Clothes make the (wo)man

Clothes make the (wo)man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. ~Mark Twain


Admittedly there is a wide range of acceptable in professional dress for women.

There is the basic issue of profession.
The corporate attorney and graphic design artist would rarely have to worry about wearing the same outfit.

A small office typically has a more relaxed standard than a large firm.

Miami vs. NYC vs. Buffalo -ha! to say nothing of London, Paris, Tokyo. You get the idea. Even geography is a factor.

Throw in stockings (yes/no/color), skirt length, shoe choice, hair, make-up: the permutations are innumerable. The potential offenses are astronomical.

A few basic rules go a very long way. We all need to find our own. Many of mine are outlined by my good friend Ann (Taylor).

My cousin and I enjoy comparing notes on personal experiences. She recently shared this blog
http://corporette.com/
It's just one of many places to find loads of good tips. Yet still so much tacky, fashion impaired, bad judgements out there! There is an attorney in my building who needs to meet some low lights and a flat iron on her hair which should easily be 8 inches shorter, manages to belt everything, shimmers and routinely manages to screw up even a black suit. Couple that with a very junior intern and I've got loads of material for my mental makeovers.

Clearly I also want to be polished and present well. Something I believe I typically achieve. I have a great stock of go-to dresses with any number of shoes and several jackets without looking at all. I can put myself together pretty well and clean up if necessary like today when I dribbled coffee down my cream sweater in my car and promptly wrote all over myself in Tide pen only to arrive shiny clean, if fragrant.

I have no excuse or explanation however for yesterday when I wore my dress backwards all day.