Part 6: How and When to Wear Stuff 

There has been a question from the assembled:

You've talked about the "what" of clothes (What fabric, what color). How about the "which one do I wear" question? A few tips on styles that go together and when things are appropiate might be cool.

A good question, and one which would take a book to address.  In fact, there have been many books that address this topic!  You should be able to find them in your local library, and they might well still be in print.

Ten years ago, the best books on this subject were "Dress for Success" [men] and "Dress for Success for Women."  They cover both business and leisure wear, and have suggestions for how to fill in the gaps in your wardrobe, etc.

There is some general advice for the workplace, that adapts across sub-cultures:  Dress the way the people in the "group you want to be in next" dress.  This presumes that you are looking to advance, of course!

Like it or not, there are a lot of assumptions make of people based on the way that people clothe themselves at work -- almost as many as the assumptions based on the way folks speak.  Although these assumptions are fairly idiotic (how can you tell what I'm *really* like from my clothes?) if you learn the rules of the game, then you can manipulate them or flout them according to your desired effect.

And, when in doubt, wear dark colors.
 
 
All material (c) 1999 Cynthia Virtue Email Author with comments
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