Find Your Work at Home Style
April 22, 2020
For many of us working from home is the new normal. Navigating how to dress and style yourself for Zoom meetings with clients and colleagues can take some thought. We can’t all come to work looking like we were hitting the home gym hard and call it a day.
The last ten plus years I have been working from home and as technology changed from calls and online chats for meetings to video conferencing it means one thing: working from home means you still have to get dressed. But how and what and how much is up to you and your needs as well as your style. Let’s explore five ways you can find your work at home style. (Because let’s be honest, no one wants to be the potato in the zoom call or come off looking like Joe Exotic.)
What’s Your Style?
One rule that many work-from-home vets follow is to shower and dress daily for the workday as if you were going into an actual office. I do this myself most days because I feel it sets me up for success, a good work attitude, and professionalism. It also means I am not caught in a messy ponytail and sweatshirt that reads ‘Coffee ‘til Cocktails’ when I must jump on an unscheduled call! Following this strategy means you shower, dress, do your hair and makeup (to some degree) each day and then head to your home office. The longer we are in this quarantine, the more you find a routine a necessary piece of maintaining normalcy, balance, and good mental health.
“From the waist up” approach is the most popular choice for many of us. Especially if you’re dividing time between work and family. It’s faster, more comfortable, and more realistic to go from your desk and a 10 AM video chat with Karen from HR to helping your seven-year-old with his own Zoom chat with his classmates while your ten-year-old decides it is arts and crafts time. If you choose to style from the waist up, you have some options.
- Check out ideas on Instagram. Use the hashtag #wahmstyle or #workfromhomefashion and see how you can play up your wardrobe and maybe add a few things into the rotation that you couldn’t in a traditional office setting. It can be as easy as adding a favorite statement piece to a plain white t-shirt.
- Madeline Fass from Vogue has been using pieces from her suitcase to create stylish and professional pieces while still being comfortable. Something as simple as adding a jacket or changing out your earrings while still wearing your track pants? I’m in!
- Christine Koh who masters the art of working from home and killing it on a regular basis shares the secret of the sweatshirt. Think floral prints, puff sleeves and more.
- With no commute, you might find yourself with time to tackle projects like switching out your winter clothes with ones for warmer temps. Hold onto a few cold-weather items and use them to layer your look. Take a summer maxi dress and wear it over a sweater. A bright jumpsuit that you have been dying to wear can be layered over a striped sweater in complimentary colors. The same goes for a solid long sleeve shirt under a graphic tee that shows some of your personality.
How are you handling working from home? Are you mixing and matching, testing fashion boundaries or keeping it consistent with tried and true items you always wear?
