Latest news with #officewear
CTV News
04-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- CTV News
Summer workwear that works for you
Winnipeg Watch Leanne Ryan, owner of Must Have Pockets, shares stylish, practical tips to stay cool but office-appropriate this summer.
Daily Mail
02-07-2025
- Lifestyle
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Etiquette expert reveals what NOT to wear the office, plus the best work-appropriate outfits - and whether getting your toes out is allowed
Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission - learn more British people are cranking up their fans in their houses and the AC in their cars to maximum as the UK continues its blistering heatwave. However, while the sunshine may be good for trips to the seaside and catching a tan in the back garden, it poses a problem when it comes to dressing for work. For many women, dressing for summer can be daunting as the high street fills up on holiday essentials such as skimpy bikinis, flip flops, crop tops and denim shorts - all of which would not go down well in the office. The last thing women want to wear are heavy polyester trousers with matching blazers while they step onto crowded public transport in balmy 33-degree weather. Shoes are also another issue. Every year, women working in corporate jobs ask themselves the age-old question of whether it is appropriate to get their toes out. There is a fine line between suitable sandals for work and footwear that is only appropriate for vacations. But how does one dress in an appropriate manner when there is seemingly a lack of options in affordable stores? To avoid getting a HR complaint, MailOnline have put together a list of summer office Do's and Don'ts with help from our etiquette and fashion experts... What NOT to wear World-leading etiquette expert Jo Hayes said that workers can often mistake the summer heatwave for a summer holiday dress code - but says that dressing as though you're off to Glastonbury or the beach for the day won't cut it when you're in the office. She said that casual wear should only be worn on your weekends to the seaside, along with short shorts, flip flops and jelly shoes. 'No bikini tops [should be] visible underneath other layers of clothing. No sarongs, tank tops, spaghetti strap tops or dresses [should be worn],' she told MailOnline. Hayes added: 'No crop tops, no mid-riffs, no cleavage, no mini-skirts. Modesty and professionalism, always.' She said that open-toed shoes can be appropriate, but only in certain circumstances. 'Toes on show are not necessarily a deal breaker in the office. But ensure the toes are clean and well maintained [with] a coloured polish - nothing too wild. 'Ensure the sandals are professional, nothing close to a flip flop. A heel, even if very small, is generally better than a flat sandal for women. Personal stylist Shauna Colaci says that many people often make the mistake of wearing sheer clothes without lining, especially when it comes to white linen trousers. She added: 'Linen is great, but overly creased clothes can cross into scruffy territory if not styled right.' Those climbing the corporate ladder should also not opt for leggings or cycle shorts. Colaci said: 'They be comfy, but they usually read "gym" not "team meeting." 'Tight clothes restrict airflow, show sweat marks faster, and can make you feel self-conscious.' What to wear Hayes says that people often mistake professional workwear as heavy and bulky clothing when in fact the smartest attire can be light and airy. She said: 'Keep layers as light as possible. Choose light, natural, breathable, fibres and materials, over thick, heavy, and synthetic materials - for example, light cottons and linen work wonders in summer.' She said it's also important to make sure that you wear lighter hues instead of black and navy as darker colours attract the heat more. Broderie anglaise cotton blouse £18.99 Shop Pure Cotton Square Neck Crochet Detail Midaxi Tiered Dress £55.00 Shop COLLECTION POLKA DOT MIDI DRESS £49.99 Shop White Linen-blend Bermuda Shorts £69.00 Shop White cotton shirts, floaty maxi skirts and delicate dresses can be styled into your wardrobe for clothes that are work-appropriate but that you can also sport while meeting friends on the weekend. Hayes said that it is important to have loose flowing clothing with short sleeves or sleeveless but said that there should not be any spaghetti straps or excessive cleavage on display. The broderie anglaise cotton blouse from H&M, the cotton crochet dress from M&S and the light blue and white striped shirt from George at Asda all provide airy comfort but also still look chic. She said it is also crucial to have the right jacket that is season-appropriate. She recommends investing in a light linen blazers instead of dragging out winter jackets for windy summer days. She added: 'For ladies - good news. The Capri pant is bang on trend this summer, presenting an in-style, cooler option to the full-length pant. 