Dressing for Flexible Working – how a personal style signifier can help (2024)

Dressing for Flexible Working – how a personal style signifier can help (1)

The Working Landscape

We are all familiar with the idea of flexible working. There are now so many variations on what flexible working is, it is no longer just a question of starting work at 9.30 rather than 9am, or of working four days in the office and one from home: You may work for yourself; you may work part time for yourself giving you the ability to spend more time with friends and family; you may take one day a week to pursue a hobby or other serious interest and a flexible work arrangement gives you that opportunity; you may work as part of a job share team; you may have chosen to leave a permanent job in your chosen profession in order to work on a self employed consultancy basis within the same profession.

How we do business and where we do business

Whichever of the many variations you may have chosen, the working landscape has changed, and is continuing to change at a fast pace. Internet connectivity has altered how we do business and who we do business with. It has changed not necessarily who our customers, clients and target audiences are, but definitely where and how they are to be found. It is now possible to reach global audiences from the comfort of our armchair at home, regardless of the size of your business.

What to wear to work at home

But working at home brings its own challenges, not least of which the challenge of what to wear. How to dress when eitherno one else sees you; or when your working life becomes less formal so you no longer haveneed for those power suits; or when your day is divided up into a series of diverse activities across one day: exercise, work, school run; or across a week: home one day, travelling the next two, at external meetings on Thursday then back home on Friday presents a challenge.

Why personal style is important when you work from home

My opinion is that personal style counts more when work space becomes flexible.

Why does personal style count more when work space becomes flexible?

Because we need an element of routine in how we dress.

Why do we need thisroutine?

We need the routine as reassurance – our external reality may change on a daily basis, but if our internal reality, our dialogue with ourselves remains constant then the effort required to cope with the external environment is more manageable.

Why do we need reassurance? We need reassurance because that external reality can be scary, unpredictable and we could be fearful of it. If we are in control of our inner reality – those elements that we can control, our personal routines and habits including planning what to wear and then wearing it we exert control over ourselves, thus feel more confident which will spill over into the external reality ie the place in our life where we don’t have total control.

Why consistency is your friend in work and play

In our multi-compartmental, flexible working lives there is also great value in looking consistently yourself in a varied work landscape. Just as nothing beats the consistency of regularly showing up on time and delivering your work to excellent standards,so too nothing beats consistency in dress and grooming.

Turning up in a beautiful coat and dress one week, but in your jogging gear the next week will transmit a confused message about who you are.

One of the easiest ways to adopt consistency in your wardrobeis with your personal style signifier.

Personal style signifier

A personal style signifier is an item which you wear consistently and which is your personal style marker. It is something the people will notice about you. It is something that sets you apart from other people.

It could be a certain type of jewellery,

or a scarf

or high heels, or loafers worn in a particular way.

It could be the wear you wear a coat: always with a brooch, always with a scarf.

It has to be something the you love. When you put it on you should feel confident. You should also feel like whatever that style signifier is, you are communicating ‘you’ to the world.

A personal style signifier should not be a straight jacket of rigidly enforced rules We are not talking helmet hair and starch-sprayed suits in navy blue, black or red. Personal style signifiers are who you are, expressed consistently on a regular basis.

And it only need to be one thing. For example, it could be your hairstyle – always in an elegant, at the nape pony tail, or a sleek bob, or long wavy hair, clean and shiny. It could be jewellery: large earrings, rings, necklaces. It could be clothes – dresses for example, or scarves, or cardigans or jackets. Whatever you choose it to be, do it consistently. It doesn’t mean you can’t change it, this is not a rigidly enforced rule, but as it is something which comes naturally to you, it will be something which you enjoy wearing or feels easy to execute.

It can be anything, though.

What are yourpersonal style signifiers? Mine are diamond ear studs and large rings. Let me know in the comments box below. This is a fun one and I look forward to reading your comments.

Have a great day.

Sarah

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Dressing for Flexible Working – how a personal style signifier can help (2024)

FAQs

What is a personal style signifier? ›

A personal style signifier is an item which you wear consistently and which is your personal style marker. It is something the people will notice about you. It is something that sets you apart from other people. or high heels, or loafers worn in a particular way.

What is the importance of personal style? ›

It's when what you wear, how you feel in your clothes, and how you shop reflects your personality and values. Unlocking your personal style not only improves your confidence, but it also refocuses your energy.

What is an example of a signifier? ›

Signifiers Should Guide People. Affordances define and determine what we can do with objects. For example, a door affords opening; a touchscreen affords touching (something on-screen); a ceiling-to-floor picture window affords viewing (hopefully, picturesque scenery).

What are the types of signifier example? ›

Signifier — The form of a sign. The form might be a sound, a word, a photograph, a facial expression, a painting of a pipe, etc.

How can you express your personal style? ›

8 Ways to Express Your Style
  1. 8 Ways to Express Your Style. The way you dress. ...
  2. The Way You Dress. Let's start with the most obvious way to show your style, clothing. ...
  3. Hair, Makeup, and Scent. ...
  4. Body Language. ...
  5. Your Surroundings. ...
  6. Conversations. ...
  7. Your Digital Ego. ...
  8. Relationships and Connections.

