Fashionable Shorts for Business Casual Friday

 When I first started at my job I had a week of offsite training.  Being young and fresh out of uni, I was intent on making a good impression and somehow pretending I was grown up enough to be in the office.  I was excited, fresh and full of hope...  until I saw the dress code.  The entire week would be "business casual" and not even the person who wrote the policy truly knew what that meant.

The particular policy at my workplace has some very specific rules; no summer dresses, no leather skirts/pants, no spaghetti straps/singlets/having shoulders that exist at all.  I was even given a whole training hour on the meaning of "business casual", where it was emphatically pointed out that earrings cannot be too long and dangle-y, and those wearing boat shoes should leave them at home.

Now, all of that is fair enough.  It sends the message that the business casual dress code REALLY means business with a twist, with nothing casual about it at all.  However, for some reason tailored shorts are allowed.  For people with no style, this can only lead to horrible misunderstandings at work.

How NOT to wear shorts at the office:


   1. If you don't normally bear your legs at work, don't bear them in shorts
Shorts and skirts are very similar.  No one wants to see your hairy legs in the office.  If there's a good reason you never wear skirts to work, there's probably a good reason for you not to wear shorts either.

I don't even care that the shorts below are Arthur Galan.  Half of you is going to work, and the other half appears to be going to the beach.

    2. Your shorts should never be tight
This can be said for almost anything you wear to work, but tight shorts are never going to look work appropriate.

Below, Michelle Obama shows us not to wear shorts that get eaten by our crotch.

     3. Don't wear them if you even have to question whether they are work appropriate
The best advice in our business casual policy is "if in doubt, don't wear it".  If you look in the mirror and you're not quite sure if those shorts are a good idea, they're probably not.

I saw the below pair on FashionPolice.net, click through to see how much worse they are from the back.

How to SUCCESSFULLY wear shorts in the office:


Wear tailored shorts.

Make sure they are not tight.

Check the length, if they're a tad too short, consider wearing them with tights/stockings.

Wear them confidently.

Choose something appropriate for your top half.  Add a blazer or jacket, don't wear a bikini top or a charity t-shirt.

Add some heels and transform your look from "weekend casual shorts" to "dressy office shorts".

Valentino Spring 2010