Have you ever dressed up like Captain America, Superwoman, or Spiderman for Halloween? Or maybe watched as a child you care about carefully selects their Halloween superhero persona? Do you remember how as soon as the cape goes on the confidence increases and the mission to help others and save the world becomes paramount (ok, yes, having the superpower to fly is also really cool!)? Putting on the right outfit for an interview, a day at work, or an important networking event can engender those same feelings of confidence, sense of purpose, and on a good day maybe even make you feel like you are flying!
There are all sorts of career tips and advice for how to dress for success professionally, but it can be really confusing trying to wade through all the information. Plus, often times the information is contradictory and does not take into account your own specific work environment, fashion sense, or innate knowledge of what really flatters you. Recently at Loyola Marymount University, my management colleagues and I partnered with two student organizations to create an event to help students and professionals become their best selves through style. The event was called Dress Code Decoded: Fashion Your Way to Career Success and it was held on April 3, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgeivIfmHyk. We were so fortunate to have the talented wardrobe stylist Eva Sippel www.evasippel.com be our presenter for the evening. Eva works with celebrities, professionals, and regular folks who want to be their best selves through fashion. Eva’s approach to what to wear is fun, stress free, and about working with what you have and who you are rather than busting your budget. In this event, Eva skillfully guides our Loyola Marymount University student models who are wearing their own clothes through three segments: 1)What to wear on an interview, 2)What to wear for business casual for regular industries and creative industries, and 3)How to transform your work-day outfit to something appropriate for an evening event. Whether you are just getting started or are already launched in your career, this video has great career tips and advice for what to wear. Although most of us can’t rock the tights and cape for daily wear at the office, wearing the right outfit in a work setting can boost your confidence, allow you to be your best self, and let your real super powers shine.
Here is the link and if you like you can fast forward over the introductions directly to Eva’s presentation about 8 minutes in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgeivIfmHyk
I hope you enjoy and that this is helpful to you.
Special thanks also go to all the folks at LMU who helped me to make this event possible including my wonderful colleagues and fellow faculty members: Professors Angelica Gutierrez, Cathy McGrath, Patricia Martinez, and Charles Vance. A heartfelt thank you to our amazing LMU Staff members Natalie Drdek and Kathe Segall who dedicated themselves everyday to this event and managed the astonishing myriad of details with calm and grace. A huge thanks also to our student organizations, Alpha Kappa Psi (and especially Kira Consalvo who I met with weekly to plan this event), and the LMU Human Resource Society. Thank you to our brave and beautiful LMU student models that brought our red carpet to life. And once again, thank you to Eva Sippel, our presenter, for her talent, dedication, and creativity.