Working Girl: Funking Up the Professional World, One Outfit at a Time

Since I graduated from Film school a year ago this December, I was promoted from my job as a lowly sales assistant to an executive assistant at the company’s corporate office. It’s still entry-level, but at least I have my own space and I am no longer crawling on my hands and knees cleaning and organizing. Chained to a desk with a stricter dress code and a wardrobe of college student/boho chic, I found myself lost at sea when it came to work apparel. I also found myself getting depressed over my increasingly boring outfits that recycled the same tired pieces.

It has almost been a year now and I am finally starting to feel like I have more options, not only in the variety of pieces I own, but in my ability to funkify my neutral drone wardrobe, while still staying in dress code. These limitations have, in turn, inspired my Casual Friday outfits, where I am more apt to let my freak flag fly, but appropriately.

Can this be my wardobe? Do we even need to discuss this?

I know I haven’t been the first workforce newbie lost when it comes to acceptable yet stylish outfits for work, so I have set out to guide you through this frightening time. Frightening, not just because you are a young professional with rules on how you can dress, but frightening because you are most likely a twentysomething who is on the same rollercoaster I am; somewhere between bliss and hysteria, fully aware that time is flying by and you aren’t even sure you are on the right ride.

Every week I will post my favorite work and Casual Friday outfits and/or answer office survival questions. For example, what pieces you should have to make your groggy mornings easier and your outfits sleeker, where you can find these (reasonably priced!) pieces, the dos and don’ts for office apparel, along with any other advice on surviving office life, from Lean Cuisines to community coffee to catty coworkers. I am still a rookie myself, but with a year under my belt, I can help you avoid the mistakes I have unfortunately made and be the office mentor you are probably missing at your own job.

I'll bang out the first one for your reading pleasure this Friday. I'm holding us to this, so write yourself a memo or task or something and I'll see you at the water cooler!

working it for a Working Girl ending,

bunny