Do you ever wonder if maybe the place you get dressed for most often is coloring your wardrobe in ways you didn't realize? If you're a financial professional, do you always have to be covered up, even out of the office, since suits are your de riguer? If you are a daycare teacher, do your looks have to be easy to clean and move around in when you're off duty, too? Today, I started thinking about the relation between my day off dressing and my work clothes and wondering how different my look would be if I had nowhere "businessy" to go.
I daydream that I would look totally different if I didn't have to get dressed for the corporate world. If only, I were an independent boutique owner, novel writer, or a freelancer video producer/editor, I assure myself I would be dressing in outfits all the rage. I would have an easy selection of casual to business casual pieces that transition into sexy night out looks. It's not my reality though because the pieces I own need to work more for my job than the outside of work part of my life. I try to get the most bang for my buck while satisfying my personal style tastes and idiosyncracies.
Office Sarah isn't comfortable with very short skirts, flip flops, too much cleavage, too much rocker chic, cutting edge style, or shorts at her job. Off of work Sarah struggles with making jeans look cool, getting dressed "sexy," and not looking boring in tanks and shorts every weekend. She pines after the latest trends, but is afraid to invest too much if she can only wear it two days a week.
Since weekends only come around every five days, my comfort zone has migrated to a bit more conservative. I try to balance those poles, and I do get a little bit of a high from achieving an outfit I think walks the line perfectly--edgy but sophisticated, current but professional. The different jobs and working environments I have encountered over the years have steered me at times more conservative and at times, less.
When I worked for a very casual office where flip flops were acceptable, I wore them with jeans and t-shirts or tanks and sweaters. Casual was my normal so getting dressed up was my Achilles' heel. Starting my current job required an epic clothing purchase because nothing I owned was business appropriate. When I first got out of college, I wore platform boots with short dresses or weird shirts with velvet pants and other outrageous things. Faux pony hair oxfords with a semi-sheer sleeveless turtleneck sweater and black mini-skirt read as professional then. As I age, I think that shift is normal. I still dream though what it might be like to dress just for me.
Would my closet be completely different? Would I give up ladylike sheath dresses? Would I rock furry vests? Would I only ever leave the house in jeans? It intrigues me to find out what lines I have drawn in the sand now that I would readily cross if my job changed up again. I think blogging has taught me that if I am drawn to something, I should try and incorporate it into my style. How that happens and in what area of my life has to be at my discretion independent from trends and what everybody else is doing.
Do you guys feel like your look expresses you no matter what, or do you tailor your looks to meet a specific goal or fit in at a job?
1 Leave me a note:
I feel like my whole wardrobe/how I dress is pretty much standard whether work/home/casual/dressy.
I never really even thought that there was much differentiation!
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