SUIT UP

LAWS OF DRESSING

1. You don’t have to spend a lot on clothes to look like you’ve spent a lot.
2. Dark color will always look more authoritative.
3. Classics are classics for a reason.
4. Dressing appropriately is like having good manners.
5. A tie should always be tied and in place, not worn half mast.
6. Nobody sees the label.
7. Quality is more important than quantity.
8. When in doubt, wear navy.
9. Or gray.
10. Clothes don’t make the man. (Though they can fake the man.)

TIPS OF SMART SHOPPING
1. Dress appropriately for the stores you will be shopping in.
2. Wear a white dress shirt, dress socks, and the shoes you would wear for the outfit.
3. Always try things on.
4. Always look in the mirror (preferably a there-way mirror)
5. If it doesn't look good in the store, it won’t look good at home.
6. There’s nothing with the lights in the store.
7. When something is on sale, don’t buy it unless you would have bought it at full price .
8. Something that’s a little big can be tailored to fit. Something that’s tight will only get tighter.
9. Shoes don’t stretch.
10. The salesperson is supposed to tell you it looks great on you.

DEADLY SINS
1. Jackets that are too tight in the shoulders, snug in the waist, and won’t button make you look like a trussed turkey.
2. Wear socks to the office, unless you work at the beach.
3. Just because it looked good on you ten years ago, doesn’t mean it still does (refer back to deadly sin one).
4. Until you see the animals lining up in twos, don’t have your pants tailored too short. They should have a break. Don’t let your jacket be too short (your bottom line should never be visible).
5. Belt are to hold up your pants not some sort of technology tool holder. Pagers, phones and other digital elements belong in jacket pockets.

6. Pants that are too baggy look silly and pants that are too tight just look uncomfortable.
7. Wearing suspenders and a belt is redundant…and redundant.
8. You will look like a squeezed tube of toothpaste if your shirt is too tight in the collar.
9. Hoods on overcoats.
10. If you have to ask if it goes together, it probably doesn’t.

Strategic Dressing

-Learning to Read the Landscape

WHO LOOKS PROFESSIONAL AND WHAT ARE THEY WEARING?
One of the basic rules of office attire is: Dress for the job you want to have, not the job you have. So look around. Who has that job now? And how does he dress for that job? Now, who does he work for? And so no. Every office or corporation has a dress code. Learning to read yours properly is a major step toward getting ahead.

ALL DRESSED UP AND SOMEWHERE TO GO
Once you have cracked the office dress code, you have to consider what to wear for different professional occasions and situations. What may be appropriate for a morning meeting might not work for a business lunch or for a presentation. Begin by asking yourself what message you want to send and then find the appropriate clothes in your closet. Here a few different scenarios:

Leading a meeting. Obviously what you’re after here is authority, and nothing says authority like a suit. (After all, there’s reason why when people refer to management they call them “suits”) Since, in many offices, men remove their jackets while working, pay attention to the shirt you’re wearing: Make sure it’s crisp and clean.

Giving a presentation. When giving a presentation, you clearly want to have authority and draw attention to yourself. The key here is not to draw so much attention that you take away from the presentation. 
Once again, a suit is called for with a shirt and tie. And here is how you draw attention to yourself: With the tie. Without being too presentations or visually distracting, the shirt-and-tie combination should reflect power. Perhaps a shirt with French cuffs and a woven tie?

Client lunch. It is, of course, most important to come across as professional, but you must also be able to read the culture of the culture of the person (or people) you are meeting. Do they wear suits? Sport jacket? What about ties? The goal here is to be yourself but, at the client by dressing more formally than they do; rather, show them the proper respect by dressing up more than you normally do if their corporate culture is more formal than yours.

Job review. This is just like a job interview so look your best. If you normally wear a suit to office, do so now. If you don’t usually wear one, doing so will only make you look stiff and feel uncomfortable. In that case, you should still dress up: Wear a sport jacket and tie. Show that you care, but don’t look at thought you’re trying too hard.

Boss wants to have lunch. First of all, relax. It’s only good. If you wear in trouble, you would go to boss, the boss, the boss wouldn’t come to you. That said, look sharp. Yes, it’s a social to show you’re personally. In other words, wear a tie that the boss might admire. Or a unique pair of cuff links that might spark a conversation.