Dressing for work

Not everyone has the freedom to dress how they please in work situations, but if you do have the freedom to dress how you like for work, how do you choose to represent yourself?      

In my office, there is a wide range of how people dress for work.  Some people dress in suits and ties every day (or tan jackets and pencil skirts for the women), while others are less formal. 

I personally don’t see any reason to represent myself differently in the office then I would in my everyday life, although I do try to make sure that I am never showing too much skin or dressing too young to be taken seriously.  Other than that, I let myself express myself creatively with my clothes.  After all, I spend more days of the week in the office then out of it. 

I had to take a work trip to a training center in West Virginia last week, and so the question became: how do I dress professionally, dress comfortably for travel, make sure that I wouldn’t be too fussy or need too much time to get ready in the morning all while repressing myself creatively at the same time?  My answer?  Comfortable loose fitting dresses, floppy easy to pack hats, and easy flats.

Here are some examples of what I wore on a few of the days at the center. 

Day one- (taken in the airport bathroom) I wore a loose fitting white Emily and Fin dress for comfort while traveling.  The hat is Forever 21.  I think the scarf was from American Eagle but I can’t remember, and the sweater was an old target cardi that I have had forever.    

Day two I wore another Emily and Fin white dress, a headband from Urban Outfitters and a Gap cardi. 

Day three I wore a floppy Urban Outfitters hat, a dress made by me, with gap leggings.   I wore teal Urban Outfitters flats with everything. 

And this is what I woke up to every morning.  Pretty awesome, right?

So, how do you represent yourself at work through how you dress?   Do you have the flexibility to show your personal style?  If so, do you take advantage of it?