'But, caveat. No skin-tight, athleisure options here. Think sophisticated, feminine, Audrey Hepburn, circa 1950s. 'Linen or cotton are excellent options. Pair with a light blouse, and / or light linen blazer for a sophisticated, professional look.' & Other Stories offers a good array of smart, crisp linen blazer that will keep you cooler than cheaper polyester options. Stylist Lisa Talbot says that even though it may be 28-degrees outside, offices often love to crank up the AC, meaning you can spend eight hours a day wearing structured blazers or lightweight knits without breaking a sweat. She said: 'Summer work style isn't about baring more, it's about wearing smarter. By choosing light fabrics, soft tailoring, and clever layers, you can look put-together and professional without melting before your morning meeting. Fitted Linen Blazer £177.00 Shop Light Blue Striped Poplin Popover Oversized Shirt £14.00 Shop Linen Blend Wide Leg Trousers £27.50 Shop Black Crinkle Frill Boho Puff Sleeve Mini Dress £14.00 Shop Classic Capri Trousers £98.00 Shop Black Gingham Capri Trousers £69.00 Shop Black Gingham Print Embroidered Frill Sleeve Tiered Midi Dress £35.99 If you want a more practical piece of clothing that will keep you cool, Hayes recommends city shorts. The garment is similar to tailored suit trousers and are a plausible option for men and women, unless your workplace have a strict suit-only policy. Nobody's Child has a stylish pair of white Bermuda shorts made from natural materials - 55 per cent linen and 45 per cent organic cotton - and for men, M&S and Moss Bros provide good options. To maintain a level of professionalism, Hayes said: 'Ensure they're tailored, and cut to the knee, or just slightly above.' For those who want an option that is in-between city shorts and trousers, Capri pants may be worth looking into. They usually come just below the knee, fit like a tailored trouser and are versatile enough to be styled with many different shirts, blouses and tops. The White Company have slightly stretchy black Capri pants, made of mainly organic cotton and elastane - a wardrobe basic - but if you want to mix things up, Nobody's Child has a monochrome gingham option. Gingham print has also been sweeping across many clothing stores, with New Look offering a good all-rounder midi dress perfect for picnics and strolls in the park on a hot day. ASOS DESIGN cotton shirred blouse in buttermilk £26.00 Shop Daisy Street x Molly Mcfarlane boho maxi tiered skirt in buttermilk £36.00 Shop Tailored V-Neck Waistcoat £65.00 Shop Julissa Jumpsuit £139.00 Shop Butter yellow is currently one of the hottest colours and has been seen on an array of celebrities and royals since spring. Daisy Street on ASOS has a good all-rounder boho-chic pale yellow maxi skirt that, along with a £26 long-sleeved shirred buttermilk blouse, a decent price for 100 per cent lightweight cotton. Jumpsuits are another way to effectively combine office wear with a summer wardrobe, without compromising on style. Hot pink is another hue that has been seen at high society events such as Ascot, and it will certainly make you stand out in your neutral office. Phase Eight and French Connection are two stores that have an array of bright raspberry-coloured clothing on offer. Leather ballet flats £44.99 Shop Leather Chain Detail Flat Loafers £259.00 Shop Chisel-toe slingback court shoes £37.99 Shop For shoes, Hayes said women should opt for enclosed ballet pumps, court shoes or Mary Janes as they provide a smart option without having to struggle with heels in the heat. Slingback heels also open up your feet more to help them breathe in the heat, without showing any toes. She said: 'For men, you may have fewer options than women, but, if your workplace standards allow, you may be able to ditch the heavy socks and brogues, and go for a cooler, leather deck shoe, with thin invisible socks. 'Or, if you're style-savvy and can pull off the smart leather sandal, there are some professional-standard men's leather standards that could [work] when paired with a professional city short, or long chino turned up at the ankle.'
