Welcome To Your Closet

No Nude Bikinis Here…

With all the hype over the Miley Cyrus at the VMAs, I felt inspired to write this week about my closet. Well actually my cloths. I have two walk in closets, one that is solely filled with boxes and another with cloths shoes and more boxes, a linen closet and a coat closet. Only one of the closets has any cloths in it. I have plenty of room to stash cloths, unlike in college where it was lucky if most of my clothes were not shoved into a laundry bag.

Having cloths for college and high school is very different from having a wardrobe for work and being an adult in general. This does not mean that I have given up all of my T-shirts and bagging pants (my sister has threatened to put me on “What Not To Wear” every year since I have entered high school, thank the lord the show is ending). Instead I have managed to arrange several outfits that I can rotate through. I have discovered that I can go three weeks without needing to do laundry, life is good.

Luckily my work has a (for me) fairly relaxed dress policy. I can wear jeans, but should have a collared shirt or nice blouse on. I prefer the collared shirt. I like to “dress sharp”, as my dad calls it, for work.  This includes polos, button downs and flattering clothes that are not too tight or very revealing. Some people might call it preppy, but the right colors and combinations can make it a little more subtle.

Though I am also just starting out and am no expert, here are a few things I live by:

·         Don’t throw out all your clothes. Donate them or keep them for the weekends. You’ll want comfortable things to work out in or just lay around your new home in.

·         Newly graduates (or soon to be graduates) of both genders should have at least one black or grey suite or dress slacks.

·         Invest in good sensible shoes. Men will always look good in leather (or faux leather for the animal friendly) shoes. Also these shoes should last you a while. Ladies these shoes can have heals, but they need to be comfortable. Having flip-flops in the purse as back up is also smart.

·         Invest in at least one blazer or sports coat. Again this is for both genders. Anything you wear can go from informal to formal by just putting these jackets on. Okay maybe not anything, but many things.

Putting effort into appearance is important. Ladies should start looking into investing in make-up. My mother says to go to a department story or make-up place and walk around until you see someone with a look you like, then ask them for a demonstration and what they recommend. Make-up is used to enhance natural beauty, not make someone look like a clown or that they forgot to sleep for a week.

Hollywood and the tabloids seem to send messages everywhere and to both genders that sex is the only way to dress and be presentable in public. This is all nonsense. The working world is not the place to dress like a movie star on the big screen (or a formal child star trying to shed her “good girl” image). If you want to do that you can hit the big city on the weekends and see what kind of attention you get, again for both genders.

Sorry if I seem to be ragging on the VMAs like everyone else seems to be, but it’s starting to be hard to take a lot of these celebrities seriously. A good wardrobe and clean look goes a long way. People judge other people all the time by how they look. It’s a sad but true fact (one that I have had to face since I can no longer hide behind a giant hoodie and baggy jeans at work like I did in high school). No one would show up to an interview dressed like they just rolled out of bed. So invest in a few good pieces and learn to mix and match. A sharp and polished knife cuts more meat for a butcher than an unclean messy one.