Fashion House Ladies Fashion and Mens Fashion

Cracking the Dress Code

Written on November 14, 2008 – 12:45 am | by dodo

The word ‘lifestyle‘ is a relatively modern concept. It has come to represent a multi-faceted way of living that includes the home in which you live, its style, how you live, what you wear, drive and do for a living. Does your day-to-day routine include constant formal entertaining? Is it quiet, rural and family orientated? If you are city based, your life is likely to be more pressurised. Today, a `healthy’ lifestyle is one that is balanced between exercise, work and entertainment. And keeping that balance makes demands on your wardrobe.

For example, if you are extremely casual, it may mean you’re quite at home working out in an old T-shirt, faded shorts and ancient trainers. Or does your age, corporate image or self-esteem suggest, perhaps even demand, something more chic and sophisticated? You might need to extend your work persona to the gym and wear co-ordinated, top brand, high-tech sportswear. It’s your choice. You have to ask some simple questions: What kind of image do I want to project? How do I plan my wardrobe to suit my lifestyle? Am I overdressed or underdressed for the occasion?

Let’s start with the image you want to project. Does `elegant and sophisticated’ spring to mind? What about `casual but well groomed’? Only once you know what kind of image you want to project can you dress for the occasion.

The way the different lifestyles are described can be confusing and sometimes misleading. If, for example, you are wearing a pair of jeans with a stunning top, people you meet tell you, ‘You look smart.’ What they mean is, ‘You look nice.’ ‘Smart‘, strictly speaking, means a tailored suit.

It’s highly likely that you enjoy a combination lifestyle. Your lifestyle will never be 100% smart or 100% casual. Here are some examples:

Bank Manager:

Your dress code during the week is smart. You love going to movies on a Friday night and enjoy a Sunday afternoon lunch with friends. I have just described a combination lifestyle: smart (80%) and casual (20%). Your wardrobe should therefore reflect these percentages. If it consists mostly of T-shirts, shorts and jeans because you are a casual person at heart, this will explain why you feel you have nothing to wear‘: your true lifestyle is not reflected in your wardrobe.

Architect:

With site meetings between clients and builders, your dress code during the week is smart- casual. But you are married to a doctor and entertain informally over the weekend. I have just described a combination lifestyle: smart (50%) and casual (50%). Your wardrobe should reflect these percentages.

Mother at Home with two Young Children:

You spend your life racing around ferrying children between school, ballet lessons, karate and swimming. It never stops. Your husband is a plumber and hates formal occasions: at most you will go out to a smart restaurant once a month, and you may go to church on a Sunday morning. I have just described a combination lifestyle: casual (90%) and smart (10%). If your wardrobe consists of suits and high-heeled shoes and there are no jeans, casual shirts or semi-formal items, it will let you down. Your wardrobe should reflect these percentages.

What you do every day is just one factor. Dress codes also vary from city to city. If you live in a major metropolitan area, ‘smart‘ means ‘very smart‘, but if you live in a small town, you will need to adopt a toned- down version of ‘smart‘.

Times also change, and so should your mind-set and your wardrobe. Fifty years ago it wouldn’t have entered anyone’s head to wear jeans to the cinema. A woman would dress up, as this was an outing, an occasion. Before that women sometimes changed four times a day: a morning outfit, a day outfit, a tea outfit and an evening outfit. Today that would be considered, at best, eccentric and, at worst, obsessive-compulsive behaviour!

But back to the present. You must take into consideration that your lifestyle may have changed over the years. Perhaps you were a working woman and are now a mother at home. If so, you will need to alter your wardrobe accordingly.

Your wardrobe should be as flexible as your lifestyle. For example, the word ‘jeans‘ sends two messages to me. One is jeans with a T-shirt and running shoes, the other jeans with a white shirt, tailored blazer and leather shoes. This is the exciting part of planning your wardrobe and really making it work for you, but first we must understand the different dress codes.

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