As temperatures continue to drop, I realize it’s time to talk about cold-weather fashion trends for the workplace.
A professional appearance is essential, and both men and women need to dress for success. It might be tempting to don a warm and cozy pair of sweats to work, but that isn’t recommended – even if the office observes casual Friday.
People can dress warmly, comfortably, and successfully in the cold weather with these beautiful winter fashion trends.
Winter Fashion Trends for Professional Women
Business women have many trends to choose from, and they’re sure to please even the fussiest of dressers. Women generally put a lot more thought into their wardrobe, yet women’s business fashion hasn’t been around as long as men’s business fashion has.
Before the women’s liberation movement, many women stayed home and raised children.
Now, these powerhouse moms are proving they are just as savvy, if not more, a businessperson as their male counterparts, but they still want to look good.
When it comes to winter dress for businesswomen, scarves are as much of a trend for the ladies as they are for the men. Businesswomen who want to dress up a business suit of either the skirt or slack style can add a warm and cozy scarf for a splash of color.
Women can wrap the scarf around their necks when outside in the chill, and then tie it loosely around their necks when indoors. Scarves are the perfect and purposeful way to dress up any business attire, and women can choose beautiful brooches to pin the scarves for added sophistication.
To complement the warmth of the scarf, women can wear a stylish long-sleeved T as opposed to a blouse. Long-sleeved Tee’s come in a variety of colors and styles, and they layer well with suit coats, sweaters, and scarves to give an outfit a polished and professional look.
Many of these Tee’s come in thin, soft materials, giving women the option of slightly cooler wear if the furnace is running unusually warm in the office that day.
When accessorized properly, long-sleeved Tee’s provide a professional look, even though they are technically t-shirts.
To complete the workplace winter dream outfit, add a chambray button-down sweater or bright colored coat over the long-sleeved Tee and scarf.
The chambray button-down offers an added splash of color and style over the traditional white button-down shirt, especially if a patterned sweater is chosen.
Chambrays tend to be thicker and warmer, too. If the wearer prefers, pick a hip-length button down coat to polish off the winter look, and don’t be afraid of color.
Let go of the traditional winter black, brown, or gray, and add bright colors to the winter wardrobe.
Winter Fashion Trends for Men
Men have it easier than women do when it comes to professional dress.
Who knows why, but perhaps it’s because business has been a man’s world for so long and business clothing for men has been around forever.
Face it, a business suit is a business suit, and a suit provides a smart and professional look all year round. That doesn’t mean, however, that men can’t enjoy some business fashion trends of their own aside from the traditional suit. They can and they should.
As the cold weather approaches, men can jazz up their business wardrobe with warm accessories. For example, one business dress trend for men in the winter season is matching scarf and tie sets.
Most men have to wear ties to work anyway, and they can dress up the look while warming up by adding a matching scarf to the suit.
The scarf can be worn around the neck when outside, and then laid flat down the chest inside the suit coat’s collar for additional color and flair.
Another winter trend for men’s business wear is v-necked sweaters. Depending on office dress codes, wearers might reserve the v-necked cozy until casual Friday.
Either way, this additional layer of warmth lies nicely over a dress shirt with the tie tucked underneath. Men can wear their suit coats over the sweater, remove the sweater once inside, and put the suit jacket on as usual.
It’s nice to have layered options for the outside cold and the inside warmth, and newer styles take the v-neck look from grandfatherly to modern and trendy.
Finally, corduroy isn’t just for casual wear. Many designers manufacture corduroy dress slacks, vests, and coats that make a snappy and warm addition to the business suit rotation.
Corduroy material is durable and comfortable, and with the numerous styles of corduroy out there, wearers can mix and match pants, vests, and coats with business suits and on casual Friday. In fact, a nice pair of corduroy slacks will look perfect with either a tie and scarf set or a v-necked sweater.
To sum it up
Dressing for success means dressing professionally, but nobody said that winter business attire couldn’t be fun and express individual style at the same time. With winter trends what they are, a colorful scarf, corduroy accent, long-sleeved T, or sweater will put wearers above the rest of the fashionable crowd. As long as it’s tasteful and professional, wearers can’t go wrong.
