As a woman in the workplace, you’ll want to present yourself as confident and powerful without standing out too much. Just because you work in a corporate office and want to look professional, it doesn’t mean you have to drop your style.

When you dress professionally, it’s easy to think that you’re unable to add your personality to what you wear. The truth is, it’s easy to add a splash of style to your work wardrobe without overdoing it. Here are a few tips that will allow you to be you.

Create Balance

When you start to build your work wardrobe, think about balance. One of the best tips to remember when it comes to dressing for work is to dress for the job you want, not the job you have. In order to do that, you need to show who you are and what you’re capable of.

For example, if you like to wear a lot of color usually, there’s nothing stopping you. Try to balance out bright colors with muted colors. If you wear a pink office dress to work, balance it with a black blazer. If you enjoy wearing bright lipsticks, make sure the rest of your makeup is fairly natural.

Quality Over Quantity

Although it’s great to have a choice of clothing to wear to work, buying cheap isn’t the way to go. You know what they say- buy cheap, buy twice. Find a few quality items that you can match with other office wear on a regular basis.

Your bank account may not like it but just think about the amount of time you spend wearing work clothes. Choosing quality items will say a lot about your personality and style in the workplace. 

Stick to Closed-Toe Shoes

Many workplaces may have their own take on whether heels or flats should be worn in the workplace. The truth is, the decision is entirely up to you. You may like to wear heels because they look better with your outfits. You may want to wear flats because you walk a lot throughout the day.

The only shoe you should avoid in the workplace is open-toe shoes. There’s something about open-toe shoes that can be off-putting in the workplace. Save your sandals for the beach and choose a different style to express yourself.

Keep Your Modesty

When considering what to add to your workwear collection, modesty should be at the forefront of your thinking. Unfortunately, it’s easy for women to accidentally purchase something that shows cleavage or something that may be a little see-through. 

Always try on outfits before purchasing them so you can see how they fall on your body. It’s also a good idea to have a mixture of jackets or sweaters that you can take with you to work in the event of a fashion emergency.

Keep Makeup Simple

Makeup is a wonderful thing and many women enjoy experimenting with different shades and products. However, the workplace isn’t really the place to try out your new glittering blush eye shadow. If you want to make a statement, your lips are the place to do it.

Keep your makeup simple and choose a lipstick shade that will make your personality shine. Some women even match their business cards to their favorite lipstick shade as a way of linking themselves to their brand. You can even find matching business card holders.

Choose Your Accessories Wisely

It’s great to accessorize any outfit, including your workwear. However, there is such a thing as going overboard. Too many accessories and you risk looking tacky. Adding just one statement piece to your outfit can be enough for the workplace.

For example, a quality handbag or satchel. Instead of piling on the jewelry, choose one classy piece at a time. Perhaps a set of pearl earrings one day and simple gold chain the next. Avoid wearing big costume jewelry or anything that looks out of place with your outfit.

What’s on the Agenda?

The style you choose to wear each day should depend on what’s in your schedule. For instance, you may wear something completely different to a meeting with colleagues than you do to meet with a competitor.

You may choose to wear a black skirt suit while meeting with your colleagues so you all have an equal stance. Whereas you may choose to wear a red dress for a meeting with competitors so you feel confident and independent. Planning your style in advance can make all the difference to your day.

Forget Fashion Forward

Unless you work in the fashion industry, there’s no need to dress like you’re on the runway every day. Even if you enjoy exploring the latest fashion trends outside of work, wearing them in the office can be too eye-catching. You don’t want to catch people’s attention for the wrong reasons.

Keep professionalism in mind when considering your work wardrobe, first and foremost. When you want to move up the career ladder, you need to outshine your clothes, not the other way around.

Keep Your Eyes Open

If you’re finding it difficult to create a balance that you like in your work wear, keep your eyes open. There will be other people in the office that you can take ideas from each day. When you really want to know how it’s done, look at how your executives dress.

You may not be required to dress to the same standard as your executives but that should be the standard you strive for. For example, you may have dress-down Fridays at work but that doesn’t mean you should forget about dressing to impress.

Always Dress Professionally

Ask yourself this question: how do you want to be viewed in the workplace? If you want to be taken seriously then you need to dress professionally while giving small hints of your style and personality too.

Take a look at some more fashion tips that will help you no matter where your day takes you.