Business as Usual Shirt

The quintessential business as usual shirt is the starched, solid white button down shirt. Sometimes the buttoned oxford collar white shirt also fits in this category.  Many times this shirt is paired with the equally iconic power tie of dark red or dark blue.  When it is important to show your compliance to a given business environment norm you will want to make this classic choice. Anything less might be considered disrespectful to the other members in attendance.  You do not want to give the wrong impression and have the client against you before you even get a chance to speak.

But perhaps you do not want to go the business as usual shirt route. Perhaps you want to break the tradition and stand out as an innovative thinker with new fresh ideas.  Playing this maverick role can help you if you think the client or boss is looking for someone who is outside the box.  This can backfire however if you misread your audience. Standing out can be just a way to be looked at as not as serious as the rest of the group.  In a traditional business environment, there are limits on what kind of appearance is acceptable.

Colors for business shirts have become plentiful in the last couple of decades. The business as usual shirt of classic white has been replaced by brighter colors with patterns such as stripes or swirls.  Bark bold colors with patterned ties are just as accepted in many environments.  This is especially true in more talent oriented industries such as advertising or media. These types of industries appreciate the risk and reward of edgy innovative thinking.  Sometimes the wilder the better is the mantra for these professionals.  Everything from neon to pastels is good to go and good to show how different you are from the rest of the pack.

One way to dress up the business as usual shirt is with the matching or not so matching tie. For a long time only dark solid colors like red or blue were allowed to decorate the shirt front of the serious business man. But now many business environments are allowing more expressive and colorful ties. These accessories can have paisley patterns or diamonds or even renderings of famous art works. It is important to understand the limits set in the office. Even progressive offices a have limits in taste and decorum.

The business as usual shirt also has been given new life by the colors and styles of the suits that go over them.  The dark blue suit or blazer was the only choice for many years. But now there are colors and styles that are perfectly acceptable.  Mix and match blazers with tan and blue individual suit pieces are a change from the blue suit coat/blue pants marriage of the past.  Grays, browns, greens, purples, and even yellows now are welcome in many offices.  These colors allow the wearer to choose shirts that are colors other than white giving them an updated and younger look.