It’s Style& Fashion for guys today on Yspot! with Caleb Ajagbe!

Caleb Ajagbe is in the house again!!!! Well today he will be taking us on a ride into the formal world and how we are expected to dress for formal occasions. Alright here he goes………

Sometimes Your Clothing Says More than You Do. The way you dress speaks volumes about who you are as a person and as a business communicator. Let's face it, clothes talk. Whenever you enter a room for the first time, it takes only a few seconds for people you've never met to form perceptions about you and your abilities. You don't have to utter a word; people peg you one way if you're dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, slacks and a sports coat, or an "agbada" on jeans. Regardless of who you really are, your clothes and body language always speak first.

I have an adopted statement that says, looking good is good business! You know, the way you dress is relative to how you will be addressed! Gbam!

First Things First

Some of the perceptions people can form solely from your appearance are:

Ø  Your professionalism

Ø  Your level of sophistication

Ø  Your intelligence

Ø  Your credibility

Whether these perceptions are real or imagined, they underscore how your appearance instantly influences the opinions of strangers, peers, and superiors. Being well dressed in a corporate setting can influence not just perceptions, but also promotions. This article will focus on general principles of business attire along with some specifics of more formal attire. It's a common sense guide for almost any businessperson.

The Basics

So what's right and what's wrong? First, there are no single set of rules that will work for everyone; sometimes the only written rules are expressed in your organization's dress code, if it has one. But there are a handful of characteristics that most successful business communicators share when it comes to dress and grooming.

Fashionable or Foolish

Your corporate culture and the role you play in it should guide your choice of business attire. Some organizations still expect top male executives to wear a dark gray suit on Monday and a navy suit on Tuesday with an understated tie and starched white shirt.

However, more and more businesses are moving to full-time business casual at every level in the organization. Some just have one or two days each week that are casual. And the definition of business casual varies, ranging from jeans to blazers.

Just as in business communication, business dress requires you to know your audience. You need to gauge what attire will be right for the audience and the circumstance. This all hinges on the norms of the culture of the industry, region, company, division, department, and function.

While your attire can be a vehicle for personal expression, you can pay a price for violating the written and unwritten codes of your culture. Always know the price before you pay.

Dress for Business, Not Pleasure

Business attire is different from social attire and tends to be more formal. Determining just how formal can be as slippery as satin. What's one person's floor is another's ceiling. But one thing is certain: the parameters that cover business attire are narrower than they are for social attire. For example, social attire can be more suggestive or flashier or make more of a statement, while business attire should be tuned to the needs of the business circumstance.

Typical formal business attire has an advantage because it can easily direct listeners to your eyes………………

In business, your clothing and grooming should not distract. Rather, they should direct attention to your face and particularly your eyes. When you connect with someone else's eyes, they tend to listen. But who can stay focused on eyes when your manager has her fingers manicured with lavender polish and 10 bolts of silver lightning striking her cuticles, or your purchasing agent has a copper ring pierced through his nose?

Do's and Don'ts to survive the formal dress code

DO’s:

Ø  Always look professional

Ø  Dress for the audience, the circumstance, the corporate culture, and yourself

Ø  Wear clothes that fit

Ø  Make sure your clothes are pressed

Ø  Keep jackets buttoned (formal)

Ø  Err on the side of conservative

Ø  Keep your hair neat and trimmed

Ø  No hair in eyes

Ø  Mild (or no) fragrances

Ø  Ties should be conservative and reach the middle of your belt buckle

Ø  Lace-up shoes (usually black) with a suit

Ø  A traditional starched business shirt, prefer-ably white cotton with a suit

Ø  Shirts with a simple collar and cuffs

Ø  A formal but simple watch

Ø  Hair, usually parted to one side, not reaching the top of your shirt collar

Ø  Over-the-calf socks

DON'T:

Ø  Undo multiple buttons on your shirt

Ø  Clothing that no longer fits

Ø  Wear wrinkled clothing

Ø  Fabrics that have a noticeable sheen

Ø  Hair that falls in your face or obscures your eyebrows

Ø  Hair that requires continual adjustment

Ø  Fragrance that smells from a distance

Ø  ID badges when you're presenting

Ø  Busy patterns

Ø  Garish ties

Ø  Sloppy facial hair (in some organizations, any facial hair can be career-inhibiting)

Ø  Shiny tie pins or clips or big belt buckles

Ø  Visible jewelry (other than a watch and/or a single simple ring)

Ø  Distracting lapel pins

Ø  Open top shirt button with a tie

Ø  Short-sleeved dress shirts

Ø  Short socks

Ø  Loafers with a suit

Well that’s all for today. I will be back with something special for the guys……oops, sorry and for the ladies too. But guys majorly……smiles.

I remain Caleb Ajagbe