The Guide to Dressing Professionally

A lot can be said about dressing professionally. For Kayla and I, dressing professionally is a creative pursuit and almost required for our professions. Because of this, we have a breakdown of dressing professionally for you all. Whether you are a law school student, lawyer, med school student, doctor, any other profession that requires dressing professionally, or just love dressing up for yourself, this is for you.

First, let’s define some terms:

Business professional: for females, this essentially means you need a suit jacket. In a formal setting (think interview) business professional means either: (1) you need a matching suit and light colored blouse or (2) a suit jacket and basic, appropriate, single-colored dress. Business professional sometimes allows for mixing and matching the color of a suit jacket and pants but it just depends on the office. Kayla’s med school required business professional, although she would add that they are pretty lax about enforcing this to its full extent.
Business casual: this is basically business professional minus the suit jacket. This means nice pants (AKA slacks) and a blouse that has some form of sleeves. It could also be a nice, appropriate dress. At Kim’s law school, most people wear business casual.
Casual: in a professional setting, this is usually a shirt/blouse and jeans. If you have “casual Friday” do not show up in sweats unless you are sure it is okay.

Next, thoughts on some specific types of clothing:

Jewelry: our favorite approach for jewelry is the “two out of three rule.” This means you can have two types of jewelry. For example, if you are wearing earrings and a necklace, skip the bracelet.
Shoes: in a business setting, there are certain shoes that are appropriate. Namely, loafers, flats, and heels. Please please please no open toe shoes.
Makeup: be tasteful and not too goddy. This means be careful about colorful eyeshadow and lips. I’m not saying don’t do it, but just make sure it is balanced and not too distracting. Kayla loves to spice up her black and white business outfits with a pop of a warm pink or dusty orange on her eyelids.
Colors: traditionally, business colors were navy, white, black, and gray. Now other colors are often allowed (like tan, burgundy, olive and plum). You can spice it up with some pops of color (just like Elle Woods) but try to refrain from too many colors together.

What are the staples that you need?

Shoes: a couple pairs of neutral flats/loafers (black, navy, brown and gray) as well as a few heels (I would say at least one black pair and one “fun” pair) and please remember to prioritize style AND comfort, your feet will thank you later.
Blazers: a few different neutral and pattern blazers are great
Suits: these are more important than I would have expected because you need a few for jobs and interviews; try to get at least 2 matching suits (probably in black, gray and/or navy if you only want the minimal amount)
Blouses: a number of simple blouses that can be plugged into a number of outfits
Sweater: a few nice sweaters (I usually go for a turtleneck) are great if you live in a cold place (like both us twins do)
Pants/skirts: some pants/skirts to mix and match are needed
remember that clothes can be fun and a form of art, so stay true to you and express yourself!

Now, the fun part, some examples: