Years ago, dressing for your day in the office used to be easy. Suits and smart clothes were the norm in most offices and anything else would have got you sent home to get changed.  However, these days even the strictest offices are relaxing their dress codes and allowing their employees to wear more casual clothes to work.  Jeans, t shirts and trainers are now considered appropriate in offices up and down the country. 

So how do you know what is suitable for your office?  Firstly you should find out if your company has an actual dress code.  Although the general consensus might be to keep it casual, there may be certain rules that you should keep to.  For example there are obvious items to stay away from in any work situation such as very short skirts or offensive slogans.  The best way to gauge what is acceptable is probably just to take a look around you and see what everyone else is wearing.  This will be the best indicator of what is the norm.

However, you may feel more comfortable dressing smarter in a working environment.  If this is the case then you shouldn’t be discouraged from doing this by the more casual co-workers in your office.  A lot of people feel more motivated and professional if they are dressed for the part.  And of course, there are certain situations where smart dress is a necessity especially for meetings and interviews.