Dress Choices For Casual Fridays - When To Leave Neckties In Your Closet

A good number of offices and organizations have set one day of the week usually a casual Friday where the dress code is relaxed just a bit for everyone. If your office has set one up too, it is time for you to learn how to pull off a casual Friday (or any day, for that matter) well. Even if the rules of dress are flexible, they do not change by much and you will still have to dress up to a certain and often unspoken code of appropriateness.

What Goes Wrong with Workwear?
One of the most common options for casual days at the office is the polo shirt also called a tennis or golf shirt paired with slacks and more casual shoes like loafers. But even this seemingly tried-and-tested combo can go awry all because of a lack of quality.

Although polo shirts have been a wardrobe staple for the past several decades, wearing one to the office demands for a certain standard of quality. Coarse, poorly made or ill-fitting polo shirts will make you look like a mendicant looking for alms, not an employee seeking a promotion. Go for higher thread counts or special fabrics like mercerized cotton, either of which will make for a better quality and better-looking polo shirt.

Casual Fridays are also your opportunity to try out clothes and combinations that would otherwise have been seen as too bold or too modern for the usual office dress code. This, however, does not mean that you have the license to bring out that Spongebob tie you got for Christmas, or that huge flower-print shirt. There is office formal; there is office casual and then there is that downright embarrassing.

The Office Casual Dress Code
A solid colored polo shirt (striped ones can work in more laid-back offices) with slacks and loafers will already pass for most offices. If you are not used to wearing something other than a shirt to work, feel free to wear a patterned or striped shirt. Just lose the tie, open the top button and roll up your sleeves so that you will fit right in with the rest of the offices more casual vibe.

If you want to try bolder or more modern combinations, casual Fridays are your chance to try out some of them. Test the waters at first with patterned shirts or ties in colors that are slightly louder than usual. Whereas deep or subtle colors are necessary for usual office attire, you could opt for more shocking choices like loud pink, electric blue, mandarin orange or neon green. Pack a spare tie, though, in case management does not agree.

Dressing for casual Friday is a weekly test of how well you can balance your style. It is your chance to be a lot more individual and personal with your choice of clothing, but certain rules of dress in the office must also be observed. With a little practice and experimentation, though, casual Friday could very well become a ritual that you will anticipate and dress well for every week.