and poorly applied makeup, hair that is not neat (straight, curly, colored, grey – whatever makes you happy; but keep it groomed in professional settings! ) Chipped nail polish same. Either don’t wear it at all or keep it up. There are some shoes (low block heels with certain toe shape) that look frumpy to me on any woman over 30 but that may be because that is what the nuns wore.
And oddly poor posture will make an outfit that would otherwise be fine seem frumpy. Maybe because it reads as lack of confidence and confident is never frumpy.
Frizz
“Hair that is not neat” – I feel like this is such a persistent, outdated bias that holds women back. I have very red, very curly, VERY frizzy hair. I can tame it if I have to, but it takes 30-45 minutes of my time that I would much prefer to spend otherwise (for example, doing my job). No man would ever be expected or required to spend that much time to look “put together.”
X X
I had a friend/ colleague with very frizzy hair that found a great solution in a curly hair salon and products. I know that sounds simple but she found one that worked for her. I hope you do too because I’m sure it’s gorgeous!
CW
This has been on my mind as I’m planning to leave my casual Silicon Valley workplace for a job in DC, where I think people are generally more formal. After this pandemic year, I’m not keen to go back to wearing heels, especially if I’m going to be commuting by public transportation (and I’d rather find shoes that I can wear all day than wearing sneakers for the commute and changing), but it’s a bit of a challenge to find dress flats that you can really walk in. I like the MM La Fleur ones in the Corporette guide to comfortable heels, but I’d really like it if they came in brown.
AT
I live and work in DC. Many women commute in flats and keep them on around the office as there are quite a few that are both professional and comfortable. Another option is to purchase flats 1/2 size too large and add comfortable inserts (i.e. aetrex, super feet). Riding/flat boots are a good option for winter. During the colder months I tend to commute in snow boots/coat and keep heels, warm cardigan, and blazer at my desk.
Diana
Agree with some of the other comments above. We need more positive messages along the lines of “find your personal style and feel put-together, while staying comfortable,” instead of “don’t be frumpy.” I especially dislike the idea of needing to rethink your hair just because you haven’t changed your style up for years. This came across as shallow.
What matters: Good hygiene and clothes that fit and are clean. The rest should be up to the wearer.
saree
I don’t want to comment on the dowdy phrase here. Anyways it’s the neat look, more than that the fit and healthy lifestyle is more important too.
SK
Don’t know if ithis is actually true, but I was taught that “frumpy” is a derogatory term derived from modest dress styles of orthodox Jews. So I’ve learned to avoid the term like plague.
Also, I seriously believe that we need to get rid of the idea of clothes and accessories “dating” magically. Clothing industry is such a pain for the planet & human rights, that we really need to slow the cycle of trends and make it socially acceptable to wear items that are “dated” but still likeable. I don’t really think anyone looks bad because the toe shape of their shoes is not one that is “in” right now or that they wear an accessory that is no longer popular, such as a fun bubble necklace. Especially profession looks tend to look classic so the discussion about what looks dated often revolves around small details that would be easy to ignore. There are also plenty of choices that do not really date: natural nails, white silk shirts, plain layering tops/tees, lbd:s, many hairstyles for long/medium length hair etc.
Anyway, my one style tip besides the obvious “wear right size”etc. would be “wear some clear, crisp color”. Not head to toe, but IMO one does look a little sharper if she is not wearing all black or smoky/earthy colors. Crisp white or pastels, maybe silver grey, or a pop of pure bright color can really pick a person up. If these colors don’t go with one’s coloring, even using them in accessories seems to work.
esk
The modest style of Orthodox Jews is “frum”, prounounced “froom”. Frumpy is pronounced “fruhmpy”. Not sure there is a correlation there.
LaurenB
Frum comes from the Yiddish for pious. It’s got nothing to do with the word frumpy at all.
Christina
When I think of workplace frumpy, I think of a specific black pant that’s a polyester material and either shapeless/baggy or bootcut/flared. Obviously, black pants are a staple item, but I think there’s a kind of lazy outfit that’s just shapeless black pants with different colored tops. (this is especially bad when the top doesn’t go with black- like a light pastel floral with a heavy black pant) To my eye, it can look blocky and tired.
I honestly think that adding a “third piece,” whether a blazer or other jacket, scarf, or statement accessory of some kind is the best way to fight frump.