Enhancing Professional Personality

Clothing is not the sole thing which helps to bring out the ultimate identity. Your behaviour, attitude and the way you present yourself also count equally.

Published on New Business Age, January, 2014

Article by : Rashika Pokharel

Model: Upasana Serchand

Wardrobe: Purple, Naghpokhari, Naxal, Tel. 4429365

Model provided by: MCstudio Pvt Ltd, Lazimpat

Photographer: Rukesh Shrestha

Asst Photographer: Sandhya Shrestha

Appearing professional at workplace is something which every employee and employer wants. Few  people are born with beautiful looks whereas few others try to enhance their personality and look smart and  presentable by taking suitable measures. Office is a place where you want to create a distinct image and also get noticed by your coworkers and of course by the boss. Clothing is an important aspect of our personality that helps in highlighting our persona and outward appearance. However, clothing is not also the sole thing, which helps to bring out the ultimate identity. Your behaviour, attitude and the way you present yourself, also count equally. When it comes to interviews, presentations, important meetings, and any situation where you need to make a remarkable impression, looking professional is equally important as being professional. But looking professional means a lot more than just having a top-of-the-line briefcase, ideal shoes, the finest laptop money can purchase, and a bright smile. There are other professional requirements such as spontaneity, confidence, competence, appropriate behaviour etc., which must be fulfilled. Here are few tips for looking professional at office, which can be applicable for both males and females. 

Dress-up

Wear something that highlights your personality. Remember, highlighting personality doesn’t means that you need to be flashy or glittery and pull everybody’s attention. For males, suits and formal shirt/pants are perfect and females also can choose formal dresses like skirt, shirt, pants etc. Remember ladies, you should not wear high heels if you are uncomfortable in them. Wear something that is comfortable and have less chances of wardrobe malfunction. A single mistake can ruin your day and career. Most of the males believe that perfect appearance solely depends on a perfect dress up. Well that is not the whole picture, you need to have shiny shoes, a clean shaved look and of course well trimmed nails. Do not forget antiperspirant. These tips might sound as obvious guidelines but people can and often do overlook the obvious.

Behaviour

You are working at an office so you must look sober and sophisticated. Even if you are nervous do not let it reflect through your actions Avoid making small useless movements such as tapping your fingers, feet, shifting around in the seat, or showing such involuntary movements such as shaky hands and voices, excessive blinking during presentations or in front of boss. Always try to make eye contact with people around you. If you are going for a job interview these things play very important role. Similarly, even if you are competent enough, getting nervous may prove disadvantageous.

                                                             Time management

Remember that time is pacing, if it’s gone it will never come back. So, utilise your time carefully. Show respect to others by arriving early. This will also help you to be prepared for the job, whether it is routine job or a special event like meeting. Your punctuality is always a plus point for you at workplace. Always finish you work within the allotted timeframe and you will always come out on top. When a company pays for your time, it wants to get its money’s worth. Don’t short change it.

Advance Preparation

Preparedness is an important asset for uplifting your professional career. Always be ready with more than what you need. Advance preparation is helpful at the time of seminars, presentations etc. Come prepared with plenty of ideas or enough literature so that you do not go blank in front of the audience. Even if you go blank, try to entertain the people with your jokes in between or else raise questions so that the session can be interactive. If you’re using a laptop to run a presentation, do not depend upon your organizer for anything. Bring any possible connector you will need as well as an extra battery and your own adapter for your laptop.

Don’t be a Comic Personality

A little humour will always help you to be a star in office. Crack jokes sometimes to mingle with your colleagues or to relax yourself from the work pressure. But do not go extreme and present yourself as a jokester or a comedian. If you do so, you won’t be taken seriously. Apart from all these, there are more skills, which can boost up your professionalism, such as: always be reliable so that people can depend upon you. Be honest and stand for the truth. Always maintain certain principles and never divert from them. Work hard and be updated. Paying respect for your colleagues will also help you to gain respect in return. Be ready to support your colleagues

