We’ve been talking about how to build an office-friendly wardrobe that will also work for those hours and days when you are NOT at the office. The goal, of course, is to have a closet full of basics that you can mix and match and wear for years to come. The place to start any wardrobe overhaul is by assessing your existing wardrobe, which includes making a list of pieces that you are missing.

As you go through your closet and try on everything that has survived the purge (pieces that fit AND are in good condition AND are classic enough not to reflect a specific trend or moment that has long passed), you need to take note of what you DON’T have. While you might easily identify gaps in your basic pieces — no trench coat, for example, or no office-appropriate jeans — you also need to think about the details: Do you have the right undergarments for every piece in your closet? The right shoes for every outfit? The right accessories for every look?

That fabulous white shirt won’t look so fabulous if you’re wearing it with a green bra, trust me. Or even with a white bra that shows RIGHT through.

Make two lists as you clean your closet: one list of Big Pieces (trousers, skirts, blouses, dresses) and a second list of Foundations and Accessories (lingerie, jewelry, bags, shoes). These are the things you need to shop for, because these are the things you actually NEED. Nothing else, at least for right now.
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This week, the Wall Street Journal had an interesting piece on the pitfalls of business casual attire. And it’s a big pit, this Casual Friday dress code; one image consultant referred to it as “the black hole of style.” Employees are often confused about what precisely is appropriate for the Casual Friday office, and they wind up wearing the wrong thing more often than not.

The WSJ points out that the rules of business casual often vary dramatically from place to place:

Consider the progress of Neonu Jewell, export compliance counsel with Accenture in Chicago. At a Fortune 500 hospitality company where she used to work, a dress code barred denim — so some people wore sweats. At her next job at a Washington law firm, senior attorneys were disapproving of women who wore open-toed shoes on summer Fridays. At Accenture, 37-year-old Ms. Jewell says, business casual still involves suits or at least carefully maintained slacks, shirts and blouses, which she says reflects the highly professional work environment there.

That bit about people wearing sweats to the office of a Fortune 500 company made me die a little inside. Seriously.
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