How to convey a professional image at work
What is a professional image and why is it so important for the office?
We all have a “work us” and a “home us”. In fact, we each have a few variations of “us” in our wardrobes which is why it gets so mind-boggling. We can afford to experiment and play with our style and outfits at home, but workwear needs to be spot on each and every day to keep our professional image in line with our work roles… even if it is super casual nowadays.
A professional image is the set of qualities and characteristics that represent perceptions of your abilities and nature as recognised by your key colleagues, clients and in particular your superiors.
It is vital that your office style mirrors your amazing capabilities because your work attire is a way of letting the office know who you are without having to speak. It takes people just one-tenth of a second to judge someone and make a first impression, so your work style says everything about you.
How to portray a professional image at work
This is the tricky bit – where on earth do you begin? It’s the rabbit in headlight moment where you need to leave the emotion behind and think logically. This simple technique really helps you to let go of the little voices in your head that tells you “no you can’t wear that” or “people will look at you – what if they don’t like it?!” and think in a positive and practical way – “This will suit my body shape because…” “This top suits my skin tone and the colour will release adrenaline so will be a great top to wear after a poor night's sleep”
When you understand these theories which, I call your style foundations, you feel so much more confident to build your own work looks. My client Kate, who I taught the simple yet instantly effective tip that works for everyone and every outfit - “If in doubt with your outfit, tuck your top in or cinch in your waist with a belt” recently said to me after discovering her style foundations ‘’Smashed it at work today! I feel so good and everyone keeps commenting. Thank you”
What are your style foundations?
Your style foundations will help you to find your office style by creating new habits that allow you to reconnect with yourself. These increase your understanding of your skins undertone and body shape so you can transform your relationship with your work wardrobe.
Start with colour analysis which helps you to discover the very best colours to enhance your complexion and reflect your nature. Anyone can wear any colour, it’s about finding the right tint or shade for you.
When you find the best colour for you, your skin becomes flawless, dark shadows are reduced (goodbye eye bags) and fine lines even out. You can even use the psychology of colour to project how you would like others to perceive you.
Colour psychology is a useful tool for power dressing to get you that interview or promotion at work. When our eyes see the colour blue the hormone oxytocin is released and we get that warm fuzzy huggy good feeling of calm. It is the perfect colour to wear if you are nervous about returning to the office or if you have to give a speech, when others look at you wearing blue, it reflects your trustworthy nature - perfect for winning new business and strengthening work relationships.
Body Shape - Nail how to dress for your figure so that you have one less thing to think about when you deliver that important meeting. Fidgeting or yanking down your top or skirt will immediately ruin any work outfit however gorgeous it may be. Plus, you don’t want to worry about a button popping off at the wrong moment and exposing you!
Our bodies look their finest when they are in proportion. We are in proportion when our shoulders are in line with our hips, have an amazing waist or straight shaped waist and we carry a column shape down to our ankles. The typical body shapes that are in proportion are the hourglass and the athletic.
There are three shapes that need to give the illusion of being in proportion, for example, if you are a pear shape, your shoulders are narrower than your hips. By adding volume to your shoulders with big sleeves and wearing colour and print on your top half, we create a more proportioned body shape, which leaves you feeling more confident.
If your shoulders are wider than your hips, we do the opposite, we wear plain and darker open necklines to add length and we add volume with special details, print and colour on the bottom half of your figure to give the illusion of being in proportion. Understanding this makes choosing work outfits when shopping so much easier because you can rule out pieces that don’t add proportion in the right places.
What are the body shapes for women?
There are five typical body shapes for women. Two in proportion and three that need a little more attention to style. Here’s a link to my free body shape Ebook to find out yours.
Athletic - You are perfectly in proportion! You can have gentle curves and a bust or have the lucky straight look all over. You may crave curves sometimes so I can teach you how to achieve this. But in all honestly – you can wear whatever you fancy.
Hourglass - The hourglass shape is the most desired shape by both men and women – you are blessed with a sexy silhouette. You could be either very neat or full in shape but essentially you have a defined waistline, often with a proportioned bust and bottom to contrast your waist. Your shape excels with great fit and tailoring with movement.
