The business professional or corporate dress for men is synonymous with elegance, orderliness, and style. You may have seen men sporting corporate dress in the government, law, banking, or at the senior management level of businesses. If it is your office’s dress code, then make sure your attire should be conservative, plain, and fit perfectly.
Corporate dress is crucial because it emits professionalism and flair. Businesses strive to sell goods and services to customers through their representatives. If they are well-dressed and give a classy impression, they will likely mesmerise the customers. However, the corporate dress code is not for every industry. For instance, many start-ups and even tech giants prefer their employees to follow business casual or simply casual dress codes.
This workwear code has evolved with time; nevertheless, there are some quintessential items like suits that form an intrinsic part of the corporate dress for men. This article will highlight seven items that are an essential part of the corporate dress code.
What Not To Wear.
When someone thinks of following the corporate dress code, they should remember to wear classic suits with neutral colours, black, navy blue, and dark grey shades. You should eschew wearing jeans, t-shirts, polo shirts, casual and athletic apparel, and footwear. Likewise, you must not wear outfits that are oversized or too tight. Similarly, avoid bright colours and patterns or the excessive use of accessories.
What To Wear.
Corporate dress for men encompasses various items; we have included 7 essential items.
Suits
A business suit is the ultimate symbol of professionalism. Typically, it will include a suit jacket and trousers of identical fabrics, a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. The jacket generally comes with a single or double-breasted jacket, dark fabric with subtle or no patterns. They also have a canvas construction with shoulder paddings with either a notched lapel or a peaked lapel. At the same time, the trousers have a sharp crease down between the legs.
Before buying the suit, you should carefully examine the fabric. The fabric should be symptomatic of smoothness and finest quality. The ideal suiting fabric comprises wool or wool-silk fused with evenly-textured worsted or serge. Likewise, you can opt for plain or subtle patterns for your suit. Choose darker shades – black, navy blue, and dark grey when it comes to colour. The dark suit is the archetypical representative of the corporate dress code.
Dress Shirts
The dress shirt is for men to be worn on formal occasions. These shirts feature buttons from the collar to the bottom of the shirt. The dress shirt is an essential part of the corporate dressing as it has to be worn with suits. When selecting a dress shirt, it is recommended to go for light colours, predominantly white and light blue. You can also go for elusive stripes that complement your suit and tie. As for the cuffs, you can select the single plate or double French cuff style. Both are adequate for the corporate dressing.
Tie
Ties are also a quintessential element of corporate business attire. When wearing a tie, be attentive to the colour, knot, and pattern. A tie not just perfectly wraps up business suits, it also illustrates your fashion sense. Choose a tie with conservative colour and pattern. Corporate professionals should choose ties with traditional and simple colours and patterns. We suggest you choose colours such as dark blue, dark red, and diverse grey shades. It would be best to avoid too flashy ties with heavy patterns.
Belts
We may ignore belts being a trivial part of the overall attire for men. However, if you wear an unbuttoned suit jacket, you should pay more attention when selecting belts. We think the classic leather belt with a bronze or silver buckle is the most fitting choice for a business suit. Likewise, choose flat style belts and evade textured, woven or braided belts. We prefer a flat style to reflect simplicity, which is the essence of a professional business workwear.
Watches
Watches conjure up images of luxury and sophistication. If you are a business professional who also happens to be a fashion-savvy individual, you’re incomplete without an exquisite dress watch. With their classic aesthetics, dress watches reflect timeless elegance and grace. However, watches are considered accessory items according to corporate dress standards. However, they are an intrinsic part of your overall business attire. Go for sleek, classic, and minimalist designs by leading brands such as Vacheron Constantin, Chopard, Patek Phillippe, and Breitling.
Cufflinks
Cufflinks look chic and add charm to your suits. Not just that, they also imbue your personality with grace. Selecting the most fitting pair of cufflinks could be baffling with so many options. Commonplace designs include single plate styles bearing a tiny swivelling clasp and linked studs.
If you are wearing a white shirt, we would recommend that you go for silver or gold polished and unique cufflink styles. While wearing a blue shirt, you can try silver or blue cufflinks. If you wear a light grey shirt, opt for silver cuff links.
Dress Shoes
Proper footwear is imperative when you don a business suit, and it is incomplete without such footwear. Our favourite dress shoe types include Oxfords, Derbies, Brogues, Wingtips, and Wholecuts. We endorse classic neutral colours, with black and dark brown being our preferred choices. You could choose black shoes to compliment your black suit. However, if your suit colouring is navy or dark grey, opt for any colour of your choice – brown or black.
Conclusion
Workplace dress codes considerably vary from one business or industry to another. It is incumbent upon the employees to pay heed and follow whatever dress code is in place. The business professional or corporate dress for men is primarily for the senior management levels of business organisations and firms. It is preferred because it galvanises professionalism and also emanates poise and charisma.
