5 Ways to Dress to Impress at Work

Style is a lost art for far too many people. Instead of trying to dress their best at work, they go in the other direction and choose the most casual option that the company will allow. This may not seem like a big deal, but there are several important benefits to dressing well.

When you’re well-dressed, you present a professional image. Not only does this make you feel better about yourself, but it also makes your colleagues and supervisors respect you more, which could result in you getting more responsibilities and a better position.

Dressing well doesn’t need to be difficult. Here are five ways you can impress the people you work with every day.

Find the Perfect Fit

Fit is by far the most important aspect of your clothes. High-quality clothes are great, but a $200 suit that fits perfectly will still look worlds better than a $2,000 suit that doesn’t fit your body.

The best way to get clothes that fit perfectly is to find a tailor. There are many that now offer bespoke clothing, which is clothing custom made to your measurements, and if you look around you can find some affordable options. Even if you don’t go the custom route, you can have your tailor adjust the clothes you buy to improve the fit.

Wear Clothes That Match Your Company’s Culture

Even though you’re dressing to impress, you don’t want to overdo it to the point where you look out of place. If the rest of your coworkers wear t-shirts and jeans and you stroll in wearing a suit, people won’t be impressed, they’ll be wondering why you’ve dressed this way.

The good news is that most companies are flexible regarding their dress codes, and you’ll be fine if you stick to the upper edges of the formality range. In the aforementioned example, you could opt for a long-sleeve button-up shirt with a nice pair of dark jeans to look good while still fitting in.

Pay Attention to the Little Things

Just like great clothes will look terrible if they don’t fit well, they’ll look just as bad if you’re wearing them while they’re dirty or wrinkled. Focus on keeping your clothing neat and in great shape whenever you wear it. Iron your clothes when they get wrinkled and tuck your shirt in to give your outfit a classy touch.

Choose the Right Dress Shoes

The shoes you wear can make or break your outfit. When you wear a high-quality pair of shoes, you’ll look that much more elegant. If you wear a cheap pair of synthetic leather shoes with square toes, it could ruin your look.

Good dress shoes can be expensive, but if you take care of them, they can last you for years and even decades. It’s better to invest in one pair of dress shoes that you love now instead of buying a mediocre pair to save money, and then needing to replace them in a year.

Go with brown or black shoes in a style that you like which also fits the level of formality you need. Brown shoes are preferable because they’re more exciting than black and go with more shades of clothing.

Make Sure You’re Well Groomed

With all the effort you’re putting into how you dress, don’t ruin it with sloppy grooming. If you have facial hair, keep it trimmed and tidy. Wash your hair and comb or style it – even though the bedhead hairstyle is in, you still need to put in some effort to get your hair that way. Take care of your skin and try anti-aging cream if you’re dealing with any dark circles under your eyes.

When you first start working on improving how you dress, it can take some time to get the right pieces for your wardrobe. But once you’ve found some articles of clothing that fit perfectly and look great on you, dressing well will be second nature, and you’ll feel much more confident every time you walk out your front door.

Adam Richards

About Adam Richards

Adam Richards is a semi-retired business professional originally from Bangor, Maine. He spent the majority of his career in sales and marketing where he rose to the marketing lead of a Fortune 1000 company. He then moved on to helping people as a career counselor that specifically helped bring families to self-sufficiency through finding them rewarding careers. He has now returned to Bangor for his retirement and spends his free time writing. This blog will be about everything he learned throughout his career. He'll write on career, workplace, education and technology issues as well as on trends, changes, and advice for the Maine job market and its employers.