Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Michael ( SecurityProfessional) - I do like your views.

"Business Casual" is also the norm at most corporations (big and small) in the UK these days.

I like the view of being professionally dressed the first time you meet a client and then change your attire accordingly thereafter.

I was once told if you want to get promotion `dress like your boss`. If they always wear a suit/tie so should you!

Andrew,

Business casual in the UK? I am disallusioned - I thought every businessman in London wore a suit with tophat and tails.

Business Casual can be a slippery slope - people dress more and more casually as time goes on and this can get out of hand if not managed properly. One company I worked with had a guideline that I thought was great: "If you get home after work and don`t feel the need to change into something more comfortable, then you were probably dressed too casually.."

Craig,

I remember Dress for Success well. It was a great book for its time (1970`s) but seemed dated the last time I looked at it. Still contains a lot of useful information, however,

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Michael A. Silva
Silva Consultants

www.silvaconsultants.com

Michael

great guideline "If you get home after work and don`t feel the need to change into something more comfortable, then you were probably dressed too casually..".

I`ve worked at places where the `dress code` guidelines have been pages and pages long (and still abused!).

The link I posted, to Amazon, is the new version of "Dress for Success." Regardless of when it was written, the book explains the realities of business clothing for men. I would imagine the new version now includes some content for women, but with the gazillion women`s magazines about clothing, maybe not so much.

The idea of the book is that many men have women who shop for them. Those women tend to think like....well..women. :-) But clothing among men in business is quite different, and that`s what Malloy examines. The "dress like the boss" has some actual research behind it, as do colors and traditional clothing, etc.