Working professionally for more years than I’d like to admit, I’ve seen a lot of challenges thrown my way. I mean, heck, I did issues management at what was probably one of the world’s most hated and misunderstood companies in that timeline. Even with that as my reality, one of the toughest pieces of working in the agency and corporate world was finding good professional clothing for women.

It sometimes felt like I was looking for unicorns.

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Since I mentioned I am looking for unicorns, you may not be able to picture the elusive wardrobe. I’ve gotten pieces over the years. Great pieces in fact. But putting together a wardrobe that meets goals of looking and feeling professional, confident and comfortable can be excruciating.

But for the various brands out there, I feel this time of office workers working at home can really provide us a chance to make this elusive item as common as hand-sewn face masks are rapidly becoming.

Current State of Professional Clothes for Women

With so many professional women working from home for weeks if not month now, we are reminded how comfortable clothes can be. Sure, a lot of us are wearing sweats, yoga pants, etc but it’s rarely women who are having no pants days as they zoom into meetings or do the newscast from home (seriously, what was that about?).

This is dramatically different from what most wear to the office. And while we have frequently chosen between professional and comfortable or stylish and comfortable or anything else and comfortable…. it seems we have been short-changed on comfort with the other pieces. And while women don’t have a single work wardrobe (unlike the blue buttondown and khakis that were so constant with my last employer’s men that it was joked about by everyone), there are a few pieces of professional clothing for women we need in our wardrobe.

Here’s my take on what we have and how it can be improved.

The Most Common Pieces in a Professional Woman’s Wardrobe

Having the right clothes for the job you have is really my idea of professional clothing for women and men. Most of my career I have been an office employee. I didn’t need gear that would help protect me from the elements. Rather, I need to show that I care about my appearance.

So the options?

Dresses / Skirts

Not gonna lie, for a long time the fact I had to wear dresses to school for two years while the siblings were in shorts, jeans, etc colored my view of dresses in a cloud of ick. I did grow up and I have found some good year-round dresses. And they really fuel my wardrobe lots of days (except winter). And I have some friends who love all the dresses and skirts. My favorite brand is Svaha (affiliate link) cause they are smart, fun and have pockets! Cotton dresses with pockets for the win!

But so many women’s dresses are made out of synthetic or blended fabric that doesn’t breathe well or look good over time unless it is dry cleaned so I’d love other options? Maybe coordinates for suits that don’t take years of search to find.

Slacks

Men seem to have a great slate of slacks to wear. They are cut to fit nicely. But so often women’s slacks…. I don’t know why I can never find a brand that fit me well. In the past when I did, I would buy them in every color like I did my favorite t-shirts! And yes, I have khakis but they were the bane of my existence. How many women enjoy the look of khaki pants? Those were first to go when I began to work from home. So more often than not, I wear black jeans. I just keep some new enough they don’t show wear too much.

Jackets/Blazers

The other day I posted photos from some of the training I was doing and immediately got compliments on my power jacket. Not gonna lie, I know it will get comments, it is a killer color.

And unlike so many blazers on the market, this one is made with natural fibers… Yes. It is mostly cotton. I originally bought the blazer in black, wore it a couple times and went back to get it in another color because it looks sharp and for the most part feels good. But I’m not going to lie, the polyester lining… what’s that about? It can really mess a girl up, especially when doing a public speaking gig under lights on a stage cause it gets hot.

With all of that in mind, I find myself grabbing a denim jacket more often than I like. But based on that I have a few colors — the traditional blue, black and white. I also have a really weathered blue I wear more casually. I have both hundred percent cotton and some with a bit of stretch in them. I refuse to buy a blend that’s higher than 10 percent synthetic because it will get hot & sweaty.

Shirts / Blouses

Going to say this is one where I have found more brands providing options. But it’s still a lot harder to find cotton shirts for women than it is for men. The long-sleeved blouses that fit our shapes are appreciated. We’d like some short sleeved ones that aren’t polo-style. I buy a lot of shells / tank tops to wear under those blazers I mentioned. And I wear quite a few nice t-shirts and sweaters. We appreciate more in all categories.

Other Things Brands May Want to Know

Just in case there is a brand out there listening…. We do look for more in professional clothing for women. Here are some things to keep in mind.

Colors & Patterns

I tend to go for classic colors and keeping prints simple when possible for work. If I can’t do simple prints, I’d go for prints that connected to my work in food, farming and science. That is what led me to wearing a watermelon skirt and a dress covered in DNA (not the CSI kind, but it has the double helix as the design. There are lots of niche companies who are doing really well in this space and when I look around and ask friends where they found things, I am frequently pointed to small businesses that cater to us online.

Online Shopping

I already mentioned how many small businesses cater to us online. Some of the bigger brands do too. One thing that I’ve seen more of on good sites is the option to search by fiber. You let me pick natural fibers like cotton, linen, wool and I will be there more frequently because I know it will be easier to find clothes I like just like searching by size.

Beyond Tired of Cheap

I have bought what brands supplied me long enough. I know there are lots of companies who sell near disposable clothing and count on people buying new versions every season every year. Stop expecting us to go along with that. Lots of us want better quality and greater durability which frequently means getting away from the weird fiber blends you come up with.

I have found there are so many great alternatives out there with costs being higher (sometimes significantly) but they fit and wear well for longer because they are better made. Lots of us are fine with having smaller wardrobes if it is both professional and comfortable. I have been using some of this quarantine time to Marie Kondo those closets and I don’t intend to just refill them.

What else would we like in professional clothes for women?

The post Can we improve professional clothing for women? A Plea for Fashion Brands appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

Recently I started having conversations with people about a big change I’m making. And while I’ve known it was coming for a while, I didn’t necessarily fully think through all of the implications…. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me rewind a bit and if I rewind too much feel free to skip around.