BBC News
21-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Wearing shorts still a 'grey area' as offices scrap dress codes
When I call Tony Hardy, it's a sunny day. As he often does during the summer months, he's wearing a pair of shorts in the office."We wear shorts all the time," he runs a branding agency in Northumberland, with nine employees. His company, Canny Creative, doesn't have a dress code. Instead he encourages staff to dress professionally but comfortably - especially because the air conditioning in their office has recently broken."Imagine sweating buckets all day and being really uncomfortable and then expecting them to also turn out great work," Tony says. What the stylists say With summer upon us, and much of Britain set to be basking in a heatwave this week and next, keeping cool in the office and during the commute can be a challenge. Take one look at TikTok, and you'll see that the topic of whether or not shorts are ever appropriate for the office remains highly in a 2022 YouGov poll, 66% of Britons said that it was acceptable for men to wear shorts in the office, up from 37% in 2016 - though the 2022 poll was conducted on the UK's hottest-ever people wear to the office has "just gone so casual" in the past few years, with more people wearing jeans and trainers to work, says personal stylist Karina Taylor. She attributes that largely to the Covid pandemic, when people could dress much more casually to work from included people wearing shorts as they worked from their kitchens or home offices, says Carmen Bellot, style editor at Esquire magazine - they no longer had to think about the bottom half of their outfits while on video-call wearing shorts to the office is still "very much a grey area", Karina says, describing them as "the ultimate casual piece of clothing". Stylists agree that whether or not you can wear shorts to the office is overwhelmingly based on context - and they're often too casual for client-facing roles such as law and professionals advise that if your company has no explicit dress code, you should monitor what your colleagues are wearing and decide whether shorts would look out of "you may be pushing the boundaries," warns Nick Hems, a personal stylist in London. What the companies say The BBC contacted a range of companies to ask if they had a formal dress code and whether shorts would be acceptable to wear to the office, if styled professionally. Many companies, including consultancy Accenture and British American Tobacco, told the BBC they don't have explicit dress codes but expect staff to dress both comfortably and professionally, and to take extra care to dress appropriately when meeting clients or attending giant PwC says it trusts staff to make "appropriate decisions" about what to wear to work. "We don't list items that people can and can't wear," a spokesperson said. Santander says both casual and business dress is acceptable for staff who aren't required to wear a uniform, but noted "anything that could be beachwear isn't okay for the office". The type of shorts So if your company does allow you to wear shorts to the office, what sort of shorts should you go for?There's a clear consensus among the experts: keep it formal - ideally tailored - and don't go too short. Beach, sports, cargo and denim shorts are generally all this isn't the case for all companies. At social media marketing agency We Are Social, some employees have even worn hot pants to work, according to managing director, Lucy Doubleday."You can wear what you want," she says, with the company seeing clothing as an expression of a similar story for CEO Tony and his team, who even wear shorts to client meetings, including when they visited London to meet staff at a major bank's headquarters in Canary Wharf."We did get really strange looks," Tony says. "Everybody there was in suits and it was boiling hot. But we're a creative agency and we went as we would go to our regular meetings." He argues that if another company has a problem with how his staff dress, they probably aren't the right fit to work together. What's right for you? Shorts might be perceived differently on men and women, stylists suggest. Carmen says that even outside the office, shorts can be "quite divisive among men," she says."When I speak to men about their opinions on shorts, they tend to say that they don't feel comfortable wearing them when not on holiday," Carmen says. "I don't think there's this type of sentiment in womenswear." Some men embrace the opportunity to get out of long trousers, though - including 46-year-old primary school headteacher, Dave McPartlin. At his school in Lancashire he spends most of the final weeks of term before the summer holidays wearing thinks it's "ridiculous" people are still discussing whether it's appropriate to wear shorts for work - and the students don't treat him any differently based on what he wears, he says. "I don't think they could care less."Diane Brander wears shorts to work sometimes, too. She says her performance in her account administration job "would probably suffer" if she was too hot in the office and unable to wear shorts, and says she finds them more comfortable than skirts and dresses. So what should you do? Karina's best advice is to only wear shorts to work if you're confident about your company's dress code and how to style them. "If in doubt, probably avoid," Karina says, "because it will cause you far too much stress to get the look right and you maybe won't feel confident about pulling it off."
Daily Mail
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The one small clothing tweak that could entirely change the way people treat you