How does your personal style reflect who you are? ›

Your personal style reflects who you are as an individual. It represents aspects of your personality – what you like and dislike, how you see yourself. The clothes you wear are more than just pieces of fabric stitched together, they show who you are.

What is a signifier meaning? ›

: one that signifies. : a symbol, sound, or image (such as a word) that represents an underlying concept or meaning compare signified.

What are the three components of signifier? ›

(a) The three components of sign systems; (b) signifier-sign equation; (c) signifier-meaning conflation; and (d) signifier-referent conflation. This includes conceptual phenomena (e.g., other constructs) as well.

What is the importance of signifier and signified? ›

The signifier is what you call something (the word "tree" for tree), whereas the signified is the concept of the thing itself, and all other related concepts: all iterations of "tree," plus "bush" and "shrub" and anything else tree-like.

What is an example sentence for signifier? ›

Signifier Sentence Examples

This is the true signifier of Sagittarius. The anonymous subjectivity of the visitor is rejected, instead, the signified becomes also the signifier. From unattended parked as the privileged signifier bucks more they're who for years.

What are the three categories of signifier? ›

A system of signs or a relationship between elements of any kind is (1) symbolic, (2) semi-symbolic, or (3) semiotic (the word "semiotic" has a restricted, specific meaning in this context). (1) When one signifier is associated with one and only one signified, we call this a symbolic system.

What is an example of cultural signifier? ›

Art plays an important role as a cultural signifier, acting as a reference to show the mind set of populations or groups at the time of creation.

What is personal style at work? ›

What are work styles? Work styles are the ways your personality impacts your work. It's about what you enjoy doing, the way you naturally work, and what you're good at. Understanding your work style is key to advancing in your career goals and synergizing with others.

How to describe your style in 3 words? ›

What is the three-word method? The three-word method is as simple as it sounds: identifying your personal style with three adjectives. Maybe your style is cool, elevated, and comfortable, or maybe it's colorful, classic, and bold.

What are the elements of personal style? ›

The main ingredients to developing personal style are a mix of calculation and emotion: 1) knowing how to dress her body, 2) resiliency, and 3) vulnerability.

How can I improve my dressing style? ›

How to be more stylish
  1. Don't buy something for just one occasion. ...
  2. Don't buy or keep something that doesn't fit. ...
  3. Don't buy or keep something that doesn't suit you. ...
  4. Don't buy something just because it's a bargain. ...
  5. When you buy something, get rid of something else. ...
  6. Clothes swap with your most stylish friends.
Jan 3, 2023

Why is it important to dress appropriately at work? ›

To make a good first impression

Your appearance is often the first thing others notice about you. Dressing professionally can help form a positive impression to people you meet in the workplace. This is especially important for interviews and when meeting upper-level managers who make hiring and promotion decisions.

What is an example of an art signifier? ›

The signifier is the representation. For example, in a photograph with a baby in it— the baby is the signifier, and the signified could be youth, or the future, or some other association that we make with the representation of a baby.

What is a signifier in sociology example? ›

Social signifiers, such as the presence or absence of people on a train platform, painted lines on the street, the trails that signal shortcuts through parks or across planted areas are examples of signaling systems. Signals come in many forms, sometimes naturally evolved, sometimes conventions of culture.

What qualifies as a signifier? ›

Signifier: any material thing that signifies, e.g., words on a page, a facial expression, an image. Signified: the concept that a signifier refers to. Sign: the smallest unit of meaning. Anything that can be used to communicate (or to tell a lie).

What is a signifier in an image? ›

A signifier is any communicative tool, including images, texts, or spoken words, that effectively points to an idea. The term "chair," for example, is a signifier for a particular kind of thing on which one sits, which is conveniently shaped so as to make sitting its primary use.

What is a signifier person? ›

signifier in American English

(ˈsɪɡnəˌfaiər) noun. a person or thing that signifies. the configuration of sound elements or other linguistic symbols representing a word or other meaningful unit in a language.

What is the other meaning of signifier? ›

: one that signifies. : a symbol, sound, or image (such as a word) that represents an underlying concept or meaning compare signified.

What is the signifier in culture? ›

The two elements which are used to specify a sign are the signifier, the form of something such as its word or image; and the signified, the idea or concept in one's head.

What the difference between signifier and signified with example? ›

The signifier is the object, the word, the image or action. the signified is the concept behind the object that is being represented. For example, the cross symbol is a signifier on a simple basis because it is two lines crossed over one another.

What is a signifier in speech? ›

A signifier, an element of language, is a material representation of a linguistic sign. In psychoanalysis, it is a phonemic sequence of the discourse that intervenes in conscious and unconscious processes to determine the subject engaged in the discourse.

Can a person be a signifier? ›

This shows grade level based on the word's complexity. a person or thing that signifies. the configuration of sound elements or other linguistic symbols representing a word or other meaningful unit in a language.

What is signifier and representation? ›

Scholars now regarded signifiers as referring to ideas rather than directly to things. Representations were conventionalized constructions which were relatively independent both of what they represented and of their authors; knowledge involved manipulating such signs.

What is the subject of the signifier? ›

Lacan defines a signifier as "that which represents a subject for another signifier," in opposition to the sign, which "represents something for someone." However, no signifier can signify the subject.

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