<p>My D has an internship this summer with a large accounting firm in Chicago. She will be meeting with clients as well as working in the office. All of this means she needs “real” business clothes - not the slacker college girl clothes she has now.</p>
<p>Her birthday is coming up and I offered to help buy her a suitable wardrobe. Trouble is, I’m semi-clueless when it comes to appropriate business attire (I’ve working in a lab and in academia, neither of which is known for being fashion-forward.) I need tips for clothing and where to shop! She does already have a gray suit (jacket, skirt and pants) from Banana Republic and a good pair of black pants.</p>
<p>Any ideas that don’t come directly from me will be greatly appreciated from D.</p>
<p>Depending on how formal the office is (ie, if she needs to be in a suit every day, obviously that’s different than a relatively more business casual office)</p>
<ul>
<li>Cardigans - lots of cardigans in different colors (J Crew Jackie is a great one, as is Lands’ End Canvas cardigans, you’ll also find a bunch at H&M & Forever 21)</li>
<li>Tank tops or shells to wear under the cardigans (Again, Wet Seal/F21 should have plenty of good options)</li>
<li>Pencil skirts/more dressy slacks (I prefer the silhouette sold at more “trendy” stores, but make sure they’re not too tight/too young looking)</li>
<li>One or two good pairs of pumps and a couple of “formal” flats (You can get these anywhere but Nine West makes some nice ones)</li>
<li>If she was going to be working in winter, I’d say a nice pair of boots</li>
<li>An understated basic purse of some sort</li>
<li>Some button down shirts, some pullover sweaters (Ralph Lauren, J Crew, etc)
If you buy things that go with at least 3 other things you’ve bought, you’ll be able to create a 2-3 wk wardrobe fairly easily. She can add personality with accessories but there’s a lot of benefit to grabbing the basics now. When she goes back to school, she can wear the cardis and tank tops with jeans, etc.</li>
</ul>
<p>Suits are a good idea, with a few blouses to go with them. Pants suits or skirted are fine. A professional looking blouse with the slacks might be okay without a jacket, too. With some conservative jewelry or a scarf. This probably sounds really basic, but NO CLEAVAGE. </p>
<p>Watch out for the shoe trap D struggles with the length of the pants to go with her various shoes. All of her pants are hemmed to go with heels (not high, maybe 1 - 1.5"). But she then can’t wear them with flats. So she needs to consider what shoes she will wear with her pants.</p>
<p>Shoes… I personally think closed toe is best in a large accounting firm. Stockings… she should wear slacks her first day and see what others in the office are wearing… Not other interns, but people who have the jobs she would like to have. Girls our D’s age think stockings are unnecessary, but she needs to assess the office she is working in. I think the same about sleeveless blouses – check out what others who have permanent jobs are wearing before going there.</p>
<p>We shopped for suits for D2 for debate last fall at Macy’s, and found very good selection at a reasonable price.</p>
<p>For D1, we got her some clothes for her internship, but she has permission to go buy 2 more outfits on my credit card (within reason, she knows what that means) now that she has a feeling for her office.</p>
<p>Oh, and D1 has stressed mightily about her coat situation. She is tall, and is looking for a professional looking trenchcoat for spring/summer wear. Her dad offered to pay, but she has not found one yet, and it is warming up in her part of the country. No luck in the local stores, so she has been sending me online links for my opinion.</p>
<p>Check out the blog Corporette. It has some great reading and discussion about what young professional women wear. </p>
<p>I would have her check out Ann Taylor – that strikes me as a good place for a young girl just starting out who wants professional clothing that isn’t old-lady.</p>
<p>Nice, dressy pants in black, gray and brown are a great staple. She can wear lots of tops with them and dress them up or down as appropriate. The cardigan-with-a-contrasting-shell look, maybe with some great jewelry, would be really versatile for a young woman.</p>
<p>I think she shouldn’t overinvest, however, til she finds out more about the dress code of that particular office. Is there someone she can contact? Because business casual can span all the way from “look as polished as a full suit, but maybe it’s just more interesting and more pants” down to “khakis and a cotton sweater you’d wear to run errands in too.”</p>
