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!

Ha ha team building. Cross the room without touching the floor, using three straws and a bag of marshmallows.

Years ago I did a team building exercise at a top tier investment bank that involved teams competing to solve clues. At the end we got a lecture about how if we had collaborated, we would have all shared in the prize. Ah yes, collegiate, pro social behaviour! because that's what investment banks are allllll about.

This thread has made me pay more attention over the last couple of days to what my senior female colleagues are wearing. As Seneca said earlier, very much in the bubble of investment banking/financial services/professional services but in the City. I think that at the very senior levels it's super stylish and I would say that grooming etc for women in the 40s plus at senior levels isn't that dissimilar to New York. Lots of toes out today but all painted nails from what I can see! Right, back to work.

regarding gushing and awesomeness, as someone mentioned earlier - I always have to translate the expressed emotions into "European" to get what they're really saying. I used to be always massively disappointed, whenever my colleagues recommended something, it never lived up to my expectations.
Then I realized it's just the difference of how we describe something. So "OMG you HAVE to go there! It's absolutely AMAZING!!" in the UK would be described as "Well.. you could go there, it's quite nice.. if you like that sort of thing."

What British people say v What British people mean.

squoosh. The "Oh, by the way" thing reminded me of Columbo - you know, the detective in the raincoat? He was totally British, for an American!

Been watching this thread, love it, and power to all the women thinking it it through, and dressing for success or how the hell they want.

Can I just say a word in favour of the bling ring?
Before DH and I met neither of us thought that the month's salary thing (or whatever) mattered, but we got engaged in a 6 month whirl of passion, and I know he spent a lot ,as a token. Hey, of love. I wear my engagement ring every day, and looking at it gives me pleasure. It's sparkly, and it's on MY hand, where I can see it anytime. 12 years and 2DC later, on a pay per wear basis I reckon we're on about £3 per day. Some people spend that on coffee.
By the time we - hopefully- hit 40 years - it will be less than a quid. And the kids can still flog it, wear it, whatever, when we're dead.
I work in London, lawyering, but not in a law firm. Nothing else I'm wearing today cost over £50, and a lot of it won't make next year's wardrobe. Quit dissing the rings!

I think the point that is being made is one of affordability and the interplay with status. No-one is dissing 'tokens of love'. The issue in point is whether the need to display the love is to do with love or status. Presumably, you wouldn't feel less loved if it was 75p a wear to date.

I think price per wear is a sensible way for a jewellery lover to look at it. But it's the idea that in NYC it must appear to be a diamond and more importantly a diamond/pretend diamond of a certain size (if not quality) that's depressing.

This thread is fascinating! I've never worked in a properly corporate environment (thank god), but I had an interesting experience in NYC around 15 years ago. I was working in a creative/fashion role, and was sent to Madison avenue to work with one of the really big ad agencies on a brief.
As I was working in fashion, I had a really quite decent wardrobe at the time, mainly French and Italian influenced, small designers and unique pieces. But nothing too "out there"; I'd look totally unremarkable in Paris, London, Milan or Dublin. I wore a lot of reds and jewel colours as they suited me, and my hair was very trendily (and expensively!) cut and dyed.

Anyway, from the moment I landed in NYC, people commented on my "style". "Oh my god you look amazing, I love your skirt/shoes/hair/bag/delete as appropriate". I've NEVER had reactions like that before - I had nice clothes but My GOD they weren't THAT nice. I had people stop me in the street to comment on my hair and take my photo. It was so odd! I had a number of comments about being "brave" to dress the way I did (again, I was totally normal by European standards). Then I started to look around me.

In Manhattan, apart from the enclaves around the village and downtown/Harlem, people fell into two tribes. a) dowdy: think badly fitting leisure wear in dull colours, trainers, those awful "turtlenecks" that Americans seem to love, etc. b) corporate dull: "pants suits" (urrgghhh) in bland colours, court shoes, news-reader hair.

I think I genuinely surprised them. They certainly surprised me! I found working there really quite frustrating. The senior creatives were terrific at saying exactly what they thought you wanted to hear, and then doing the opposite. The culture was stiflingly conservative, and not one that would work for clients in Europe, and they couldn't seem to think out of their own cultural confines.

This thread is so interesting. As I thought, my curls probably wouldn't be liked in corporate NYC!

I dress appallingly for work (can't be arsed) but I'd like a couple of suity things, so I could have my own uniform.

So yes from me to the Ann Taylor idea, lots of mix and match skirts, trousers and jackets. But can we have colours? I hate that if I'm not spending a fortune (read: more than £60) it will be black. Even a grey r pinstripe is more expensive.

I love this thread, it's so interesting! Genuinely interesting, not as per Squoosh's graphic.

The uk is one of the least conforming industrialised countries, isn't it? I am going to see if I can remember the source for that. The US was sort of middling, but peaked at work. East Asia was the most conforming, obvs.

The comments on suits reminded me of when I was offered a place on the JLP/Waitrose grad scheme, just under 15 yrs ago. The dress code was any of 4 colours of suits, and IIRC, black was not an accepted colour. Of course, the suits had to be skirt- trousers were then forbidden for laydees. They had to be worn with a button - up blouse and mid heel. Readers, I did not take the job. I went somewhere where I could be a bit more myself, albeit with a set of rules that were unwritten.

I've often thought that a big part of being a certain kind of American is putting on an act. That is getting the right grades, into the right college, getting the right partner, the right ring, the perfect wedding venue. It often seems to be more about presenting yourselves and your life in a certain way than actually living that life and going off point and just enjoying it.

