How to Shop for an Affordable Work Wardrobe
In the age of social media, creating a thoughtful, personal brand has become essential for employees of the corporate sector. The image you portray to a potential employer often plays a big role in things like hiring or even promoting. Unfortunately, U.S. inflation is high and has been on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic launched the country into a state of financial crisis. This has dramatically affected the price of women’s apparel, which rose 5.6% from June 2020 to June 2021 according to the June 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) ‘consumer price index’ (CPI). Prices continue to increase with inflation. The July 2022 CPI tells us that the cost of women’s apparel has increased another 4.9% from July 2021 to July 2022. Consequently, professional apparel, classified as women’s suits and separates (WS&S), is in high demand as everyone returns to the office. This demand has lent itself to a 6.3% increase in the cost.
For some, CNBC reports in a 2022 article, this poses no issue. Consumers who make $100,000 or more per year are cutting back on inessential areas like travel and eating out, whereas consumers below that line are cutting back on essentials like apparel and groceries. With wealthy Americans willing to spend more on apparel, retail prices will continue to increase across the board. This means that for many American employees, the pressure to “present well” exists in harmony with the lack of resources to achieve that end.
Fortunately, we have a few tips and tricks to construct the perfect work wardrobe with a budget that works for you! Ideally, you want to invest in a wardrobe that allows you to create as many outfits as possible from a few staple items. If the concept of curating an entire professional wardrobe seems a little overwhelming, your first step should be setting up an image consulting appointment with Dress for Success Austin. Book your appointment here to meet one-on-one with a trained volunteer and receive two new professional outfits, including a bag, undergarments, shoes, makeup and hygiene products!
Client Jacquelyn looking confident and radiant after her suiting at the DFSA boutique!
During your appointment, ask your stylist about the idea of creating a wardrobe you can build on. Think about a neutral base color that supports various complementary patterns and colors, like black, charcoal gray, khaki, navy blue, or dark brown. Picking a base color does two things: It provides an easy way to ensure you have a cohesive look and guarantees you can mix and match your pieces to create more outfits!
In addition to your base color, you’ll need a signature color, like royal blue, purple or maroon, to add more life to your outfits. Use this color for accent pieces that will make your look pop and bring an extra layer of cohesion to your personal brand. Once you have a few staple pieces in your base and signature colors, you can start to build the rest of your wardrobe around those!
For affordable and sustainable fashion, we recommend visiting a secondhand store, like the Texas Thrift Store or Goodwill. Buying secondhand is better for you for a few reasons: First, most secondhand stores will price apparel far below the market price. The pricing also means you may find higher quality pieces for as low as five dollars. Finally, buying secondhand means you won’t be buying from retailers that use poor environmental standards and labor conditions.
If you have a hard time getting out to shop, you can visit online secondhand clothing stores, like Poshmark, Goodwill, eBay and ThredUp. If you want to support DFSA while building your wardrobe, shop our Poshmark closet here – 100% of proceeds go back to our organization.
If you’re having trouble finding what you’re looking for using the suggestions above, don’t worry! We’ve put together a list of inexpensive retail options for each piece we recommend for your professional wardrobe:
Blazers
Adding a blazer to any outfit is a good way to give it more of a professional flare! We recommend investing in two blazers. The safest option is to get a blazer in your chosen base color. If you invest in a second blazer, try to get it in your statement color to brighten otherwise monochrome outfits!
This Milumia blazer is a stylish option that provides a lot of color choices:
2. Blouses
Fashion experts online typically say you must have six to seven blouses to complete a professional wardrobe, but we’re here to debunk that. We believe that if you can find one simple white blouse, one simple black blouse, and one signature-color blouse, you are set for success with just three!
3. Pants & Skirts
When looking for pants and skirts, it’s important to coordinate the style (ex: high-waisted versus low-waisted) with the rest of your outfit to make sure you create the silhouette you desire. Pick the style you prefer and look for three variations that match the blouses you’ve selected. Invest in at least one variation of another style.
These Siliteelon high-waisted work pants are size inclusive and come in a variety of colors:
4. Dresses
The amount of dresses you want in your wardrobe is largely up to preference. It's a good idea to have at least one professional dress, but you can have fun here and play with your style a bit more. Remember the signature color you chose for blazers and blouses when deciding on the dress color!
5. Shoes
Finding the right work shoes can be the easiest part of constructing your wardrobe if you know what to look for. Fortunately, that part is simple, too! Get a sturdy pair of heels or flats in your chosen base color to keep your outfits cohesive. If you prefer heels, we suggest keeping them on the shorter side to stay comfortable at work. Many employers are allowing more casual footwear to enter the workspace, so if you’re looking for something with more support, try investing in a pair of base color tennis shoes that go with your work attire.
These City Classified Comfort heels in black are a perfect closet staple:
From these pieces, you should be able to put together enough outfit combinations to fill the work week with some left over!
It’s important to remember that these recommendations are only here to give you an idea of what kind of attire you can use to build your wardrobe. You want to maintain a professional look, but adding your own personal flair and showcasing your creative eye is also important when constructing your image. As long as you keep your outfits appropriate according to your workplace dress code, don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through your clothing choices!