I am so lucky

I have an incredible job. Friends and family joke that I was born a communicator. I took photos, wrote things down a lot, etc from very early. And I was blessed with the gift of gab. I can’t really imagine too many strangers – mainly cause I will approach most anyone with a question. To get paid to do something that seems so central to my being & happiness is amazing!

Somehow, I was also blessed with finding agriculture early in my career development. Somehow, very unexpectedly, they clicked together and since I’m Southern, that has mainly meant cotton. I can’t imagine what my life and career would be like without this incredible industry and the people I cherish.

In my career I have worked for trade magazines in Memphis. I moved to White Plains, New York for a great public relations job. I moved to the Mississippi Delta to do a wide variety of communications for a small cotton seed company of ~600 employees. And when that company was purchased by another, and after more than 15 years away from my hometown, I returned to Memphis and took a trade media relations focused role.

Yes, cotton has been central to my sense of self since I talked to my first cotton farmer in the 1980s. Such a very big part that when I decided to take the plunge into Twitter and blogging, I chose that for my “handle.”

Changing Jobs? Changing Cities?

Very few folks know that although I love my job, I had talked to a few folks about doing something different. You know it seems sometimes change will do you good. I think that even though I raised the topic with a few folks there was some disbelief that I would really make a change. I may have been one of the doubters too! 

Then in August I was told my job in cotton and crop protection would be relocated to St. Louis. I really wondered for a flash second what I would choose. I say a flash second because I was told that a new position doing some of the exact things I had proposed a year ago was also on the table. I had the option of moving for either job or remaining in my hometown of Memphis and finding something else. Hmmm… that takes some thought…

To tell the truth, I think I made the decision while we were having the conversation but there were several factors to consider.

Location

Is either location choice so strong that it makes the decision for me? I have lived in several places over my career. Let’s see how the two stack up.

Memphis

• I love Memphis and being back in Memphis has been incredible.
• I love being able to see my nephew’s band concerts or to play Beatles Rock Band with my niece just because.
• Calling my mom and asking if she wants to grab a bite is incredibly cool.
• An older niece is in Memphis for the first time in her life and I have the blessed reality of getting to spend a lot of time with her.
• I have great friends here who I relish time with.
• Great music venues everywhere you look. Everywhere.
• Tiger basketball.
• Wow with sunsets over the river.
• This is home even after being away for more than 15 years. Its incredibly deep in me.
• Snow is rare and in my world that is a good thing.

St. Louis

• I have a few friends from college there who I really enjoy hanging out with.
• The people I work with at Monsanto, some of them are truly great friends. Some are long time friends, from my days in the Delta others I have met more recently but are great friends just the same.
• My friends in St Louis have done everything they can to make me feel at home on my many visits there over the years. (This past weekend included one friend’s wedding and watching another’s daughter carve a pumpkin.)
• I hear there is great music… And there are lots of sports teams.
• It is on the river, just 4.5 to 5 hours north of Tom Lee Park.
• There are great camera stores in St. Louis and lots of places I’ve never photographed.
• Having home base move means the possible destinations of weekend trips change too.

Career Choices

So having figured out I can be happy either place, my decision had to be about what I wanted to do professionally. I have to say I’ve been very lucky in my career. I’ve got an incredible network that has always come through for me with job opportunities. I have a reasonably good reputation in the industry so I’d like to think with time & persistence, I could find something awesome.

My guess however is that something awesome wouldn’t happen for me in my field in Memphis. There are other options I could pursue here and I would have some flexibility in taking time to find the right job rather than needing to snap at the first thing to come along. But the reality is, I was able to get back here thanks to Monsanto and I’m not sure that I could find something else that would really be challenging and rewarding that also pulled upon what I think are strengths that I really enjoy.

The options in St. Louis were clear:

• Continue working for a company I believe in, one that has incredible vision for the future of agriculture.
• I could continue to work in the cotton industry I love or try my hand at something new that sounded right up my alley.
• I’d be able to remain in agriculture and have the ability to learn some new areas while continuing some of the things I already know.
• Work with folks I know, like and respect.
• Something that offers continued growth & development.

My Decision

As people bought charcoal and planned activities for Labor Day and as I hung out with friends on a vacation that was spent talking about telling your personal ag story, I was deciding what course my future would go. No doubt you have already figured out that I’m making the move to St. Louis and will continue to work for Monsanto. I’m really excited about the next chapter of my career and looking at some of the broader topics impacting agriculture. Its a new role so there isn’t an exact job description, or at least I haven’t gotten a copy of one yet.

Yes, this has already had a few folks accuse me of traitor-like behavior. One good friend who’s a cotton farmer actually suggested I’d have to change my Twitter handle and blog address to the past tense and say “JPlovedCOTTON.” He pronounced that “d” quite prominently but he knows you can take the girl out of the cotton but you can’t take the cotton out of the girl. And you certainly won’t take it out of my personal blog!

My job within public affairs will let me work with some of the other organizations engaged in agriculture, some of the media and social media too. With the number of things going on both for work and personally, I’ll be taking a little time before I actually make the move. So it will be after New Year’s before I put my house on the market so it will probably be spring or so before I relocate.

I’ve got great friends in St. Louis already asking to help me look for a house — one even suggested I get my primary criteria out and have a contest for them all to find me a home — winner gets a home cooked meal (I am afraid that may be selfish on my part as I’m not that good of a cook!).

Yes, a change is gonna come. And it’s a change I’m excited about! I can almost picture myself in the spring already enjoying the new job and location.

The post A Change Is Gonna Come appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.