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Not everyone is born with an amazing fashion sense or even has someone to teach them that there’s a difference between regular clothes and clothes meant for the office. If you feel like you fit that description, you’re not alone. There are plenty of people, especially newcomers to the business world, who don’t know how to dress professionally. And sometimes, that translates into some pretty hilarious stories.
For example, I had no idea how to dress when I started my first internship at DC Comics, since I had been actively rebelling against my mother’s “girlish ideal” for 18 years or so (re: I rarely wore dresses, skirts, or makeup). So for my first day of my very first internship, I put on the nicest thing I had, which was a dress that was given to me for a spring-fling dance back in high school. It was black, long and quite…flattering. Shapely, if you will. I had also borrowed a friend’s bright pink jacket. I looked, as they say, abso-freakin’-lutely ridiculous.
It’s probably a good thing I was working for a comics publisher, because anyone else might have fired me on the spot, I looked so bizzare compared to everyone else in their business casual attire. I was the belle-of-the-ball surrounded by simple pencil skirts and button down shirts. Luckily, they thought it was funny and that I was maybe trying to cosplay one of their characters, but I was, and still am, fairly mortified that I did that.
If you’ve ever had an experience similar to mine, you know that it’s quite humiliating, but the good news is that you can turn it around. The next day I went out and got myself some new, nice business casual clothes, the prize of which was my new black blazer. I love that blazer, I still have it and after four years it still looks as wonderful as it did on the College Sophomore version of myself. I recommend everyone get one good-fitting blazer; they go with everything and make you look instantly professional.
We will be sharing some more first day fashion faux-paus with you so you can see that, no matter what, you too can learn to adapt to any clothing situation that may arise. We’ll also be sharing fashion tips about what accessories and clothing items area “must have” to survive the office scene.
Do you have any business fashion disaster stories? Tell us in the comments.
