Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Dressed to...

These days I am interning with a very famous policy organization in the valley. Given the day to day need to be in the public eye, I need to dress professionally. Of course nothing too conservative as hardly any one can afford to wear a suit in Phoenix when it's still 100F out there. But nonetheless I need to wear formal attire which is best described as business casual. I am not exactly a suit girl but I do enjoy wearing those nice skirts and jackets at times. Apparently, I do have decent sense of dressing as these day I get complements from colleagues. Among all these complements I remember an incident in DC.

When I was interning in DC, my supervisor was flexible and did not require a very conservative attire at work. In DC, every one is well dressed. Many in suits, many in uniforms. Even while travelling in Metro, it' easy to see well dressed people. I was not exactly among them. I used to wear dress pants and a shirt but no pointy shoes as they would kill my feet. No make up or anything. Just get up, dress and then take metro was a normal routine.

But one day I decided to dress up a little. Instead of a ponytail, I kept my hair down, wore earrings, light make up and nice shoes. That day when I got off the train walked towards the office building, couple of people actually wished me "Good Morning" and a gentleman held the door for me(he was carrying coffee and yet he did)and smiled. I was surprised as it was my yet another day to work and this experience was definitely out of ordinary for me. Guess, it was the little make over. Well, what you wear has something to say about you. Of course, it did not happen every day as I immediately stopped wearing make up. Sleep was so much more enticing. But it was an interesting episode.

I think that's why they say "Dress for the position you want". I hope I am sending the right signals :)

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