Style Guide: 1 Work Week of Business Casual Office Wear
Business Casual, Business Professional, Casual, Formal? What do these words even mean and who on earth made these descriptions SO vague?
I was told the dress code was “Business Casual” for my first day at my post-grad job. Honestly, I wasn’t really sure what that meant. I threw on a pair of black dress pants, a printed blouse, some booties, and headed out the door.
“By the way, you can start wearing jeans”, my boss told me by lunchtime. A dress code can mean so many different things and it really is all relative to what your coworkers are wearing. My office is fairly casual… comfort is key when you stand in a lab all day.
For all of you working in a business casual environment, I thought it would be fun to share what my workweek of business casual outfits looks like. I currently work in a “COVID-19 critical” lab so I am in my work building every single workday. Even if you are working from home, it never hurts to dress up and feel professional and productive.
My appearance is something I certainly did not put much effort into during quarantine (I’m sure basically every one of you can relate). Looking back, it left me feeling a little down in the dumps! It has been a nice change to get ready for work during the week. I feel so much more put together and .. alive?! Is that dramatic? Quarantine was a weird time man.
Style is such a great opportunity for self-expression. It is something I have found a lot of joy and identity in during this sort of “lost” phase of post-grad life.
I hope this post is fun for you to read and gives you some clothing inspiration for your next workweek. I will link any items that are still for sale! Here is what a week of work outfits looks like for me...
Oh and a week of this amazon box not being unpacked (moving problems) and Remi being completely incapable of leaving my side every morning...
Monday
A cardigan, *cue Taylor Swift’s Folklore album*, is an absolute necessity in my work outfits. I get so cold at work, so I make sure to pack a cardigan or jacket every single day.
Cardigan- American Eagle.
Black Long Sleeve- Free People. My favorite for layering in the Fall and Winter! A similar long sleeve is linked here.
Pants- LOFT. Linked here. I got these on the best sale ever... check out their website for some amazing deals.
Shoes- Target. Linked here.
Tuesday
Got a cute button-down but need to mix it up? Add a sweater over the top. So simple, so professional, so comfortable.
Sweater- Free People.
Button-Down- Zara. Anyone else out there fully willing to die for Zara blouses? Too much, too far?
Pants- Target. Linked here. These pants go with truly everything.
Shoes- Target. Linked here.
Wednesday
Crown me queen of the blouses, please. I have been collecting blouses for so many years, they are one of my favorite clothing items. You can dress them up or down so easily. This one from Express is one of my all time favorite blouses.
Blouse- Express.
Jeans- Express (Got them on sale a year ago for $19 woohoo!). Linked here. These are my most comfortable pair of jeans I own. I love the wide leg. I bought them full length and cropped them myself so they wouldn't drown me.
Cardigan- Cotton On. Similar cardigan linked here.
Boots- Target. Linked here. Bought these from Target before my freshman year of college and never looked back. My friends will laugh when they see this because these boots are actually a part of my personal identity. I wear them with anything and everything (makes sense that I would now wear them to work).
Thursday
Layers. Give me all of the layers.
Black Long Sleeve- Free People. Same one from Monday.
Sweater- Forever 21 circa 2016.
Jeans- Express. Linked here. Same jeans from Wednesday (do you think my co-workers will notice I only wear one pair of jeans?)
Boots- Target. Linked here. Target rain boots. Duh.
Friday
A sweater with dress pants is quite possibly the most comfortable business casual outfit in the world. Plus… you guessed it... Target rain boots.
Sweater- Target. Big supporter of Target clothing.
Pants- LOFT. Same pants from Monday.
Boots- Target. Linked here.
And that is a full week of living the business casual post-grad life 🙂 . I hope you enjoyed this post.
It has been a hot minute since I published a Style post and I am really glad I did. I put a lot of pressure on myself sometimes to put super “meaningful” content on the internet and sometimes fashion doesn't feel up to par. But clothing has always been and continues to be such a fun interest and creative outlet in my life.
When the world gets a little heavy, it's nice to have fun and light content to interact with.
I hope you all have an awesomely relaxing and re-energizing weekend. Good luck styling your next work week.
Talk soon friends,