Dear Readers,
Thank you to all who gave me the idea to turn this post into an ongoing series!
I polled my community on Instagram and the number one request was workwear attire in the Summer - specifically for a business formal setting.
If you have any requests, please leave in the comments or message me so I can include in a future post!
As it’s currently 90 degrees where I am, I thought it would be a perfect time to work on some ideas!
Does this sound like you…
Its 90 degrees outside and you are sweltering in the heat during your morning commute. You are feeling good about your Summer outfit up until you walk into your office where you suddenly find yourself in an arctic tundra. Now, you are freezing cold from the blasting A/C so…what do you actually wear in the middle of Summer to the office?
There is a wide range of formality for office dressing but I’m going to focus on the more formal business wear which can be harder to dress for:
leans more on classic, traditional styles and silhouettes and colors
elevated, polished fabrics
a level of sharpness by way of tailoring
more modest coverage
Based on the above, this could be for those who work in a traditional or corporate office setting such as Law, Medical, Financial, Schools etc.
So what’s the solution?
Instead of:
shopping for items that you consider as “workwear” only
skipping over the pieces deemed “workwear” within your closet for all the other occasions in your daily life
relying only on the traditional workwear pieces (classic fitted suit, a shift dress, a pencil skirt, the classic but slightly boring sweater + trousers combo)
Try this instead:
Introduce separates + layers as your key styling element. This will help you take your look from the humidity outside to the A/C inside and from desk to dinner and everything else along the way
Inject some shape, color or texture - workwear doesn’t have to be loud but it also doesn’t have to be boring!
Think of 3-5 ways you can wear the item outside of work, varying in levels of formality (casual everyday, vacation/travel, date nights, dinners). This way you know you can get more use out of each “workwear” item outside your 9-5
Some Examples -
Note that none of the first looks are “bad” - I just used examples I have observed from my clients wardrobes who have a tough time wearing their workwear outside of 9-5 hours. If you work in a formal business environment, its always good to have those classic traditional pieces but if you are interested in updating your Summer office style, hopefully these new looks give you some inspiration!
If you would like 1:1 support, click here to learn more about my services!
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F049acd19-7f16-4552-a8fa-fad684e3b64f_692x866.png)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa427767c-66ae-47d1-91b2-e383804080da_696x862.png)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F71635bd5-67bb-4376-8994-241052982fd8_690x864.png)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3ed7673d-1ec9-458a-905b-8c3083c834ce_698x866.png)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fecff7877-32b6-475c-8abb-f469bc8858a1_698x866.png)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1238c174-ac15-4ead-8ae1-9c81fb6b1e8c_692x860.png)
A few more examples, including after-work playground dates and weekend getaway looks!
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