Even though a lot of people might disagree with this sentence, you should know that appearance does matter, especially in the workplace. It’s not as important as our performance at work, but people do tend to judge us based on how we look. You should try to get noticed at work based on your work performance and not on your appearance, so don’t be that girl who shows too much cleavage or whose skirts are too short or who looks like she rolled out of the hamper. A lot of professional women are often guilty of different fashion faux pas without realizing it, so be careful because this can lead to being passed over for a job or promotion. Here are 7 worst things to wear in the workplace that you should consider:
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1. Don’t Wear Dirty or Wrinkled Clothing
When you go to work, make sure that your clothes always look well put together. Try to avoid wearing stained items because your work clothes should always be clean and unwrinkled. Your hair and nails should be nice and clean and always wear shoes that are in good condition.
2. Don’t Wear Revealing Clothes
Things like midriff-revealing crop tops, mini skirts, plunging necklines or way too unbuttoned shirts should not belong in the workplace. If you choose to wear revealing attire, people might think that you are unprofessional and even if that’s not true, it’s very hard to change people’s perceptions.
3. Don’t Wear Clothing That is Too Casual
If you don’t like business suits and dressing up for work every day is a real pain to you, then choose a job where casual attire is allowed. Yet, you should still ask yourself, how casual is too casual? Sometimes ripped clothing, while trendy, is not allowed in the workplace and neither are flip flops.
4. Don’t Wear T-Shirts with Offensive Messages
If you can wear t-shirts to work, make sure that you don’t wear one with a message that can be interpreted as being offensive. If you have a shirt that has a message, either depicted graphically or in words, that can offend or insult people, try to avoid wearing it, not only to work, but in general too.
5. Don’t Wear Clothes That Are Too Flashy
If you can go to a club wearing your work clothes, then maybe you should think twice before wearing those clothes to work again. Try to save your glitzy finery for social events because otherwise, you may seem unprofessional and in the long term, this can affect your career.
6. Don’t Wear Too Much Perfume
When you go to work, make sure that you go light on the perfume. There are some people who are very sensitive to fragrance, so if you wear too much perfume, you might cause them discomfort.
7. Don’t Dress Too Sexy
A lot of studies have shown that dressing too sexy can have psychological effects on your peers. A study published in Psychology of Women Quarterly showed that women in high-level positions who dress in what is seen as sexy attire are perceived as less competent regardless of their skill sets and that “these women are passed out for promotions more often than their more modestly dressed female colleagues.”
Most of the time, you don’t need to read the company manual to figure out what is and what isn’t appropriate to wear to work. Just look around the office and see what everybody is wearing. Do you know any other inappropriate things to wear in the workplace? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section!
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