Is working at home in your pyjamas bad for business?

The beauty of running a business from home is the freedom to wear whatever you want to work – whether that’s pyjamas or tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt. For some, wearing more formal clothes is important to get into the right mindset. But what impact does what you wear have on your performance?

Clothes can affect how we feel about ourselves and this is also true when it comes to work. Business psychologist Helen Fisher explains that there are links between our emotions, actions and beliefs. “If you wake up feeling grotty and put on clothes that reflect that, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you put on something that raises your game, it will have a subtle effect on how you feel, think, and behave.”

We build rapport by “matching” other people’s body language, voice and words, says Fisher. “We match our clothes in the same way, which is why it’s important to look the part. If you’ve spent months in a tracksuit, and then have to wear a suit to an important meeting, you might feel uncomfortable, and that will affect your performance.”

One way of making sure you’re always wearing clothes that help you feel professional and portray the right kind of image for your business is to develop your own “work uniform” or signature look. That doesn’t necessarily mean wearing exactly the same clothes day after day, although that’s what Matilda Kahl has done for the last three years.

Kahl is a creative/art director at Saatchi & Saatchi in New York, and her article in Harper’s Bazaar – Why I wear the exact same thing to work every day – went viral earlier this year. Kahl says her work uniform of white silk shirt, black trousers and black blazer has saved her “countless wasted hours” wondering what to wear and “more money than I could imagine”. When her clothes started to wear out recently she ordered 15 of the same style shirt from Zara, securing a discount in the process.

That may work for an office job, but many small business owners have a portfolio of regular different activities that demand different types of clothing.

Samantha Clarke is the resident style educator at The School of Life in London and runs her own style consultancy Zukuri UnLtd. She suggests starting with a wardrobe audit and a “life match”.

Clarke explains: “Think about how much time you spend on different activities, such as working at home, going out to meetings and business events, spending time with family, and so on. Draw up a pi chart of your life, and check your wardrobe to find out whether your clothes reflect your life. You will quickly see where there are gaps.”

Mariette Jansen, known as “Dr De-Stress”, is a life coach and meditation teacher. She began to think more about clothes when she started networking three years ago.

“I wanted to look different,” she explains, “but then someone told me I dressed like a hippy. As a serious professional that was counterproductive, so now I dress for the occasion. I think about who I’m meeting, what I want to achieve, and how I want to come across.”

That means a dress or skirt with a jacket and high heels for formal meetings or when she hosts a networking event, and more casual clothes when attending an event “because I don’t want to be smarter than the person hosting”. For meditation classes she chooses yoga bottoms, layers of colourful tops from Uniqlo, and a scarf.

Jansen says she gets lots of positive comments about her clothes and is known for wearing bright colours. But sometimes for a trademark look to do its job it needs to be less noticeable.

Anne-Marie Springer is an interior stylist whose business House to Hold works with clients to create their perfect home. Her work uniform for meeting clients and working on-site is a pair of slim trousers with a free-flowing top, both plain, and in dark colours.

“It’s quite physical work,” she says, “and so I need to be able to move easily without my clothes being too revealing. I often handle expensive pieces of furniture or art and so I have to look professional, but I don’t want to overwhelm the space I’m in. I’m there to help the client recognise what they like, and I don’t want them to be distracted by what I’m wearing.”

So how should you go about putting together a work uniform that suits your figure, your image and your business? Clarke advises clients to take everything out of the wardrobe, and reject any garments that are damaged, don’t suit you or just have negative associations. Only put back those that make you feel amazing, even if they are for working from home.

Then adopt the reverse hanger technique: “When you wear something, put it back in the wardrobe facing the opposite way to the rest of your clothes. You will start to see what you wear regularly, what you can alter in some way to suit you better, and what you can get rid of by giving it away or selling it.”

You may even find you have already adopted a work uniform without being aware of it, and just need to add a few more pieces and accessories to achieve a wardrobe that covers your whole routine from working at the kitchen table to client meetings.

Whether your signature look consists of a particular colour palette, the same style of garment in different fabrics, or identical pieces, it guarantees you’re looking and feeling good wherever you are, and that’s got to be good for business.

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