Maintaining a personal sense of style at work can help you feel more comfortable and individual among your peers. Regardless of whether you’re sitting in a cubicle or trekking through the mud, it’s critical to feel distinct and represented in any job. It can be tricky to let your personality shine when your wardrobe is restricted to professional regulations or dress codes. Sometimes, you’ll have to get creative to add a personal spin to your work attire. There are ways to personalize any garment or wardrobe with just a little time and effort.
Choose an Accent Color
Sometimes, the simplest way to spruce up any attire, even at work, is to implement more colors. Select more work-friendly garments that vary in color, especially colors you enjoy. While wearing a full bright yellow outfit may not be appropriate for an office, a bold yellow tie, shirt, or skirt as a statement or accent piece can make a huge difference. If you wear a specific uniform or safety gear, you can incorporate colors in more subtle ways, like socks, bracelets, or shoelaces.
Opt for Comfort
You’re in your element when you’re comfortable. Work wardrobes aren’t always the coziest, but do what you can to improve comfort and feel more relaxed when you’re on the job. Instead of a tie that makes you feel strangled, consider a looser bowtie, ascot, jabot, or pocket square. If your work boots are uncomfortable, try different brands, sizes, or insoles. If you don’t feel yourself in a skin-tight pencil skirt, try a more flowing skirt, dress, or pants instead. Even uniforms provide options in these circumstances; choose the most comfortable selection that better represents you.
Make a Statement
You can be bold while staying within your job’s dress code or uniform requirements. Interesting patterns, colors, or shapes can make even the simplest wardrobe look unique. Try a different style of pants, a vividly colored blazer, or a tie with an interesting pattern. You can even vary textures and fabrics to spruce up your wardrobe. Study what makes your wardrobe seem ordinary or plain, and opt to change it. Even if you wear a uniform or safety gear, brands like Armed American Supply can help you make a statement without breaking the rules or causing harm. Choose patterns, colors, textures, or slogans that resonate with you and make you feel unique and represented in the office or on the job site.
Accessorize Well
When you have to dress for work, you may feel like you’re limited in ways to represent yourself. While this is true, there are many ways to spruce up a boring work outfit with accessories. In the fashion world, accessories are pieces you wear that aren’t essential to the core of your wardrobe, like bags, hats, or jewelry. Make sure your accessories don’t interfere with your work’s uniform or safety rules. Choose a stylish piece of jewelry, belt, or scarf that makes you feel unique. Accessories are often small and subtle in size to allow you to get away with bold patterns or colors—use that to your advantage.
Fashionable Footwear
With so many shoe styles, you can use them to allow your personality to shine at work. Choose comfortable footwear that is appropriate and permitted by your job. If you’re restricted to boots or other types of work shoes for safety, you can choose their color, material, and shoelaces to change them up. In the office, you can wear fun loafers, chic boots, or stylish heels for a change of pace. If you’re not a fan of wearing heels, don’t force yourself. You can look good and feel more comfortable in shoes that better represent your needs in both style and function. Consider changing up your footwear to match each outfit you choose, too.
Don’t Forget Your Hair (or Head)
Your hair is another way to make a drab outfit look exciting and fresh. While most workplaces restrict you from certain colors (unnatural options) or styles (mohawks, for example), you can still make bold statements with your hair—or lack thereof. Change up your hairstyle once in a while—curl it, straighten it, or style it up into a ponytail. If you have shorter hair, you can change your part or add styling gel to freshen up your look. You can also add color changes—highlights or lowlights are more subtle, while whole-head color changes offer bold, dramatic transitions. If you’re bald, you may be able to accessorize your wardrobe with a stylish hat if it makes you feel unique.
Consider a Tailor
Clothes bought “off the rack” are made to fit a general majority of bodies, but we all carry different proportions and weight distributions. If you feel like your clothes are never comfortable or fit well, that may be for a good reason. Well-fitting garments can help you look and feel your best, especially on the job. A tailor helps alter clothing to fit your height, weight, and specific proportions. Tailored clothing not only looks incredible, but you’ll feel much better, too.
Conclusion
Depending on your career or industry, it may seem difficult to stand out in the workplace when it comes to fashion. You may not feel like you can express yourself well on the job, which can make you feel insecure. Insecurity in the workplace can negatively affect your performance or career trajectory. There are options available to you for any industry, however. Even if you’re head to toe in safety gear or a pre-selected uniform, you can always accessorize or spruce up the clothing you’re in. Comfort, safety, and style must unite in any workplace to help set you up for success.