I thought I’d share some of my wardrobe picks from last week with you. As you may imagine, I’m starting to “recycle” some outfits, so there’s no need to show them again. So, this week I only have four to show you. On Monday I wore my green sweater and Viper shoes (love love that outfit).
Tuesday, I wore my new shirt and red top with my Nine West heels.
I came across this necklace in my accessories over the weekend, and decided it would work perfectly with this outfit.
Wednesday I went to New Hire Orientation. I chose to wear my purple shirt, black pants and black ankle-strap kitten-heel shoes. Oh, and a patent headband.
I paired it with my sterling silver earrings Eric bought me over the weekend at the Native American festival we attended in Oklahoma City. They’re feathers.
Thursday I chose a new top purchased over the weekend (on sale!). I paired it with brown pants and my brown Mizrahi heels.
Gold jewelry to go with (gold hoops and my gold tassel bracelet).
And finally, Friday…I chose a white top, black pinstripe pants and my pink and black peep toe heels (that Eric bought for me a few years ago). I received compliments for the shoes on Friday, which was nice.
I added my pink pearl and diamond pendant and earrings (gifts from Eric) to complete the outfit.
Not a bad week…looking back I think I need to get away from colors that are more suited for fall (like the dark purple with black pants), and go for brighter and lighter for summer. I enjoyed each outfit I wore this week though. I felt good about myself in them.
Now, here’s what threw me for a bit of a loop this week. At orientation, we were enlighted about the company dress code. Even knowing that this is a conservative company, I didn’t anticipate any surprises here. But, nonetheless, I was surprised. Many (if not most) of the women I see here at the office are wearing suits. Nothing fancy, or exciting, just plain suits. I have tried to gauge my office appropriateness based on women close to my own age rather than those that are much older. I would say that the younger women are wearing clothing that is slightly more casual than a suit, but certainly not in the realm of the “business casual” ideal that was followed at my former place of business. So, while I find myself on perhaps the lower end of the scale as far as how professional I appear, I believe I am within the range of what is appropriate. The dress code, aside from listing the obvious items that are not allowed (jeans, sweats, flip flops, mini skirts, etc.) also spells out that sleeveless tops are not allowed. I’ve worn a couple of sleeveless tops already, and while one of them was probably too casual, the other one I think was fine. But, perhaps I should invest in a good jacket in order to keep up appearances, and wear over my sleeveless top. The big thing though, that got me was the shoe guidelines. Here it is in a nutshell…mules are allowed, but only if they are closed toe, peep toes are allowed, but only with a pump (closed) back. No slingbacks on open toes. No strappy sandals. Frankly, I think in this day and age, this policy is a little (a lot, perhaps) outdated. The woman leading our orientation was expounding on the need for professional attire, while she was wearing basically something like this.
Shoes that I would consider to be one step shy of sneakers or crocs. Not professional in my book. And how can you say that what she was wearing was professional, but a suit and a pair of strappy heels are not (or peep toe slingbacks for that matter)? Makes no sense to me. I’ll continue to keep my eyes open and try to get a feel for how the dress code really works here, and report back. Until then, I’ll probably play it on the safe side for now.