Well, but couldn't the same be said about a certain kind of Brit as well? I think we've all read enough threads about bride- & groomzillas, outsize expectations for 'my perfect day', etc etc to know that there are plenty of people on this side of the Atlantic utterly obsessed with appearances. They just (thankfully) get the piss taken out of them more often.

Oh god, this is brilliant.

It's brought back the memories me of when my old (american) boss sent me to a conference in the States. It was for not-for-profits/universities, but all people in roles that were public and corporate facing. I was the only European there.

Day one I turned up in a what I would normally have worn for a work day meeting externals. Hyacinth pink silk/linen shift dress with a fuscia pink silk opera coat over it, plum tights and plum suede louis heels with little pink stars embroidered on them and matching handbag bag. To sit in a sea of black, grey and navy pant and skirt suits.

Day two the lady from a University in Georgia turned up in her straw boater with flowers round the rim and leather shoes with the portrait of her much missed shih tzu hand painted on the front (And she pulled it off. I remember describing her to a colleague on my return and she said "You really have to have a lot of style not to look like a mentalist in that"). Her hair was natural, no weave or relaxing. I was in a jade green dress with a palm print silk scarf and zebra print pony skin ballet flats with green ribbon trim. We naturally gravitated towards one another in amongst the continued sea of black, grey and navy pant suits.

But day three there was an out break of leopard print capri pants, jewel coloured twinsets, tiger print silk blouses and the like. It was like that film Pleasantville or those dulux colour paint ads.

Minor anarchy broke out. Someone from an evangelist university decided to engage us all in whisky drinking so he could prove his scottish roots to me (my accent is a dead give away). It all got a bit bizarre after that and involved a trolley bus and some blues.

That is brilliant!

wigglywig wear your bling with pride! I love jewelry. Wear lots of it, though actually the effect is quite subtle. I don't worry about cost per wear. My attitude is that there is no need to ever explain or justify - all of it was legally acquired. If I wanted to run around looking like Pat Butcher that would be my lookout.

The university convention story is so funny!

I would say (from the corporate world), that if I look at my career, I started off dressing with lots of colour, then as I was trying to break into senior management ranks, the colour went from my suits and I went dark, putting the colour into accessories, especially bags and scarves. These days, I have much more colour in my wardrobe, but always block/solid colours as I really do think that they carry more authority than prints etc. Bottom line though, each work morning, I carefully planning what I am wearing from dress, jacket, underwear to accessories so it makes the right impact/impact I want, depending on what meetings I have that day.

But for some people (myself included) jewellery isn't that important. When I was married we could have paid a lot more for an engagement ring but I got a decent sized tsavorite and designed my own ring. We spent our money with our son travelling and had some great experiences. To me memories are more valuable than diamonds (there are far nicer stones out there for less money).

This is fascinating. I'm a lawyer in a top 100 firm in the UK, although my firm is in a (very) provincial city. Interestingly, the more senior the lawyers, the worse they appear to be dressed, particularly the women. I don't know whether it's because they don't feel they have anything to prove anymore or because our location naturally attracts people who care less about clothes but ill-fitting, dowdy and ancient doesn't even begin to describe some of the outfits on display (on both sexes). There is one very senior female partner who I would LOVE to take in hand.

The younger lawyers are, as a rule, much more stylishly and smartly dressed. Since I lost a lot of weight recently, I am relishing the opportunity to wear some really fantastic things and really creating an outfit, whereas before it was a question of what I could fit into and was work appropriate. Today, I am wearing a brilliant turquoise sleeveless skater style dress paired with a J Crew cropped length cardigan in dove grey with beading around the neckline and nude skyscraper heels. I have had so many compliments on it.

However, whenever I work with female partners from other firms in London, they are often clearly following the training (yes, training) they were given as new lawyers on how to look smart and stylish - plain suits, a silk blouse and a "jazzy" scarf artfully arranged. And very expensive shoes and handbag.

So I wanted to come back and share my interview at the Japanese bank. Super conservative and the hiring manager said the departmental manager had a policy of skirts only. Hiring manager also told me I needed to be ready to start work for 9am and 2-3 hours of overtime each day is expected. Also when I asked about potential they said I would have the opportunity to work under different managers. Errrr I have people work for me now and would assume I would be a manager again! Told me everything I needed to know.

Made my current employer look attractive!

when I asked about potential they said I would have the opportunity to work under different managers

Wow, how could you turn down such exciting prospects! And with lovely long days, too. You must be mad.

Skirts only? Which century are we in again?! Sounds like a lucky escape to me Want!

I was just so thankful to the hiring mgr who was honest with me. Going to email her because she was awesome and I have a client that needs to hire her. She could do so much better.

Hilariously I wore a trouser suit for the first time in ages. My skirt was stuck at cleaners which was a fail on my part. When she asked about salaries it was hillarious. I wanted to say 'yeah I don't get out of bed for that!'

Sounds like a lucky swerve!

Regarding Japanese working culture I saw on tv (though this was companies in Japan it may be better outside) that if an employee is sick their team will look down on them as they have let the team down in some way and sick leave is frowned up is that true?

Going to email her because she was awesome and I have a client that needs to hire her.

Oooh, was this a bit of underground research?!

galrick nothing of the sort. It only occurred to me when I was walking out that she would be a great fit. I really felt for her because she told me she has a 2.5 year old girl and she tried to leave at 630 so she could take the bus home to Staten Island. She said if she left later she had to go into the city, get to the ferry and then take the bus home once in Staten Island. Her commute is over an hour and if after 630 it must take her 2hrs. My client is a short 5-7 min walk from the ferry terminal to Staten Island. I would expect, based on what they offered me, she is on about $120k and I know my client has a budget of up to $200k.