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!

I find some of these posts depressing if people are getting themselves into debt to buy watches and jewellery then they are fools did they learn nothing from the financial melt down.
I work with American women but not in the US and they seem to love J C Penny for some reason.

Supemum i agree with some of your points (ppl wear more flashy jewely in the us) but you make it sound as if you will be a pariah if you dont wear a huge diamond or dont dye your hair. That is not my experience. You are expected to look professional but that is it.

I worked in the US in the mid-west 15 years ago, and the company I worked for issued cloting guidelines for men and women! Women had to wear tights/pantyhose all year round - in the Summer, the temperature was regularly 90 degrees +, but there were no exceptions. I completely agree with others who have said smart, boring and conservative, and mostly unstylish. The big shocker for me was grown women wearing thick White tights - they looked like 4 year olds, absolutely horrendous. I would think about handbags (again, smart and boring in neutral colours only) as mine were commented on a lot, by both men and women at work.

Basically, nothing to scare the horses.

I also find it stupid, but have to agree that everybody wears huge, massively expensive engagement rings. I wouldn't go out shopping for one just because of that though - I don't wear any rings besides my wedding ring, which is a simple gold band, and nobody ever mentioned anything.

I would be very disappointed if you don't have to look exactly like alicia on goodwife or olivia on scandal.

However, won't they be disappointed if you aren't channeling duchess of Cambridge?

NY culture is so different to here it's hard to believe unless you've experienced it. I had people ask me directly how much my engagement ring cost & what size/quality it was. They'd rather wear a 3ct M with visible flaws than a 1ct D with no flaws. Appearance is everything - statement jewellery allows bystanders to see how successful your partner is & you by association.

I guess if everyone is wearing sheer tights then that does impose the requirement for very frequent depilation. Londoners have been wearing opaques for the last 10 years or more which gives you more room for manoeuvre.

Mind you the Americans have the option of trouser suits and hairy legs. I was disappointed to find when I returned to the City after a break that trouser suits had been de-mainstreamed and almost everyone who was "making an effort" was in fitted dresses or skirt suits. I guess it is easier to look glam in a skirt because trouser suits have to be absolutely perfectly proportioned to avoid looking frumpy - but there's a whole Beauty Myth argument about why the hell are frumpy vs glamorous remotely relevant terms when discussing a corporate lawyer?

Ooh no! I think I'll stay here laughing at your bollocks.

I'm getting even more depressed to be defined by your engagement ring?! The people that ask are pretty crass.

I work for a big investment bank and can confirm that engagement rings in the NY office are chickpea sized. Having said that, I know that most people compromise in quality for size, i.e. they get huge rocks with flaws so I doubt they all hit the $50k price tag. My engagement ring, tiny but in a rare colour and of good quality, was definitely looked down upon!

Yes Fib same here. Investment bank in NYC, my colleagues almost pitied me my engagement ring.

Wanted to add that it's almost expected that your bag is fake but it has to be a really good fake that looks like the real thing. Found a great store that does a good copy of the Hermes bags. Not your Chinatown cheap but certainly far cheaper than your labels.

Supermum Do you enjoy the working environment you're in? It seems built on creating appearances for other people (who the f* wants a fake handbag?!) a with incredibly rude people asking about the value of your jewellery. Sounds awful to me but may not be as bad as it appears I guess

I've worked (in London) for American law firms for the past 12 years and spent a reasonable amount of time in their East Coast offices, and with US colleagues who come over to London for a time. I agree with some points points Supermum makes, but not others.

Jewellery does tend to be flashier, and engagement rings can be a bit rock like, but plenty of people don't wear any shiny baubles to work. They are not pariahs. I've never noticed any flashy watches on my American colleagues.

I do agree that their work clothes tend in general to be a bit duller by our standards, with lots of "pant suits". I disagree about hosiery though - I've seen more unclad legs and feet among my US colleagues than my London lot. That might be influenced by the fact that I work with a lot of Californians and DCites - both places which are hotter than hades in the summer.

A big difference is that outside NY, most people are not commuting on public transport to work. SO unlike most Londoners, they are not hefting around big bags full of laptops, work papers and gym kit.

This is an eye-opener for me, and I'm American. I am so glad to be in the South. I can't remember the last time I wore pantyhose. And you see women's toes here all the time. But one thing that we have in common with NYC: good grooming is expected, hair, nails, etc. we pay attention to.

Just remembered that episode of Ugly Betty with the fake Gucci handbag - it makes a lot more sense now (I couldn't understand why people were ok with the fake)!

I work in a very progressive secondary school, so people are quite relaxed with clothing. We have a professional dress code but not grooming requirements other than 'clean.'

When I lived in NYC I was in grad school so frankly anything went. I have, however, lots of friend who left NYC grad school for NYC/DC coporate and law, and (barring the jewelry stuff, as people don't expect younger women to have serious bling, and I don't know anything about it) I've noticed during returns to London that the UK has much more tolerance for "scruffy but stylish" or "scruffy but interesting" or even "odd but fun"

• British people don't mind an eccentric.

American's don't [i]mind[/i] them, exactly, but they wouldn't choose to be one. And they certainly don't choose to be scruffy.

Re: shaving legs every day: get an electric! 5 minutes for both legs with my phillips ladyshave. Yes, not a close a shave as a real razor but it's just for appearances, and so easy. Summers as hellishly hot and I can't retreat into jeans, it's shorts or skirts or dresses every day - and so I'm a firm believer in the quick shave :)

argh, I titted up the italics.
Point being, OP: They won't object if you're stylish and a bit more fashionable than the office culture - they'll love it.
They WILL look down on you if you're not very smart.

oh, I'm suburban NJ - about 40 minutes from Manhattan, and there are plenty of fat people here (including moi). Manhattan is a world of it's own when it comes to competitive thinness. Not as bad as LA, but yeah, pretty bad.

and by smart I mean 'groomed'

Oh ffs, currants. I can't finish a sentence for the life of me today. Knackered Sorry! :)

Wow. Just wow. Idly clicked on this thread out of interest and it has made me never ever want to even visit New York, never mind work there. What unbelievably shallow, superficial, vulgar nonsense. I know there are films which depict people like that, but I naïvely assumed they were exaggerated. Apparently not. How depressing to see that women are still judged this much on their appearance in the workplace.

I do think overall we dress more conservatively in the US. I lurk in Style and Beauty quite a bit and some of the clothes and, in particular, the advice about accessories, would create a look that would seem eccentric in the US (especially all those opaque tights).

Opaques tights are seen as eccentric? Good grief!

Remind me never to take a job in NYC.

I've been reading this thread saying
"dowdy trouser suits: fine,
regular manicures: OK if I must,
regular haircuts: already do, and no grey yet so no need for tinting,
daily leg shaving: only takes a minute in the shower, fine
I can take my tiny engagement ring off and pretend that the Welsh don't wear them for cultural reasons "

But fake bags !!! I couldn't, I just couldn't. I'd far rather wear an logo free leather bag from M&S if I couldn't afford Radley or TK MAXX Osprey or similar. No power on earth would make me buy fake Louis Vuitton, and if I were rich enough not to mind the cost of the real thing then I wouldn't bother working.

She didn't say you have to buy a fake bag, just that status bags matter to the people she knows and a lot of people shamelessly buy fakes.

There are fakes so good that only people who work for the brand can spot them.

I can't get my head around opaques = eccentric. OP embrace your own style and don't turn into one of these corporate machines.