Looking for affordable professional clothing? In today’s post I have you covered. When I got my first accounting job where the dress code was business casual, I remember walking into The Limited and feeling overwhelmed. I broke out into hives because I had no clue what to buy and how on earth was I going to put together a professional work wardrobe when not everything in the store worked for me. I left stressed and came back again a week later, and with the help of the store manager, I was able to put together a few looks to last me a while.
Now that I have been working in the Corporate world for almost 12 years, I have worked in casual, business casual, and business environments. My wardrobe has also gone through many updates to my forever changing style and life changes (motherhood brought me my new postpartum body).
This post is great for a new grad, a professional looking to update their wardrobe, or someone who may have taken some time off work and has decided to get back into the corporate world.
THRIFT STORES
Years back, the only time I stepped foot into a thrift store was to buy a Christmas sweater for an ugly sweater party. Now, thrift stores are one of my go to’s for affordable professional clothing.I am a regular at some of the local places we have in Columbus. I will be honest and say that I do get overwhelmed at times when I try to go through every single rack to see if I can find any hidden gems. I usually purchase skirts, blazers, coats, shoes and accessories. Sweater and shirt aisles are the ones that overwhelm me. I usually just peruse and if something jumps at me, then I will look closer.
One of the reasons I love ASOS is that they have more options when it comes to sizes. A lot of the pieces you find on their site, they usually will have in Petite, Regular, Plus, Tall, and Maternity. They have amazing pieces for both work and play. The only thing with their items is that some of the brands they have might have not so great quality pieces.
Whenever I hear Loft, I always think of great fitting blouses. Loft is definitely my go to for business casual tops and skirts.
J Crew is known for having amazing pencil skirts. I try to stick to the wool pencil skirts because I find that the cotton and linen skirts tend to wrinkle(as seen here). You can pick up a great fitting pencil skirt from J Crew Factory for under $30 during a sale.
Banana Republic is always my favorite when it comes to button down shirts. They have the fitted non iron shirts, which were all I wore when I traveled for work and needed to go from the plane to the office.
WORK LOOKS