Pear - You will have narrow or slightly sloping shoulders, smaller boobs and an amazing narrow waistline that beats all others out there. You are blessed with curvaceous hips and thighs that ooze femininity. It’s likely that when you buy clothes you buy smaller sizes up top and have a nightmare finding jeans that don’t gape at the waist.
Strawberry - The rarest shape! You have a fuller bust and shoulders with only a little definition between waist and hips. You are narrower around the waistline, hips, bottom and thighs. Creating definition and lifting your bust line whist adding volume to your lower half will help you to feel sensational.
Apple - You have the most DIVINE legs and curvy bust – what a killer combo. You are in proportion (yay) but tend to carry weight around your mid section and don’t have a particularly defined waistline. It’s all about highlighting your bust, hip-line, and legs.
Where to get inspiration and how to develop your professional image
Work outfit inspiration can be tough. You’ve been at work all day and want to switch off so the last thing you want to do is think about office style right? Or you’ve finally put your children to bed and just want to chill out on the sofa… And you certainly don’t want to be traipsing around the busy shops, feeling hangry and panic buying anything and everything just to get it done. So how do you start developing your work style now you know your style foundations?
Research is key here – oh and a change of mindset from your new knowledge of your style foundations will really help with this. Instead of thinking “Argh I hate everything, nothing will suit me” and “I don’t even know where to start looking, I’ll worry about it at the weekend” (then ignore it at the weekend) You now know what suits you and most importantly why it suits you so you can filter out everything that won’t work for your body shape and complexion and you will understand what work looks you want to go for, so it suddenly becomes fun… yes fun!
How do I research?
Grab a vino, curl up with your laptop – the bigger the screen the better so that you can really see the workwear pieces properly and browse on Pinterest. I suggest using search words that describe your shape and style eg hourglass workwear, classic style. Start a ‘Work outfit Inspiration’ board and simply go for it!
After a while you will see a common theme or item, let’s take the classic white shirt for a super easy example - head to your favourite work attire brand, search for the classic white shirt and save the shirts you find online that work with your body shape, and suit your complexion to a shopping board you can make here on Moonsift.
Moonsift is an amazing platform that’s free and lets you keep all of your workwear shopping links in one place (and lets you know if it has gone down in price) rather than 10000 tabs open and accidentally deleting them… ooooh yes, we have all been there.
You’ll now have a few items that you really love and know that they will reflect your professional image at work so you can now buy online or go in-store knowing that they will suit you, fit beautifully, feel amazing and reflect your work style however smart or casual you need to be with workwear.
You can then start to design a capsule work wardrobe. A capsule wardrobe is a small and curated collection of pieces that all harmoniously work together, creating endless variations of looks that can be dressed up or down with no stress involved whatsoever. It’s the crème de la creme of wardrobes - essentially you can pull your hand in, grab anything (even in the pitch black), and know it will work with whatever else you pull out. The ultimate time-saver in the morning too.
What do I do if I’m not ready to take the full leap with developing my professional image at work?
Style is so personal, and everyone takes a different approach to changing it – that’s why it is so hard to start developing it alone. Take it to step by step, day by day and build up the confidence in a way that feels right for you.
If you aren’t ready to develop your professional image at work in one big step, I recommend slowly adding in colour with print or work wear accessories. Keep the base colour to a tone or shade you are used to wearing already so it doesn’t feel like too much of a change (or feel scary) and add a splash of the colour that you want project your image at work with. Then build with accessories, a classic pair of gold or silver hoops depending on which metal is best for your skin tone, or even a statement belt or shoe.
Check out my guide to adding colour into your work wardrobe to build on your professional image at work here.
Don’t forget that it takes people just one-tenth of a second to judge someone and make a first impression, so now that you are aware of the importance of your style foundations, how to research and how to shop, reflecting your professional image at work will become something you enjoy doing rather than feel full of dread about. If you still feel unsure and would like some reassurance, please don’t hesitate to reach out, I'd be delighted to hear from you.
Stylish wishes as always,
Personal Stylist, London – Founder of Styled By Sian