<p>When you’re building a basic wardrobe, avoid “loud” prints, lots of pieces that make a big statement, etc. She can add those as she grows in her career and determines what’s appropriate, what’s not, but for a basic wardrobe, it’s okay to start a little boring.</p>
<p>There’s a great blog about young women’s work wear - I can’t link to it here but it’s written by a woman named Kat Griffin and if you google her, you’ll find the blog.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl - I was talking about Corporette! Just didn’t know if I could say it.</p>
<p>D1 got a 10% discount (on top of the sale price) on her med school interview suit at Banana Republic by mentioning she was a recent grad from the local college and needed a suit for a job interview.</p>
<p>It’s not something BR publicizes, but it’s available for the asking.</p>
<p>I worked for a national accounting firm back in the day when you wore gray suits and those floppy bow ties…a lot has changed since then, thank goodness.</p>
<p>All great advice above. And I would add…I see a lot of young women in the business world these days that wear their clothes too tight, too short, too much cleavage, bra straps visible, heels that are too high, etc. This really detracts from the look. Accounting firms are always going to be conservative and they expect their staff to look professional at all times. The Ann Taylor ‘look’ works well for that profession.</p>
<p>I read somewhere that Katherine Hepburn said to choose 2 colors and stay with them through your whole wardrobe. I would make it three – mine are tan/khaki, rose pink & turquoise. But I am in my 50s (and I have a black suit for funerals & other really serious stuff).</p>
<p>I think she went with tan & cream.</p>
<p>If you stay with a small number of colors, everything you buy will go with each other and you can mix them up to make diffferent outfits all month. You can get some scarves for brightening up your face.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your daughter! Limited has a good selection of stylish pants and skirts that are relatively easy maintenance and wrinkle-resistant; they even used to sell washable suit jackets (I’m not kidding). Here is how their “office wardrobe” pieces look:</p>
<p>My girls had great luck finding shells, solid colot tees, tailored shirts and dress slacks at Express. I buy pants there as well (love their Editor cut):</p>
<p>Corporette – me too. And I’ve never bought a blouse with a self-bow since. And don’t wear scarves that much either!</p>
<p>OP: I’d strongly suggest that your D check with a female partner/manager* at the firm to get some feedback as to what is suggested. I’d particularly question whether bare legs are acceptable, and open toed shoes/sandals. Many offices have rather poorly designed HVAC systems, and she could find herself working in an area that is too warm, or one near an A/C vent that is freezing, so having some ability to layer is helpful.</p>
<ul>
<li>Back in the day there were actually written dress codes. I didn’t like them, but they were helpful. I don’t know if they still exist, though I’m sure they’re different now. Talking to a recent graduate who is employed there might be helpful. (Guys were actually sent to Brooks Brothers with a list of what to buy, and given a cash advance to help pay for the clothes!)</li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks for all the suggestions so far (and keep them coming!)</p>
<p>D and I have already talked about staying on the conservative side - nothing too tight or low-cut or revealing. She is tall and thin but looks very young for her age, so the formal, conservative clothes should help there, too. Who trusts an accountant that looks 16?</p>
<p>She has friends who are currently interning in this firm. She asked them what the females there were wearing, but so far the response has been less than helpful (“uh - they look nice.” Boys…) PG, she does have a female contact there from when she interviewed, and I suggested that this girl would be the best one to talk to. </p>
<p>2plus2, thanks for the tips (D isn’t much for patterns or prints anyway, but it’s good to keep in mind.) intparnet - good suggestion about the shoes. And the trenchcoat - yikes, I forgot about outerwear!</p>