Dazzle the Crowd this Dashain

Contrasting colours in traditional attire will remain a favourite this fall

Published on: New Business Age, October 2013

Model: Sanjita Dhanuk

Wardrobe: She Fashion Boutique, Kupondole, 5530293

Designer: Sangit Shrestha

Make up & Hair Style : Vogue Beauty Saloon, Chinu Thapa , Basundhara, 01-4366324

Location: Bricks Café, Kupondole

Photographer: Rukesh Shrestha

Concept By: Sauram Raj Tuladhar

Looking good can be an ageless thing if one takes care of oneself. Exercise and healthy eating have their own

place, but nothing accentuates one’s beauty more than good attire. With Dashain around the corner, designers and boutiques in Kathmandu are busy finalizing their new collections to draw attention of customers during the festive season. Boutiques in the city appear to be experimenting with new ideas on traditional dresses like saris, lehengas, multi-coloured bandhani and its accessories to make fashion accessible to a wide range of customers with diverse preferences.

As we all know that fashion does not limit itself to age or gender, a growing number of people in Kathmandu outside of the youth population seen perusing through shelves and windows up with clothes. With Dashain’s

additional allowance, more people are expected to spend money to look distinguished in the crowd.

Being a traditional festival, saris are most definitely preferred by women for Dashain. The ageless attire, if draped gracefully, tends to make the elder look young and the younger look mature. Most women usually choose the sari for festival rituals and prefer to wear it in the traditional style. 

Today, we have many boutiques and fashion houses that have a lot of designer wear to offer to customers. Considering the traditional look during the festival, fashion houses are gearing up for jewelry to match with the saris as well. Traditional saris with colourful and metal laces, lehengas and shimmering or multi-coloured bandhani with the pallu draped front-to-back over the left shoulder or back-to-front over the right have endured in popularity.

The most sizzling and yet very traditional look of saris and lehengas have already begun hitting the city’s fashion market. Bright, contrasting hues with fun colourful bindis that we have seen being donned by bollywood actresses, are expected to be a major hit this Dashain. Here are some tips on how to choose contrasting colours while buying a sari: 

 To look attractive and trendy, you can go with a contrast color petticoat for a sari you have. This has been tried and tested by some designers in India and became a major hit in the market and seen to be worn by style icons in the Indian films and fashion industries. The petticoat can be worn in contrast with the sari, just like the blouse, and can sometimes flaunt sequins and embroideries under sheer or net saris.

 One can also match the print of the petticoat with the blouse and wear it in contrast with the sari. Adding ruffled edging in a contrast colour and hemming it with a petticoat is in great demand. Let your petticoat peek from the sari.

 Lehengas too will follow the contrast colour trend against the blouse and dupatta which can have the colourful and shimmering touch of the sari. This will go good with this season. 

Sari and lehenga prices are hiking up with the demand and the beautiful fabric and additional embroidery used in them. The shimmering effect of sequins and sheer material has been in vogue for many years and it looks like it is going to stay. A lot of boutiques have been creating extra ordinary designs for you to look special this Dashain season. Among a lot of designer wears of the traditional attire, we bring you exclusive

designs by She Fashion Boutique.

CORPORATE FASHION  |

Article Published on : New Business Age (Economy Magazine) November Issue

Model : Jyotsna Yogi

Location : The Vintage Lounge

Wardrobe : Purple, Naxal

Hair & Stylist:Vogue Beauty Saloon Stylist: Chinu Thapa Location: Basundhara Phone no: 01-4366324

Photography & Edited by : Rukesh Shrestha - 9841214863

Fashion Tips for Working Women

If you are huge fan of wearing the skirt then go for the skirt made from wool or velvet.

Working women have so much to take care of, to think of and to decide for. In a day we take a whole range of assorted decisions- domestic, conjugal, maternal and professional. Besides choosing dress for our loved ones, we are also responsible to decide our own semiotics – at home and at office. One can expect support and genuine comment from the family (e,g, from the souse and in-laws), but the same cannot be expected

to come so easily from office friends. We are aware of the fact that our semiotics reflects our personality.  When you are a professional, all you look for is present yourself as a professional. In such a situation, the dress that you are wearing should reflect your professional integrity. A trendy or teen-cut might make you look cute, but that would fall short of providing you the professional attitude that you yearn for while working behind the desk. Being loaded with modern or traditional jewelries might not look professional.  However, it does not mean that professional is plain and bland. No matter what age group you belong to, no matter how bulky or skinny you are, you can style yourself the best with these top of the hat guidelines.

