Professional Wardrobe Essentials for Women

You may notice some of the best and most successful people in a variety of industries have their signature “uniform”. Whether it is as specific as the same colour trouser and shirt combo, or a favoured silhouette and colour combo, its noticable time and time again - think of Diane von Furstenberg, Steve Jobs, Diane Sawyer and Jenna Lyons, they all have a signature look that they repeat and pull off each time. The benefits of having a personal style uniform often out way the limitations that come with having one. You are almost always guaranteed to feel comfortable, you know it works with your day to day routine and flatters your shape leaving you feeling confident.  

Most women opt for a personal uniform for the work week, allowing them to cut down the time spent getting ready in the morning and dedicating it to things that really matter. As well as helping them to feel confident and comfortable in what they are wearing, allowing them to focus their attention to the workplace and people around them. It can also be helpful to understanding the tricks and solutions to keep your professional wardrobe clean and wearable after frequent wears back to back, and limiting the cost of having to replace pieces helping you budget your workwear uniform seasonly. Developing and creating a personal work style is quite simple and most women already have one without realizing.

Workwear Uniform Staple: Dresses

Many women will opt for a wardrobe filled with dresses for the work week. The convenience of never having to worry about matching a top to a bottom, and once a dress style has been favoured it can be easy to buy them in a few colours to fill the work week.

Make your dresses multi-seasonal by layering a top underneath sleeveless styles. A short sleeve style is ideal for warmer months, like the Lace Cap Sleeve undershirt, its multifunctional benefits will enhance your personal work style and become your favoured base layer for every month. The Sweat-Secret™ Technology will prevent sweat stains on busy and/ or stressful days, while also helping to keep your dress clean longer to limit the frequency of laundry days and helps extend the wear you will get out of your favourite styles.

Wearing Pant Suits as your work wardrobe 

When choosing a pant suit as your go to professional uniform, you have the option of just about any style and colour you can think of. Some prefer a wide pant with a tailored jacket, others favour a slim peg leg trouser with a long jacket, both professional and appropriate for the office. Choosing a pantsuit that enhances your figure and makes you feel like you can take on the day, no matter what gets thrown at you is the pantsuit you want.

To keep your suits in excellent condition even with frequent wear, consider protecting your blazers by layering. While a cotton blouse can look great under a fitted blazer, it will not protect the jackets fabric from everyday sweat and moisture that comes from your body. To protect your blazers and prevent you making frequent trips to the dry cleaners, wear an undershirt with your outfit. The Signature Seamless undershirt will be the invisible layer that can be worn under your shirts and blouses, or alone under a suit jacket and protect your blazer from sweat stains and prevent the creation and build up of odour.

Layering a cardigan with your work wardrobe

With seasonal chills and office temperatures fluctuating, wearing a cardigan gives you the possibility to put on or take off depending on the temperature. Layering an undershirt as your base layer will protect your cardigans from frequent washing and the risk of shrinking the knits. To keep the feminine style to your cardigan uniform, the Lace Cap Sleeve undershirt is perfect to wear with a long or short cardigan style. It will keep you looking office appropriate even after you remove the cardigan as the lace trim dresses up the t-shirt style and keeps you feeling confident without the worry of sweat stains showing through your cardigan as temperatures fluctuate throughout the day.

Wearing Tailored Shirts and Skirts for your Work Wardrobe 

Shop the look

NUMI - Signature Seamless || Babaton - Piero Blouse || Banana Republic - Sloan Charcoal Trouser || Nordstrom - Aquatalia Polly Pump

Skirts (or trousers) and button downs can become essential components to building your working style and work wardrobe. The workwear staples have a high wearability factor and are interchangeable allowing you countless outfit combinations that are professional. However, many women are discouraged from fitted button ups and blouses due to the promising fact that sweat stains will show through at even the slightest drop of sweat. An easy solution to this, is to layer the Signature Seamless undershirt as a base layer with your button ups. This will prevent sweat stains on your button ups and stop yellow and discoloured underarms from appearing after frequent wear.

You can also run into the problem of having a button up blouse show your bra or the outline of it due to the thin and lightweight fabric. To keep you feeling confident in the office and feeling professional, layering a base layer under the blouse will prevent this from being an issue and allow you to wear and rock your favourite blouse.

Building a professional wardrobe begins with finding the styles and outfits you feel confident and comfortable in.