Answering All Your Workwear Questions

Happy Tuesday all! I am headed to my internship for the day and figured it would be the perfect time to bring you a much requested post. Working at Meredith Corporation with Better Homes & Gardens magazine this year has been tons of fun, and I've loved the opportunity to expand my style and dress professionally more often.

I've been sharing my work outfits on my Instagram stories and the response has been great! You all love seeing what I'm wearing and where I get my pieces from. These posts have also generated general questions about my workwear. Today I'm answering all your questions including:

What has your internship taught you about workwear or office protocol?

What are your workwear essentials/must-haves?

Where are your favorite stores to shop for workwear?

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1. What has your internship taught you about workwear or office protocol?

My internship is a program through my school (Meredith Apprenticeship Program at Iowa State University). At the beginning of the year we had an introductory meeting to discuss details including the expectations for working at Meredith Corporation. In terms of dress, it was highly recommended that we start dressy and then scale it back if we we determine that is appropriate. Our program advisor said "dress for the position you want to have next."

My first few weeks on the job I dressed up; we're talking skirt and blouse, dresses, dress trousers and heels. In those weeks I came to see and understand the office culture. Many other employees would wear jeans and other more "business casual" apparel, so I determined it would be ok for me to sometimes mix more casual items into my outfits. Now, with working twice a week, I only wear jeans on one day at the most.

If you're starting work in a new office environment, I suggest that you follow this pattern. Initially choose outfits that are dressy and professional until you can grasp what is appropriate and/or expected of you.

2. What are your workwear essentials/must-haves?

In creating new outfits for each day I work, I've developed a list of workwear essentials. While some items are added or subtracted when the season changes, here are my must-haves:

These suggestions are purposefully vague because your closet will likely not look like mine. Additionally, your workplace style should in no way be confined to this graphic- experiment with your workwear! Getting a new internship/job/etc. doesn't necessitate a shopping spree to purchase an entirely new wardrobe. I bet that many of the items you have already can be utilized for work-appropriate outfits. Over the last few months I've just gradually purchased new items (as I've found things I like and as my budget allows) to allow for greater variance in my outfits from week to week.

3. Where are your favorite stores to shop for workwear?

When I post Instagram stories of my outfits, I make sure to tag where I get each piece from because this has been one of the biggest questions I've gotten.

As I've gotten older and had more reasons to dress up, I've grown to love Loft. Many of my blouses, work trousers, skirts and blazers are from Loft and thankfully, they often have amazing sales. My favorite skinny dress pants are Old Navy's Pixie Pants. I currently have them in black and khaki, but I'm eager to add other colors or patterns to my collection. I've also purchased dresses and sweaters from Old Navy. All of my favorite jeans are from American Eagle, and I've been able to find some great non-distressed black and blue pairs. I'm going to be writing a post all about my favorite jeans soon, so stay tuned! I've recently purchased a few pairs of shoes from Target and I'm obsessed! I also love shopping at H&M, and J.Crew (Factory) for a variety of items.

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To end this post I've compiled all of my workwear looks below so you can reference them and this entire post as you create your own workwear style. If you want to view them in the context of my Instagram, you can visit it HERE.

If this post leaves you with any other workwear (or other) questions, don't hesitate to leave them below! I hope you enjoyed this post, I loved putting it together. I'm eager to continue to develop my style as I finish out my internship this semester. Until next time, thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

#FASHION