Opportunities in Office Style

The Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Runway" Work Wear series has been documenting office style around NYC. We've been tracking it with interest as firms from varying industries are profiled.

We wondered, how were these people chosen? Were they the best dressed in the whole office (aka "office hot")? Were they perhaps the best performing for the year to date? Or did everyone throw their business cards in to a fish bowl and 15 or so of them were picked? 

While many photos have been interesting and entertaining (like the very serious looking man with hot pink socks). We have to say that some of these were disappointing as examples of good office style and we just couldn't resist pointing out opportunities for improvement... So here goes.

Behold, Subject A:

• Sandals with a full on grey wool suit? They are totally out of context. Wear them with a floral sundress? Perfect. What about linen trousers? Lovely. But, not a classic grey suit.

Our suggestion: charcoal grey closed toe heels of any kind (like these)

• This brings us to another matter. Even in this shot, it's clear that inside the sandals are not just feet but feet inside white stockings. It makes us cringe on a number of levels. 1) Sandals are open and airy for your feet and feet alone 2) stockings inside sandals are so very grandma 3) WHITE stockings?!!

Our suggestion: If your office is too conservative to show your toes, just don't wear sandals. Even if it's not, wear charcoal grey closed toe heels with this (or at least please take the stockings off!).

• The cut of the jacket is a bit loose around the shoulders and waist. The most flattering jackets are where the arms are cut a bit higher in to the armpit. This makes arms look thinner, creating a smaller silhouette for the whole top half (like this one).

Our suggestion: This jacket could use some further tailoring, to make it a bit more fitted.

As a side note, the subject's pose is certainly interesting. They look as though they are warming up for ronde de jambes at the barre during ballet class.  Maybe they take classes in the evenings after a hard day's work? Ooh, that might explain the white stockings.