How To Dress Professionally

Veronica: Dressing for the office doesn't mean having to leave your personal style at home. Hi! I am Veronica with WatchMojo.com and today we are looking at ways you can still be fashionable and professional. Is it true that your fashion choices actually reflect your ability to do the job? Christina Vongas: What you wear can actually have an impact on how you are perceived by your coworkers, clients, or even your superior. What you are basically aiming to project is an image that's professional, competent, dynamic. Wearing unflattering colors, ill-fitting sizes, or inappropriate styles can actually have an impact on whether you will advance in your career or not. Veronica: When we think of office, where we usually think of shades, black, white, is there any way to add a punch of color to our outfit? Christina Vongas: You can perhaps add like a bold scarf or another punch of color to jazz up an outfit and make it look more stylish. This is a professional as well as fashionable look. You pair a simple blouse with a cigarette skirt. Obviously it's not too short, it's probably the proper length. It also gives a very slimming effect. Adding a bold scarf will add a punch to a basic outfit. Veronica: After a long day at the office, we just want to head out to happy hours. Is there a way too quickly change our outfit from office to drinks without having to go home? Christina Vongas: There's lots of ways to do that. One is, if you are wearing a jacket or some sort of suit, you can wear an evening top underneath, that's sexy, that's sleeveless. This is a great outfit to go from the office to an evening out, pairing black with the pop color in the top, and once you go out you remove the top and you have a sexy tanked up underneath, which signals party mode. Veronica: When we are looking for a job, what's the best outfit to wear to the interview? Christina Vongas: An important investment would be a suit, a classic and a solid color, where you can mix and match, with a nice blouse or a top underneath. Keep it simple, keep it clean, and that's the image you want to project. This is a great outfit to wear to an interview. It's conservative, it's classic, you have your jacket. It's not very sooty or stiff. She is clean, she is polished. She is giving the impression that she is competent, dynamic, and professional. Veronica: Many suits are very masculine. Is there way to add a feminine or a girlie touch to that look? Christina Vongas: This is another option for a professional look. Instead of wearing a suit to the office, too must haves of this season, I would say, is the blouse with the bow, it's very feminine, as well as the cardigan. To look a bit more polished and probably define your ways to look more feminine, you can add a skinny belt. Veronica: And does dressing for the office mean you have to be uncomfortable all day? Christina Vongas: I just think since a lot of these casual Fridays started off, people tend to confuse what business casual really is. If you keep wrinkle free, polished, clean look, and you opt for maybe a cardigan, which is a must have for this season, as opposed to a jacket, that's a way to be comfortable and yet still be professional. Veronica: Thank you very much. Christina Vongas: Thank you.