Not Your Average Slacks and Blouse: Let's Spice Up Business Casual

Feb 21

By: Frankie Smith

In a sea of black pantsuits and white collared shirts, it can be hard to make a statement. Finding the intersection of personal style and business casual can be difficult when you are bound to the restrictions of office attire. However, with a few accessories, a shoe swap, or even adding some color, you can easily spice up your basic business casual in order to incorporate more personal stylistic elements. These tips may not only allow you to express yourself, but also help you stand out and create an eye-catching and intriguing look.

Understanding your audience is the most important thing when it comes to switching up your typical business casual outfits. Some of these ideas are appropriate in one work context, but may not be considered professional enough in others. If you are attending an important networking event that requires a bit more professionalism, try adding more subtle touches rather than flashy additions. However, if you are in more of a creative field, adding pops of color or fun accessories may be more acceptable and admired. The following tips are here to aid your fabulous first impression by making you even more memorable and confident. Therefore, it is important to consider the type of event, who you are meeting with, and what is expected of you when attempting to enhance your outfit. If you are ready to change up your style, look no further!

Adding Bows:

To elevate any outfit, a bow can take center stage. There are several ways to incorporate a bow beyond the bunny knot tying your shoelaces:

Let's start at the top–consider buying a satin ribbon for your ponytail, braid, or half-up-half-down hairstyle. To increase the cohesiveness of your outfit, try matching the ribbon color to another accessory such as your shoes, glasses, or even socks. For example, if your glasses have red frames, or your shoes have blue detailing. Consider tying an accent bow to your staple shoulder bag. This adds a sweet, charming touch to an everyday accessory, and is interchangeable depending on the colors and style of your outfit. Finally, in the realm of spicing up basic fashion aspects, replace your standard shoelaces with colorful ribbon lace-up your shoes with colorful ribbons instead of standard shoelaces. Through this, you can add a pop of color, a different texture, and ultimately, make a statement from something as small as your shoelaces.

Fashion icons have been incorporating bows into both their red carpet looks and casual streetwear. For example, at the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards, internet personality Emma Chamberlain put a dark twist on a traditionally light and frilly accessory–an all-black dress with silver hardware accompanied by a thick black bow in her hair. Other celebrities such as Hailey Bieber, Karlie Kloss, and Sydney Sweeney also frequently rock bows in their hair and outfits. Overall, bows can be incorporated in several different ways, adding an eye-catching feature to the most basic business casual outfit.

Dabbling in stripes:

If you don’t feel well-versed in accessorizing or you like sticking to the classics, don’t worry–stripes have you covered. Rather than a basic black collared shirt or slacks, you can look for something with some gray stripes to add a bit of excitement without being overly distracting. You could even experiment with colored stripes, such as pink, green, blue, or red, to give off a creative and approachable energy. If a colored stripe is too much, try ribbed or knit materials to incorporate some texture and give a similar effect.

It’s important to note the different effects that the various stripes give. If you are looking to appear a bit taller or elongate your body, experiment with vertical stripes. If you love the oversized, comfy look, reach for horizontal stripes. To get even more specific, consider the width of the stripe: hairline, pin, thick, or varied. Being one of the most timeless patterns in fashion history, stripes can add a subtle touch to any basic, business-casual outfit.

Layering:

Michigan winters can be freezing; coats typically become a regularly rotated item from December to March. However, that shouldn’t limit stylistic layering or, moreover, the outfit under the puffy jacket. Combine all your fall and winter essentials into one look by layering different colors and silhouettes. For example, you can experiment with stacking a blazer on top of a monochrome turtleneck, a cable knit sweater or vest over a collared shirt, a knit bolero over a turtleneck top, or even some lace-trim socks under your loafers. Bella Hadid and Tyler the Creator are professionals in the art of layering and great sources of inspiration. If you want to stick to neutral tones and really highlight your silhouette, layering adds a certain depth and texture to a business casual outfit that will make you stand out while still remaining professional.

Starting from the bottom: shoes

Switching up your footwear can elevate any outfit from the ground up, literally. Investing in a nice pair of shoes may be the key step in elevating your business casual wardrobe. Shoes can tie an outfit together and are a great piece to show your personal style, whether it be retro, preppy, or even boho-chic.

For something more feminine and endearing, ballet flats could be the answer. You can style them with high-waisted, straight-leg pants, a satin blouse, or a tweed blazer. For a more sporty, “street style” outfit where ballet flats won’t cut it, try Adidas Sambas or Gazelles. These can look great with a more relaxed, loose-fitting dress pant and a chunky knit sweater. Lastly, for something more chic and classy, try a platform loafer styled with classic, boot-cut pants and a fitted collared shirt. If the loafer has any metal detailing, you can level up the look by pairing them with matching jewelry. All together, shoes can both tie an outfit together or be the statement of it–a subtle touch to an otherwise basic outfit.

Adding a pop of color:

Under the typical definition of business casual, colors such as black, white, cream, brown, and gray reign supreme. However, the easiest way to stand out in a crowd of neutrals is by experimenting with color. Whether it be a ruby red bag, electric blue shoes, a hot pink headband, or a sage green sweater, the possibilities are endless. Utilizing color in everything from accessories to articles of clothing can make your basic business casual outfit that much more exciting and eye-catching.

Take this idea a step further by trying to develop your own style uniform for each outfit. For example, if you want to go for that retro, 70s-inspired look, incorporate browns, yellows, and reds. Love that Stockholm, comfy-boho style? Try pulling in navy, baby pink, and cream accent colors. If you are more into a dark, fall color palette, burgundy, purple, and orange might be the go-to. Adding the smallest touch of color will totally boost your chances of being remembered by future employers– “Remember that interviewee with the green purse?”

If your work environment permits, incorporating one or more of these suggestions into your business casual wardrobe will make you stand out from the crowd and ensure employers remember you. First, one or more of these tips can serve as a confidence booster. If you love your outfit, your future employer might feel that confident radiance. Next, it serves as a sort of personal branding. Whether you are more artsy, like to delve into trends, or stick to the classics, your outfit is an opportunity to reflect that. It may yield positive impressions and give any company some insight into who you are as a person, not just an employee. Finally, adding an authentic and personal touch will convey your attention to detail, an incredibly desirable trait by many.

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Prisha Patel