<p>We definitely don’t want to overinvest, although it’s probably time to start investing in SOMEthing. Until now, she’s been wearing tight jeans and band t-shirts.</p>
<p>My daughter - law student - also needed business attire for an internship last summer. It sounds to me that your daughter has a good start with the gray suit, especially since it includes both pants and skirt, and her black pants. I would suggest another three piece suit, mainly because of the jacket - perhaps navy. Daughter was asked to keep a suit jacket with her, but told that she did not need to wear it all times, just when going to court or meeting clients.</p>
<p>Sleeveless shirts left her cold literally - and looked less professional without her jacket. She ended up gravitating toward shirts with a sleeve of some sort. Sweater sets were acceptable. A decent variety of shirts can make a pair of gray pants/skirt/black pants go a long way. </p>
<p>Business looking shirts can be found at Banana Republic and - believe it or not - Anthropologie. My daughter liked the occasional blouse that still looked young but met dress requirements; she wore those blouses on more casual days (i.e. no court scheduled). </p>
<p>Daughter was required to wear hose with skirts/dresses - something she wasn’t at all used to doing - something your daughter might check into.</p>
<p>Shoes could be flats, low heels, pumps - four-inch heels not so much. Peep toes were acceptable, sling backs a bit less so.</p>
<p>My daughter did have a dress or two that worked also. She just needed to make sure that the dress looked good with one of the ever necessary ever present jackets.</p>
<p>As others have said watch skirt length (and pant length, for that matter) and general tightness of fit.</p>
<p>Classic jewelry and not a lot of it looks more professional than funky stuff.</p>
<p>And of course, a bag or two that looks good with all of the above.</p>
<p>If you are near an outlet mall, I found an Ann Taylor, Banana Republic and a J Crew Outlet. It was an easy and affordable way to find business appropriate outfits.</p>
<p>My high school daughter loves dresses and tights. We have found that Calvin Klein makes dresses which I think would be great for an accounting firm. You might think they wouldn’t be versatile but a simple gray dress with different sweaters, tights, jewelry can be very useful. Plus we have found some of these CK dresses for less than $40.00 at TJ Marx. Some days it is nice just to put on the dress and go.</p>
<p>I’ll just put in my perennial plug for eBay. If your daughter knows her sizes in various labels, it’s just such a money savings. I’ve shopped almost exclusively from there for me and my kids for years. (Cashmere coat from Neiman’s for $30, tuxedo from Saks for $40, just bought a <em>gorgeous</em> Zegna sport coat for one of my kids for $1.) The only downside is that not absolutely everything is going to work, but I bet I’ve kept 95% of what I’ve bought.</p>
<p>When D needed a suit for Mock Trial, I found great deals that fit at Ann Taylor Loft. Much better pricing/quality than anywhere else we tried. Jacket, skirt, pants plus a variety of tops should get her through. </p>
<p>Watch how the tops fit when working at a desk…you don’t want any suprizes.</p>
<p>If it’s for a big company, there may be someone who coordinates the intern program. Your D could contact that person and ask what attire is appropriate.</p>
<p>I will go one step beyond MyLB - took my daughter’s measurements while she was home, and in the past month have built a professional wardrobe for her summer position shopping at Goodwill and consignment shops - expensive name-brand suits, jackets, skirts and blouses for a small fraction of original cost, I have even ‘borrowed’ the gorgeous Tahari suit I found for her! Even with dry-cleaning expenses and the tailor shortening a couple of pairs of slacks, she has saved a ton over what she would be paying new.</p>
<p>I run into this problem all the time. A top fits fine and is not too low cut but then I get to the office and into a meeting and will realize that when I’m seated the top is suddenly more revealing than I thought. I end up spending the entire meeting tugging the top into a more decent position.</p>
D struggles with the length of the pants to go with her various shoes. All of her pants are hemmed to go with heels (not high, maybe 1 - 1.5"). But she then can’t wear them with flats. So she needs to consider what shoes she will wear with her pants.</p>