A featured reader comment on <Which do you wear more often for business? Business Formal, Business Casual, or Casual?>:
I work for an NGO but am usually in my office with no outside contact. In the warm months I'm usually in a cotton dress or a cotton top and skirt. In the cooler months I'm usually in dark jeans or khakis, a Breton or turtleneck, and a sweater of cool enough. Always with accessorizing.. most days pearl earrings, often with my Angela Moore jewelry (I miss that company!), and/or in cooler weather a scarf. For a purse I use a Longchamp Le Pliage (they dress up and down, are a reasonable price-- especially when purchased in Europe, and come in lots of different colors) and then I also use an LL Bean Boat and Tote to carry other things to and from the office and at meetings/conferences.
When I travel for work it is around academic conferences and I'm usually in one of the cotton dresses and then a solid cardigan if a conference room is chilly. Tip: Seasalt Cornwall has great dresses in natural fabrics (cotton, linen, etc.)!
A few of the females I work with told me how I always look very well put-together in the dresses that I wear. Not that I want or need to stand out but I guess it is good to have a reputation for looking appropriate and nice in a work situation, rather than be known for being sloppy, slovenly, etc.
It is mostly men in the field (STEM) although the female numbers have been growing in my time in this organization (it used to be that often I was the only female in the room). When I started the men wore suits and ties. There are fewer ties, shirt buttons tend to be unbuttoned, and there are more nice pants with the shirts but no jackets, and the shoes for everyone tend to be more comfortable. I tend to view this as a positive thing as often in our international locales there is not so much AC in the summer months (when we usually have conferences) and temps have gotten hotter. In addition often people are working with limited luggage.