Colour: Colour!  Colour! Colour! Black (chic), grey (conservative), red (aggressive), and navy (trustworthy). These work well with the professional wear. You can go with soft colours like blue, pink, and ivory for the feminine touch with the mix of black. 

Jewels : If you are a huge fan of jewels than go for stud earrings or single bracelets, but don’t overdo it. You don’t want to make yourself look overdone.

Fit : Custom-made dress plays an important role to bring the best in your semiotics. Tailored dress is best when fitting to physique is the concern. But, yes please do pay attention that it fits properly and that the inner-wear borderlines are not visible on the out. Skirt should be loose enough to sit and jacket should have ample space to be buttoned when necessary. 

Labels : Designers label are great but NO! NO! in official wear . Stick to customized and tailored dresses. Save your branded dresses for rendezvous with friends. Dress worn by reason and seasons makes you look good. Winter season is at the door step. Winter is cruel to your skin and to your body temperature. With a promise to take care of your skin in winter in the coming edition, let’s discuss how to save yourself from the chill and yet remain fabulous. The layer or the outing of your dresses is the most important aspect in winter-dressing. Here are some tip-offs to select some outer clothes for the cruel winter seasons.

• Choose colours that harmonize with your skin tones

• If you are huge fan of wearing the skirt then go for the skirt made from wool or velvet which will keep you warm and will go with the season. 

• Stocking and coats are always in. Coat will go with the pants as well as skirt. 

• You can always layer yourself with the scarf, gloves but wearing hats or anything on head seems unprofessional. 

• Don’t get over-sold on synthetic materials

Here are some additional tips to select a coat for the winter that will match your body type: 

1.  Coat for taller look:  Try a women’s coat that hits no lower than an inch above your knee to elongate your leg line. 

2. Coat for creating curves:  Try a belted coat. Belts will cinch in the waist, creating a feminine hourglass shape. 

3. For anti-top-heavy look, consider a single-breasted coat. 

4. For anti-bottom-heavy, try an A-line coat. 

5. If you have broad shoulders or a large bust, look for a coat with a V-neck.

Looking fashionable and remaining sensible is important. This is possible when you have the right sense of styling yourself. Before choosing any dress, consider knowing your body shape, your skin tone and your aptitude for fashion. Knowledge of these basics help in transforming to a fashionable woman.

How to Choose Corporate Clothing and Apparel

Article Published on The Corporate Weekly

Photo : Rukesh Shrestha (Photographer)

Model : Kusum Neupane

In all first meetings, whether it is casual or business, a person’s looks play a large part in forming the initial impression. This goes far beyond just clothing and includes grooming and unconscious body language. Impressions formed by the first few glances of a person impact thoughts about their personality, diligence and intelligence. First impressions tend to last a while and can be hard to shake off. When it comes to work and business, it definitely pays to find out about the company’s culture and dress code and determine how people at your level dress. A tip for dressing for job interviews is to dress as one would for a client meeting: a little more formally than day-to-day business wear. This will help project an attitude of confidence and professionalism.

While talking about the corporate dress or the business dress, according to my view, white shirt with black coat and pant suites the most for boys and for girls, white shirt with black coat and short skirts touching the knee will be the best if there

is not especial dress code in the office.

• Clothing should be neat, smart and subtle. This also applies to hairstyle and perfume. Do not let your employers be sidetracked by showy apparel.

• In the corporate world, hairstyles should be chosen to be well-groomed and tidy.

• I think, simple but formal look help you to give impression in corporate world. Any visible piercings should be removed and we have to cover any tattoos when we are in the work.

• Clothing should be laundered and ironed. Always make sure that it fits properly and that adjustments are not needed when sitting, walking or leaning over.

 Wearing dress is not only enough. We should wear neat clothes with well ironed

and that catch the mind of the people positively. They should say she is very good officers who is energetic and well

managed. Dressing shows our energy as well. If we wear dirty dress and no ironed at all then people will say that she is very lazy and how can such lazy people work at office? To be a potential staff our energy, our courtesy and our dress up carry the great points.