Business formal is a full suit and tie. Certain industries and companies are flexible when it comes to tie colors and patterns, and these days loafers are often appropriate. A business casual outfit is one you can wear on casual Fridays or their equivalent. A polo or button-down tucked into dress pants or chinos is common, though there’s a wide range of accepted styles.
I’ve mentored quite a few interns.
Many have lamented that telling the difference between business casual versus business professional is an unfair challenge.
Unfair because they’re confusingly close together on the casual-formal spectrum, and yet, when getting dressed, mistaking one for the other can yield major consequences.
You might look unprofessional or inexperienced. Worst case scenario, you might lose potential opportunities because the wrong person doesn’t take you seriously.
No worries. I’m here to help.
With my debutante mother and party-enthusiast father, dress codes are in my blood. Plus, I’ve spent over a decade in a conservative suit-and-tie industry.
Here’s how to navigate the world of business dress codes.
Top-Level Differences and Why it’s Confusing
A business professional outfit is basically just a full suit. Ideally, you’d go for a conservative, solid tie, perhaps even a simple, understated pattern, and traditional lace-up leather dress shoes.
Business casual is a more relaxed outfit than a full suit, perhaps a polo and dress pants, maybe a broken suit with no tie. It’s something that you might wear on a casual Friday or a casual off-site work event.
There’s a wider range here, and some contexts are more casual than others.
The reason these two dress codes are so confusing is because there can be a lot of overlap between the two depending on your industry. Moreover, no two professional environments are made alike. This is especially so in current society, where we’re deep into the casualization of the office dress code.
Even more, what business casual is, often, wholly depends on the agreed tenets of what business professional is.
For example, suede loafers are perfectly acceptable in my formal place of work. So is wearing a cashmere vest over a suit vest. Does this mean I can wear sneakers on casual Friday? No, but I can during the company picnic, as long as they’re simple, clean, and ideally leather and low-profile.
But I definitely can’t wear a t-shirt, which means there’s no room in my world for that modern t-shirt-with-a-suit combo that’s popular these days.
Let’s break down this confusion by going deep into each dress code.
Business Professional: Always a Suit
One thing that all business professional dress codes include is a full suit.
This means a solid suit in a dark color, such as navy, charcoal, dark brown, and possibly even maroon or a dark olive. You’ll pair it with a conservative tie, long-sleeve solid dress shirt, and leather dress shoes with dress socks.
Levels of Flexibility
Even the most traditional suit-and-tie environments tend to be okay with subtle patterns, like small dots, simple stripes in dark or neutral colors, small check, and even certain plaids.
Don’t go for a rainbow madras tie or anything like that, but a blue and green tartan in which the sections fade into each other a bit is acceptable in certain work environments.
As I mentioned, my conservative dress company is okay with me wearing suede loafers. These days, this is okay in a lot of professional environments. If you’re starting a new job and aren’t sure how strict they are, stick to leather lace-up dress shoes and observe what your colleagues wear.
Don’t outdress your superiors though. If your boss isn’t wearing a diamond-encrusted tie-clip, you shouldn’t be either.
The next level of flexibility is whether or not you can wear loud patterns on your ties and whether or not you can wear patterned shirts at all.
I have friends who work in fashion magazines, and I know that they’ll often wear a patterned shirt or a bright paisley tie. If you know you can do either of these, just don’t do them at the same time. That would be considered too loud outside of a work environment.
And the next level of flexibility overlaps with business casual. This is what I consider conditional business professional. Crisp t-shirts with full suits and dress shoes, suits with low-profile leather sneakers, broken suits, and full suits with no ties.
Traditionally, these are not business professional outfits. However, in some industries, for example certain sects of fashion and tech, these are acceptable, especially when you’re doing business with people in the same industry.
Business Casual: A Wide Range
Business casual ranges more than business professional does, especially these days. Some situations, again a company picnic versus a casual Friday in the office, are more casual than others.
However, you should never go too casual. Never let your guard down. Even knights bring their swords to afternoon tea.
A fairly universal business casual outfit for the summer is a polo tucked into dress pants with leather loafers. For winter, it’s a button-down, pull-over, and, again, dress pants with loafers or dress boots.
The reason these are safe is because you can throw a suit jacket or blazer over yourself if needed.
In most situations, you can swap the dress pants for chinos.
And again, a lot of the conditional business professional examples up top can usually be worn in business casual situations.
You might be able to wear a suit with a t-shirt to an after-work happy hour at a sports bar. The no-tie suit approach is definitely appropriate.
For a weekend off-site work event, like a team building trip to a museum or brewery, you might be able to wear dress sneakers. Just stick to low-profile leathers in white, black, or brown.
And to cap both dress codes off, make sure you’re well groomed in either scenario. This means being nice and clean, your facial hair is shaven or maintained, and your head hair is combed and tidy.
Business Casual: What Not to Wear
Since there’s so much flexibility in business casual, you can play it safe by avoiding the following garments and accessories:
- V-neck t-shirts
- Graphic t-shirts
- Baggy anything
- Ripped jeans
- Light-wash jeans
- Loud jewelry (Don’t wear multiple rings on both hands and multiple dangling necklaces like you’re Johnny Depp)
- Brightly-colored sneakers
- High-top sneakers
- Shorts
- Flip-flops or sandals
- Baseball caps
- Athleisure
- Activewear
- Excessive fragrances (Creed makes some top-notch colognes that aren’t obnoxious, by the way)
- Suits pieces with in loud colors or with loud patterns
Hopefully most things on this list are obvious. But, as the world continues to casualize, it’s good to know that you can get halfway to a successful business casual outfit by simply narrowing down your choices.
Conclusion
Just play it safe. When it comes to professional environments, take your risks on closing big deals and making connections, not on your outfit.
And this is especially so if you’re new to the company.
If you’re a freelancer and joining in on another company’s event, or going to an industry convention or meet-up, just follow the rules in the strictest sense.
You might go for a nice shirt and dress pants for business casual, perhaps you have a tie in your pocket just in case. And you’ll definitely opt for a full suit and tie in flattering neutrals if the event is business professional. You never know who you’ll bump into.
While a nuanced grasp of business professional and business casual may impress a potential connection, no one would look down on a gent who’s simply following the rules.
