Friday, July 8, 2011

Femininity at Work Series Part I: How you can dress femininely and still be powerful at work

Can you dress femininely and still be taken seriously at work? Keep reading and I will tell you just how you can do that.

Hello Dolls!!

Do you wonder if you can wear skirts and dresses to the office and still maintain your power as the boss, supervisor or a woman who is trying to make the right moves to climb the corporate ladder. The answer to that is yes you can (No Obama campaign pun intended with that). However, it is all in the way you wear your clothing, your pattern and style choice and the accessories and colours you choose to wear. It sounds complicated but if you want to be taken seriously and still maintain your femininity and be stylish its important that you pay attention to all of these details because what you wear says a lot about who you are as a person and worker.

Be mindful of what looks right on you and your body type. Mid thigh length skirts and dresses sends the wrong message about your professionalism, your ability to lead and be in charge some day if that is your aspiration. Remember you want to dress in a way that makes you look feminine and modern  yet still maintains a high level of professionalism and the company's brand and image. If you leave to work in a mid thigh length pencil skirt with a 2 inch slit, wearing shoes that you wore last Friday to the club your not sending a message of professionalism at best, at worst you are sending a message that you are cheap and trying to use your sexuality to get ahead.

Be careful with accessories. Too many and it comes off unprofessional. Limit your accessories to a nice necklace (not big and overwhelming), not big bracelets and limit it to no more then 2 rings per outfit.

*Special notes for Fuller figured and Taller women.

Fuller Figured Woman
If you are a fuller figured woman don't shy away from pattens and colours in the office. They are not your enemy. However chosen in the right combination they can be your best friend! You don't have to confine yourself to the colour black just because someone said that its "slimming", That's a myth. Black is only be slimming when the cut and fit of the fabric suits your body type no matter what your body type may be. Besides, why should you be chained to one colour because you are not a size 4? That's nonsense.

Embrace what you look like at this point in time and own it! You are beautiful and apart of being the best version of your femininity is accepting yourself  as a whole package and loving yourself from deep inside yourself right out to who you are on the outside. Love every curve you have. Your body is your adornment to clothe beautifully as you wish. For its your soul and beautiful spirit that counts the most. When your feeling happy, contented, confident and positive it will shine so brightly from the inside that no man will be able to resist you. They will be drawn to you like a moth to a flame. Be that flame and shine brightly my love. 


When choosing patterns its worth noting that some patterns can enhance your curves or create an illusion of added weight onto your frame. Floral prints are good but you will want to stay away from large floral prints especially in dresses and skirts. Bold blocks of colours helps to create a slimmer silhouette. Horizontal strips are not a good choice for a fuller figured woman as it will make you look wider. They draw the eyes around the body and creates width on the wearer. Vertical stripes draws the eyes down which is what you want because it makes you look slimmer.  The same doesn't always hold true for horizontal blocks of bold colour. The trick to wearing these types of dresses, skirts or tops is to try to always(as much as the fit and cut of the dress allows)  have defined a waist so you don't get lost in the colour and look like your wearing a tent.

Here are some picture ideas for you to look at to get an idea of how beautiful you can dress yourself now and how much power it gives to your brand and image as a feminine powerful woman in the office.




I like this outfit for the orange colour but I don't recommend the shoes, bangles or bag together for the office. I think this would look amazing with a white long sleeve blazer and beige heels

Taller Women

Don't be afraid to wear heels in the office. I've heard it all before! "She's tall what does she need heels for?" or "why would she want to be taller?". Tall is beautiful not to mention downright stunning! Own your height and be the beautiful tall woman that you are. Why be a shrinking wall flower hiding in flats because others who may be shorter than you  (with little to no self esteem if they are sneering at your desire to wear heels) don't like that you are "already tall" and daring to wear shoes that make you taller. Own your body, love every inch you have and wear those heels then strut passed the "nay sayers" and flick them your warmest smile! Check it out! You go girl!




Heels makes an outfit look nice, feminine and sexy. Nothing wrong with that. Now lets make an important note. Electric orange, or green heels or any other extremely bright,'I'd wear this to a picnic or the club' type colours in the office is not the best choice. At the end of the day you must make colour choices that adheres to your companies dress code not to mention shows that you have good taste. Orange heels with a green dress, or white skirt doesn't show good taste. It makes you look loud, gaudy, attention seeking (lets not make it that obvious) and tacky. Great colour choices are reds, pinks, blues, beige, whites, black, greys, browns and darker purples. Tiger prints and zebra prints are nice as well as long as they are not overwhelming. A great colour choice I have seen is a black pencil skirt and top with red bottom Loubouton leopard heels. Very nice and the woman who wore them was not someone anyone underestimated because of her shoe choice or skirt wearing habits.  She maintained her authority and influence while still looking feminine and pretty (many men smiled when she walked by while secretly fearing being on her bad side). You can dress femininely, wear heels, skirts and dresses and still maintain your authority and power. Its all about how you carry yourself, your confidence and your professionalism.


One thing you will find when you dress more femininely at the office is your male co workers will definitely take notice and begin treating you more like a lady; opening doors, pulling out seats, complimenting you etc. Now I'm not saying there is anything wrong with your arms or hands but there is also nothing wrong with a man being inspired to do this for you. Accept it, smile, thank them then continue on with your day. You deserve to be treated with respect, honor and chivalry. Besides men like doing these types of things for a woman. It makes them feel good so why not right? Another thing you will notice are the dirty looks from some of the women in the office. This is normal and its ok. Its their insecurities not yours. Continue smiling and letting your femininity shine through. Never mute yourself so someone else can feel better about themselves. Why should you do all the work (muting yourself down) that they are not willing to do for themselves or have not yet finished doing? Don't sacrifice your self esteem for anyone else Doll.

Take a moment and look at these pictures of women dressed professionally for the office. Hopefully they will inspire you with ideas for your next purchase.







What do you think Dolls? Click on the pink bubble beside the title of this post and let me know :)

My next post will be Part II in this Series on Femininity at Work and how you can dress femininely for the warm weather

Ciao loves!

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