In the previous posts we reviewed how to find and define your personal style. Now it’s time to create your first personal uniform! I dedicated this post to the work uniform because for most of us, what we wear to work is a more reserved version of ourselves. The other uniforms: everyday, formal, active, and lounge allow for more flexibility, so let’s start with the hardest one first.
Personal work uniforms are worn to the office or wherever you work and can include video meetings.
Depending on your job, your workplace may be extremely casual, where you have a lot of flexibility on what you can wear, extremely formal, where you’ll have to find a uniform that fits into a narrow set of guidelines, or somewhere in the middle.
As a reminder, a personal uniform is a standardized look that people create for themselves to simplify their daily routine. Many folks who create a personal uniform don’t struggle with figuring out what to wear everyday because they’ve created a standardized outfit to wear instead. You can read more about the types of personal uniforms in this post.
If you’ve been following along to the weekly posts, at this point you should be able to:
Understand personal uniforms as a concept - If not, check out this post.
Describe your personal style - If not, check out this post.
A personal work uniform is not for those who:
Already have a mandated work uniform, such as retail, aviation, military, healthcare, and the police.
Work in a workplace that is extremely casual. You may be able to skip creating a work uniform and just wear your everyday uniform, if you’d like. We’ll cover how to create that in the next post.
Who are not yet or no longer in the workforce such as students or those who are retired.
A personal work uniform is for those who:
Do not have a mandated work uniform and are in some form of the workforce. Note: I consider stay-at-home parents in this category as well, however depending on your preference, you may opt to skip a personal work uniform and opt just for an everyday uniform, it’s up to you.
Want to get dressed in the morning faster and more easily.
Want to declutter their closet and decrease the amount of time spent shopping.
Want to present themselves with intention and consistency.
Your work uniform will largely be influenced by a few dimensions:
How formal your workplace is.
How practical your outfit needs to be.
How you want to be perceived at your workplace.
A personal work uniform consists of the following elements:
Base pieces
Accent pieces
Personal grooming choices. We’ll cover this in a future post.
The base is exactly what it sounds like. This will be the common set of pieces that make the majority of your uniform. Typically, base pieces should be restricted to neutrals, especially for most workplaces. Black, white, gray, cream, navy blue are common base colors.
My work uniform is very minimal and works well for a cold (temperature) office environment where nearly all meetings are held over Zoom.
The accent is what brings your personality to the uniform and keeps things interesting. These could be clothing pieces, but also includes accessories. Like the base, the accent should be restricted to about 2-3 colors. Varying shades of blue, red, green, yellow, pink, orange are common accent colors.
If you’ve heard of a ‘Capsule Wardrobe’ the concept of base and accent pieces should be familiar.
Restrict the colors of your wardrobe to a core ‘base’ to make it easy to mix and match pieces and ultimately get ready faster. If there aren’t color guidelines in your wardrobe, you may waste time trying to find pieces that ‘go’ together. We’ll cover this more in a future post.
Aside from colors, it’s important to restrict your base to a few different clothing styles. I used to run into issues where I’d have a shirt and pants I’d want to wear, but the shirt would be too short and the pants too low rise, meaning I couldn’t wear those pieces together for work. It’s important to make decisions on what styles of clothes you feel most comfortable in, such as:
High rise vs. low rise pants and skirts
Pant cut styles
Neckline styles
The less variety you have in these clothing styles, the easier it will be to get dressed, have a consistent look, and shop for future pieces.
How to find your personal work uniform:
Make a note of your base and 2-3 accent colors.
Use Pinterest or other photo curating apps and the 2-3 fashion styles you picked from the ‘How to define your style’ post to get inspiration for your personal work uniform. Save any photo that you like and begin to look for themes.
Go to your closet and pick out pieces that you love to wear to work today. Is there any overlap in what you’ve saved from your inspiration gathering? Build your base on the commonality between what your ideal work uniform looks like (I.e. saved inspiration photos) and what you already own and love.
Document in whatever way works best for you. Below is the template I’ve used with clients that works well, but you can also do this in your Notes app on your phone, in a journal or with photos.
Coming up next:
How to find your everyday, formal, active, and lounge uniforms.
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