With a large majority of businesses now adopting a more ‘Business Casual’ style of dressing, Style Doctors has been helping more and more men move away from the traditional business suit.
2019 has been a big year in terms of style in the business world with companies such as Goldman Sachs publicly announcing their new ‘more relaxed’ dress code. Lots of businesses are following suit (pardon the pun) and as stylists, we are seeing a major shift in the corporate world.
But naturally, with anything new comes a set of challenges as many people have adopted a ‘uniform’ of a suit for most of their working careers. Enter Style Doctors…
It’s an exciting time as more and more companies are adopting this business casual style of dressing.
What a lot of companies haven’t quite realised yet is that creating mix and match looks is essentially more difficult and requires more creativity than putting on a suit. If you own a suit, you throw on a shirt and regardless of whether it’s a great fit or not, you adhered to the dress code.
With a business casual approach there is much more room for interpretation and one person’s idea of business casual might be entirely different to another’s. One person might consider business casual as simply as taking off a tie, however someone else might think that a t shirt and blazer is considered smart casual.
As a style consultancy, Style Doctors helps create style guides for companies to help their staff adhere to this new dress code. Having worked with global companies in banking, motor trade and media, Style Doctors is well versed in creating style guides based on a companies needs.
“As there is much more room for interpretation when it comes to business casual, it’s essential that companies have a clear style guide in place to illustrate what the company means by it’s definition of business casual” – Elin Mai, CEO
Without a clear guide in place, most businesses will find that their staff’s definitions of business casual are far too broad and they will not achieve a cohesive look across the company.
Business Casual
A business casual look is comprised of mix and match items such as chinos, pocket square, interesting shoes, belt, pops of colour. There are more components to a business casual outfit however this means that for the same amount of money someone might spend on a single suit, they would traditionally get four mix and match outfits.
A round neck jumper with a smart blazer might work for some companies, however for some a shirt and smarter shoes would still be preferable.
The bonus of having a mix a match wardrobe is the variation it gives you. Unlimited looks with a minimum amount of items.
When done right, the business casual casual dress code allows more creativity and personality to shine. Which in turn, helps people feel more like themselves at work and helps productivity and staff morale. A happy workforce is a stylish and confident workforce!
If your company has recently adopted a new business casual style of dressing, why not book a style session with one of our expert stylist who will demystify the concept and help create multiple looks that make you look and feel great on a daily basis here.
If you are a company and looking to create an internal style guide for your staff, get in touch here.
