Dressing for work in an American corporation

[CloserToFiftyThanTwenty]

Just that - what is essential to look professional in a US blue chip company? I'm assuming a suit / day dress is standard wear, along with decent shoes and bag. But what about the subtle stuff: manicure / hair / make up / tights?

Any advice much appreciated!

Yeah, useful to reiterate, the people with this very restrictive set of norms about dress etc are a relatively small group of people - corporate law, banking and finance, and esp in NYC - and are very, very well off. And they usually know what they're getting into. But most Americans, even working in corporate settings, aren't dealing with this really rigid set of expectations about dress and self-presentation.

Good luck Closer, and have fun!

I still wonder whether it's really good for any kind of business to have such a narrow interpretation of dressing for success?

I'm not suggesting for a minute that 'boho types' are more creative (the wittiest, most inventive person I know normally wears M&S from head to toe). But the best workplaces I've ever been in were the ones where there was a real mix of talents, personalities and, yes dress sense.

I've never worked in the corporate world so I may be talking bollocks - I'm just curious.

Thanks very

Here would be a nice example of what my office considers acceptable:
Beige, black, taupe, oh look, more black..
www.anntaylor.com/suits/cata000013?trail=&pageSize=101&gridSize=md&catid=cata000013&goToPage=1&viewAll=viewAll&fRequest=true

I'm shocked Hazle, shocked I tell you! Many of the women on that website are flagrantly flaunting their toes! They'd be out on their ear in my office, let alone in New York.

Oh dear. Ann Taylor is so enamoured with all things plain and perfunctory that she doesn't even add the E to the end of her name.

Tsk.

Good luck, Closer :)

I think Ann Taylor is a good retailer that makes good work clothes at a good price. One persons dull is another persons blank canvas! I wouldn't wear a black suit just as shown in the picture, I would accessorise in an interesting. With interesting statement Jewelry ring, bracelet and necklace) a colourful bag (as its Spring, probably a yellow bag) and interesting shoes (where there is something interesting about the colour, the heels or the material).

My friend with naturally curly hair was told her hair was not presentable enough & she must straighten it.
Corporate role in well known US retail company, but not customer facing.

Telling someone with naturally curly hair that they need to straighten it really is going to far. One step away from 'none of your non Caucasian hair thank you'.

Thanks blackcurrants

I work for a west-coast organisation and I don't really recognise what the rest of the thread says. Super casual here, though that is Californians for you.

I agree with squoosh. Telling someone with curly hair to straighten it is very problematical.

They might not phrase it as "straighten it" but instead say that your hair needs to be "tidier."

MrsNucky yes I remember the first time I did business in San Fran and LA. My face was like this---> at the difference to the East Coast, especially New York!

20 years ago when I was working in NYC for a big corporate, I was told no pantsuits, hose always, close toe heels, matched suit preferred, and nobody liked my naturally curly hair at all.

I hope it's loosened up in the intervening years. I am white, I am American, and I've never understood the attitude about black women's hair. I think it's always been outrageous to insist that black women straighten their hair or wear wigs/weaves.

is 'billing 65 hours per week' close to actually working 66h?

In my old world billing 65 hours wasn't the same as working 65 hours. Not every minute is billable and only hours that could be charged to the client counted so you had to strike a balance between efficiency and high work output. It was more like working 80+ hours to make target (100 hour weeks were commonplace - I dreaded it when the pizza menu got distributed as it meant another 2 am finish) Although I am still a lawyer I do not miss dividing my days up in to billable tranches of 6 minutes!

Loving this thread btw. When I worked in the States it was in a blue collar manual job so all jeans, steel toe caps and unflattering t-shirts!

For me billing 65hrs a week is working about 90hrs a week. There is a lot of time you can't bill the client for as much as you would like to.

Its another pet peeve of my industry... We track projects based on internal billing rates. Every year the engagement leader approves a budget that is unattainable and then we bust a gut trying to attain it. To meet goals, and therefore look good, many of my peer group underbill (called eating hours). The problem is that the more my peer group eats hours it forces others to do the same otherwise you get a low rating and could lose your job.

I get very annoyed with Partners who expect me to mindread. Tell me what you want and I will do it and if the work to be completed is articulated well enough I won't have to go back 10 times to ask questions which makes me look bad when the real problem is that the partner can't make up their mind. I have been on far too many engagements that were staffed based on one assignment and that assignment gets changed into something far more complex and the budget isn't updated. I then have to do more work in the same time. Another famous saying 'It should only take you half an hour.' One day I will reply 'Show me how that work takes half an hour.' or 'It takes you half an hour because you are the Partner/Director. It will take me 3-4 hours.'

This does not only pertain to the US.... Its in the UK too. I have had phone calls from the UK audit team when its 3am in the UK. At least those guys don't have to be super polished going in the next day!

I was hoping it would be like bill 65, work 40...
do you sleep at all?

Fascinating thread. It's a glimpse into a world I never knew existed, despite having spent many years in the US. I was in the tech sector though, and on the west coast. Jeans were the norm and makeup was banned, so it really was another world.
A question for those in the know. In my current job the dress code is smart casual, more formal for important meetings. However, there are individuals who ignore the dress code and anything goes. These people tend to be at the top of their game, usually (not always) quite senior, and I guess feel they have nothing to prove. Do similar characters exist is the corporate NY world?

Ah yes, 6 minute increments. And the more senior you are, the lower your billing target. And you can't bill for the time it takes you to do your fucking timesheet.

Rooty Hahaha! We can bill for it but not the client. I HATE doing my time. We are supposed to say what we have done but everyone just puts their client time to 'other'!

Flywheel Of course there are people like that. Trading floor was my fav place in the whole wide world. I sat opposite the CEO's spot and he wore an old tshirt, shorts and sneeks or covered sandals (his wife did a good job of picking ones where his toes didn't show). The guy is worth silly money. Of course if someone important was coming in he would throw a suit on and look perfect.

The days of the trading floor were my fav just because no one gave a shit about what you wore or looked like. It was all about the $$$ you were making for the bank. IB is so much more about the dress because you as an individual don't have $$$ backing your performance up and there are 15 people trying to claim it as theirs. You are also meeting clients a lot!

flywheel make up was actually banned?!

It was a clean room environment, so no makeup for that reason, rather than as a dress code.