Dressed or undressed for work?

While most regular companies don't require staff to dress like London bankers, covering up a bit more never goes wrong

Certain workplaces have strict dress codes some might consider archaic: No sleeveless tops, no open-toed footwear, ladies' skirts must fall below the knee (some don't let female employees wear trouser suits), fabric colors should be sober, suits are best tailored, and no advertising logos should be visible.

One place I worked for years ago stuck so rigidly by the "no sleeveless tops" rule that a colleague who had removed her jacket to go out for lunch on a hot day found herself barred by security from re-entering the premises because her sleeveless top, discreetly concealed under the jacket all morning, was now on display.

At the other extreme are offices that are highly flexible about attire. Small informal businesses and companies that emphasise creativity and individuality are relaxed about what staff wear provided they are not indecently dressed (or undressed, to be precise).

Middle ground
The majority of workplaces forster a middle-ground culture which neither requires Savile Row-type suits, nor tolerates home wear. You needn't be dressed to the nines, but you can't don jeans either.

What is considered "middle ground" varies among cultures. In Singapore, our comprehensively informal approach to life has apawned offices where even executives are dressed in ways that, in other countries, would have the males mistaken for delievery boys, and the females taken for singing-telegram girls.

If that's your comepany culture, fine. However just because your emplyers don't blink when you stroll in bare-shouldered, it does not mean you should.

Shades of formality
Most workplaces have unspoken sartorial codes. Though no one says anything if you dress like a teenybopper, you may not be taken seriously by your bosses, unless you are Mr or Ms Super-Genius-High-Flyer- and how many of us are that?

You may notice that the managers whose ranks you aspire to are mostly attired smartly, while the "hoi-polloi" maybe a lot more casual.

No, the right dressing alone will not get you promoted (and if your boss is absurb enough to give you greater responsibility for no other reason than that he likes your garb, you should seriously look for another job- try the fashion industry). But the reverse is untrue, because consistently wearing inappropriate clothes could indeed slow your progress.

Guildlines
Don't stick out like a sore thumb by over- or under-dressing. Match the culture. But do aim to dress within the upper range of what is accepted.

These are generally safe guidelines to follow:

• Avoid tops cut too low, skirts cut too high, and skirts or trousers that sit too low on the waist.
• Avoid sleeveless tops.
• Avoid round-neck T-shirts (except when worn smartly as a jacket-suit under-layer) and polo-neck T-shirts.
• Wear covered-toed shoes.
• Wear clean, well-pressed clothes that fit, nothing dirty, torn or the wrong size.
• Avoid tops with childish or wild graphics, lettering or logos.
• Keep prints discreet (eg. pinstripes, broader pastel stripes or repetitive patterns like tartan).
• Avoid denim, cargo pants and too-thin stretch cottons.
• Keep underwear under wraps.
  

Wisdom from Human Adele Ong