If someone decides to 'make more of an effort' with their clothes when they go to work, they will likely experience an 'overwhelming' and advantageous difference in the way others treat them, according to a style influencer. UK TikToker Ryan Barton, whose videos help viewers look refined without spending a fortune, published a clip in which he explained exactly why a polished appearance can control other 'people's behaviours'. Ryan, who works in an office where jeans and gymwear are acceptable and typical, told how he swapped casual clothing for 'shirts, tailored trousers [and] loafers - and that 'the difference it made was overwhelming'. The youthful influencer, who was 51,000 followers on TikTok, said: 'Nothing else changed. I still had the same desk, I still had the same job'. But, having embraced a more formal look, Ryan noticed that others started to treat him better. He added: 'People started to say "Hello" when they'd never said "Hello" before. I started to get asked for my input in meetings when I'd never been asked before.' Yet, the 'subtle' but 'noticeable' change that Ryan experienced was not a fluke. Rather, it has been observed by psychologists and even has a name: The Halo Effect. Ryan explained: 'When you look put together, people assume you're more confident, maybe even smarter, before you've even said a word. @ryanjbarton Dressing well isn't just about looking good, it literally changes how people treat you. Here's why your outfit speaks before you do, and what psychology has to do with style, confidence, and first impressions. #mensfashion #mensstyle #mensstyle #menswear #classicmenswear #officeoutfit ♬ original sound - Ryan Barton 'So, by being intentional with the way that you dress, you kind of trick people into thinking that you're a more capable and should be more respected.' But what someone decides to wear doesn't just influence how others perceive and treat them - it also affects their own behaviour. Ryan added: 'There's also something that's called "Enclothed Cognition". That's when what you wear starts to influence how you behave. 'So, the better that you dress, the more assured that you become - and the more that people will naturally reflect that energy back to you.' The influencer summed this up by saying that if you 'dress sharply, then the world will adjust its tone towards you.' He also acknowledged that the way someone dresses is more important than what they say when it comes to earning the respect of others. He concluded: 'If you feel like you're not getting the respect or the recognition that you want within your workplace then try out this trick'. Ryan's video received an amazing 241,500 views in a matter of two days and amassed more than 14,000 comments. Fellow TikTok users were quick to comment on Ryan's video - but not everyone agreed it's worth dressing up for work Many TikTok users were convinced by the influencer's theory - but some were sceptical. One person wrote: 'The older I get, the more I realise dressing well is important. It's about [the] self-discipline [required] to maintain the upkeep every single day'. A second agreed: 'Facts. Dress how you wish to be addressed.' Another shared their experience of 'enclothed cognition', adding: 'I wear a suit working from home, to be honest for same reason. [It] looks smart on meetings and my dog treats me differently'. A fourth person said: 'Gymwear should never be worn in the office, ever.' But a fifth explained that their approach was slightly different. They commented: 'White Ralph Lauren shirt plus Under Armour shorts for Zoom meetings'. Under Armour is a popular gymwear brand. A sixth person, however, shared an entirely different approach: 'I use the Halo Effect for the reverse - going totally casual. It's lovely and peaceful'. While a seventh pointed out: 'I've found from working in corporate for 15 years that the more you earn, the less fancy you dress'. Someone else expressed a more controversial opinion, writing: 'A perfect suit signals narcissism.'
Vogue
19-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- Vogue
Addressed: How to Dress When It's Hot Outside and Freezing in Your Office
Welcome to Addressed, a weekly column where we, ahem, address the joys (and tribulations!) of getting dressed. So far we've unpacked how to wear shorts at the office and beyond, how to pack a carry-on bag for a work trip, how to dress with style in your third trimester, and even how to layer without looking like that chair in your room (you know the one). Download the Vogue app and find our Style Advice section to submit your question. In the past few weeks, multiple coworkers have sent me the same message on Slack. 'Hey, I have a question for Addressed: How do I dress for the office when it's really hot outside and very cold inside?' With the weather forecast in New York pointing to a heat wave—temps may reach 103 degrees (that's 39 degrees for our Celsius friends)—now feels like the right time to figure out what to do about the ultra-humid muggy days to come. You know, the ones when you can feel your sweat-soaked T-shirt (sorry) turn into an icicle after 10 minutes of sitting at your computer. There are a couple ways to get around this, depending on the severity of the heat and the humidity (it's always the humidity!) outside. First: If you have a desk at your office, you should always keep a sweater on hand (or a jacket if you want something more formal) that you can drape over your shoulders or wear across your lap as a blanket when you start getting chilly. You could, of course, carry a sweater in your bag everyday, but I tend to find that when it's really hot, toting a lot of things—whether they're heavy or not—only makes you feel hotter. Second: Consider wearing a base layer. Yes, even in July or August, when the whole city feels like a brick-oven pizzeria, there is layering to be done. A foundational piece will (again, I'm sorry) absorb your perspiration so you don't find yourself holding on to the pole on a downtown 1 train, a bead of sweat trailing down your calf, past your ankle, and into your shoe (it happened to me). I'll usually wear a Hanes tank top (I buy a pack of them in a youth XL so that they're tight-fitting and not too long), but I imagine that Uniqlo's Airism tanks would be an even better solution. I recently discovered that they also make Airism biker shorts. I guess technically they're 'shapers,' but they look light enough to wear underneath skirts and dresses, especially if your thighs chafe in the summer. (My chafe hack is to rub deodorant on my thighs. I learned this in an old issue of Jane magazine where exotic dancers offered beauty advice, and they said deodorant helped them avoid ingrown hairs. The more you know!) When things really get too hot to handle, we can look to 1980s working girls for inspiration. Tess McGill, if you'll recall, wore white sneakers and scrunchy socks and swapped them for pumps once she stepped off the Staten Island Ferry. The 2025 equivalent could be as simple as wearing a T-shirt or a tank top to and from work, and switching to a blouse; or wearing some nu-metal shorts and swapping them for a slinky silk skirt when you get into the office (a great way to avoid sweat stains, etc.). Now, I know this goes against my first rule of 'carrying unnecessary stuff,' but when it gets really steamy, you do what you have to do. When all else fails, buy one of those chic little battery-operated fans and remember how miserable you were in the middle of February when the snow days seemed like they were never going to end (and it was too hot in your office, to boot).
