Careful, your office attire may be sending clients the wrong message

By Barbara Yost
The Arizona Republic

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Clothing is a form of communication, says Linda Herold, a founder of a business and social network in Scottsdale, Ariz. She says everyone has an agenda that is reflected in how they dress: "It's like a neon sign in Las Vegas."

The woman in a miniskirt cares only for attention, Herold believes. Slovenly men don't seem to care about anything.

Herold once encountered a businesswoman at 8 a.m., dressed in a flirty cocktail dress. The woman said she was going to a party — at 5 p.m.

A female attorney told Herold, "I'm so good, it doesn't matter how I look."

Not true, Herold says. Studies show that people who are more attractive and dress better win more promotions and earn more money. Those dressed comfortably and well are better able to concentrate on their work.

Mardel Mitchell discovered the impact of dressing professionally when her employer sent her to Pat Newquist, an image coach, for a makeover. Mitchell, 49, vice president and manager of escrow operations for a government real-estate operation, describes her style before she met Newquist as "lacy, flashy." Her hair was blond and spiky. She wore a lot of jewelry. "I felt I was dressed up, so I didn't see much wrong with that," she says.

Until Newquist began tactfully picking her apart. Newquist revamped Mitchell's wardrobe, making it more tailored, and took away much of her jewelry. Mitchell made her hairstyle softer, with warmer tones. She got contacts.

Back at her office, colleagues were so impressed that they were inspired to spiff up, too. Clients noticed.

"It changed my whole outlook on life," Mitchell says, her voice rich with authority. She agrees that people who dress well sometimes stand out from the crowd, but says, "I'm going to continue to stick out and feel good about it. ... I feel I'm being taken more seriously."

Terri Walman, owner of a skin-care and aesthetics business, watched her office slide into sloppiness after years of casual dress. The low point came five years ago when it seemed everyone was dressed in leggings and oversize shirts. The employees felt it, too: "Women were tired of looking frumpy."
 
So Walman issued uniforms and set a street-clothes standard of black pants or skirts and crisp white tops.

Now, she says, "They feel pretty. They feel good."

College graduates sometimes need advice as they enter the workplace. Newquist jokes that new grads should burn their old clothes.

Clothing researcher and author John T. Molloy says that while many companies are demanding more professionalism in the way their employees dress, he thinks some workplaces are going even more casual.

But he says the business suit is still the power garment: "Just look at everyone in Washington, from the president on down. That suit is not going away," he says.

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