If you pay the slightest attention to what people wear in the office, you’ve surely noticed how men’s business attire has changed over the years.

Men’s office wear is now a lot more casual than ever before. That’s mostly thanks to the IT department and Hawaii (see how it all started here).

That’s not a bad thing. Being more casual at work breaks the rigid style rules and gives you more space to express your personality.

But it also opens the door to many more faux-pas. You’ve undoubtedly noticed around you a few men who don’t seem to know how to dress properly for the office.

If you’re reading this guide to professional business attire, you know how important it is to dress for the part. Whether it is for an interview, your first day in a new job, or to upgrade your wardrobe as your career progresses, your professional business look is a reflection of how much you care about your career. Your clothes show the level of respect that you have for yourself.

This guide to the office wear for men in 2020 will help you look better when you’re working. But more importantly, it will show you how to dress appropriately for that next promotion and elevate your career to new heights.

Exploring the professional business style

Let’s get one thing out of the way first: dressing for the office doesn’t have to be expensive. While you can spend a lot of money on a luxury business suit and tie if you want to, you don’t necessarily have to.

You’ll see in this guide that with just a few well-chosen items, you’ll be able to look great whatever your office style might be.

This article is part of a style series covering the 5 essential dress codes for men:

1. Casual style

2. Smart casual style

3. Business casual style

4. Business professional style

5. Cocktail attire style

The modern business professional look

Welcome to our 2020 business professional look guide for the modern man. We’ve broken down this guide into several sections. You can skip to the part that’s most important to you.

What is the Business Professional style?

The business professional look is easy to define. Unlike smart casual or business casual, the professional business style for men has a clear set of rules and principles.

It doesn’t mean that it’s easy to execute with class, however.

Your office style should send a powerful message to your coworkers: you’re smart, efficient, ambitious and ready to maximise your potential.

The secret to a successful office wardrobe for men is in the details. The quality of your suits’ cut and fabric. The fit of your shirt. The finishing and details of your shoes. And how well you’re able to pull it all together in an attractive and compelling way.

Dress code definition: What does business professional mean?

Your business professional attire starts with a suit, a shirt, a tie and a pair of dress shoes. It’s that simple.

Once you have the foundations taken care of, you can start to work with accessories to complete your look: a belt, a dressy watch and cufflinks.

Let’s look at each garment one by one. Our style experts have handpicked specific recommendations to help you achieve the look.

1. A suit that means business

A business suit is a set of garments made from the same cloth. A two-piece suit consists of at least a jacket and trousers. A three-piece suit includes a waistcoat underneath the jacket.

We will focus here on the two-piece suit as it’s the most commonly worn by men in the office. A three-piece suit is now mostly reserved for weddings or very formal occasions.

Every grown-up man needs at least one suit in its wardrobe. If you expect to wear a business suit every day for work, you should buy two or three more of different colours.

For your first suit, start with a plain dark navy colour with no pattern. Navy is the most flexible colour that can easily be combined with different shirts and ties. Your second suit should be dark charcoal or even black. It’s also easy to combine with other colours and can be worn for more formal occasions (think wedding and funerals).

2. A set of button-up collared shirts

Next on the list are your business shirts. Stick to the timeless classics when selecting your shirt. Begin with a few simple white collared shirts.

When selecting your business shirts, make sure that they look good when fully buttoned-up. You want the collar to have some substance and structure to perfectly frame your tie (see next section).

3. Add subtlety with your ties

A tie is your chance to express emotionns and personality through your business professional attire. Tie colours, in a particular context, can express your political views, for example.

In the office, a set of different ties will also help you change your overall look while wearing the same suit and shirt. A navy suit with a white shirt and a navy tie will look very different than the same suit and shirt with a bright orange tie.

Expert tip: your tie knot should always conceal your shirt’s collar behind it. Tighten it up until it does.

4. Carefully choose your dress shoes

The last critical element of your professional business attire is a pair of dress shoes. The most commonly worn business shoes are called Oxfords (or sometimes also Balmoral in the United States).

Named the Oxford University, Oxford shoes are the quintessential dress shoe.

5. Elevate your business look with the right accessories

Once the foundations of your business attire are in place, you can start adding accessories to express personality and style further.

Here are a few suggestions of accessories that you can keep for years to elevate your business casual look.

When a man doesn’t care about its look, it is immediately apparent. In a business environment, someone who doesn’t care about his look might be perceived as a man who doesn’t care about his job, his career, or the people that he works with.

If you want to be taken seriously in the office, you have to show that you care.

There is no other around it. People around you will look at how you dress and form their opinion of who you are. At least for people who don’t know you very well. If you want to project a powerful image and gain your coworkers’ respect, you have to start with your professional business attire.

You don’t need many clothes for your business professional outfit. Keep it simple. And keep it well organised. You should be able to easily find what you need every morning to look sharp without spending hours dressing up.