Trends In Professional Dress

[9.17.2007 | Kirkland Washington]
Jeff Collins

We’ve all seen those nostalgic pictures of the big city in its infant stages: cars and carriages sharing the dirt roads through town, women in big dresses carrying a parasol and nearly every man in suit & wearing a hat. Getting dressed for business was easy back then. Being properly attired meant you were in a suit. For hundreds of years wearing a suit has always been a display of strength, power and importance. In the business world it’s meant to say, “I’m confident, competent and professional.”

Even as little as 10 to 15 years ago dressing for business was clear cut. When you went to work you wore a suit and tie. If you didn’t, you probably worked for one of those “start ups or dotcom” companies who were trying to lure talent by incorporating casual dress into their work environment. Then, for a couple years, business dress relaxed dramatically as stock brokers, bankers, attorneys etc. were trying to mirror their prospective client’s casual attire to persuade the newly wealthy into trusting them with their new found riches. Being casually dressed was meant to say, “I’m just like you.”

Then, for many in the stock market & elsewhere, the bottom fell out. We either found ourselves still wearing golf shirts and cotton chinos to work because we didn’t want to give up the comfort or we were scrambling to dress back up to impress the customers that were left out there. Inherently we knew if we didn’t dress to impress our competition would. Through this we rediscovered an old truth. When business is good we relax; there’s plenty to go around. When times tighten up we follow suit by gearing up our business: we advertise, we network and we elevate our professional image and appearance.

After the dust settled and business picked up again we rediscovered another interesting reality: there is a time to dress up, a time to dress down and everything in between. For those who wore suits for years adapting to business casual has been a daunting task. If a suit says, “Trust me, I’m a professional,” then what does a polo and some cotton chinos say? Many professionals were faced with the fact they had clothing they wore to work and everything else was weekend casual. And much of our weekend casual wear doesn’t project the image of ‘the expert.’

I have found that nicer, well-coordinated casual clothing does have the professional edge we are looking for. I’m not talking about the polo they gave you for being in the golf tournament or the Dockers you wash at home yourself. Those items make you look like you’ve been branded by the club or manufacturer. I’m referencing a pressed cotton chino or wool slack and a nicer polo. Now that is a good casual look. Take the casual and formalize it a bit by upgrading.

As far as a suit goes, with the right pattern or colors it can make for a great casual look without a tie; coordinate it with a multi-striped or checked shirt. Some different solid colored shirts help bring the casual image together. Take the formal and make it more casual by introducing pattern and color.

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