I see this all the time- female business professionals who are wearing skirts or dresses that are just too short and/or too tight for a workplace environment.  This is particularly common amongst young, female professionals.

Think about this:

• Pairing a blazer and blouse to the skirt pictured above kind of looks like a mullet.  It’s all business on top and a party down below.
• A skirt that is too stretchy and feels like a piece of elastic is not work-appropriate.  This is a party skirt.
• If you would wear your itty bitty skirt to a pub/club, it’s likely not right for the office… and that would apply to most, if not all, office environments ladies.
• You may feel attractive in this type of skirt but this is doing NOTHING to help you progress in your career.  Rather, this detracts from how smart, competent and capable you are and is a knock to your credibility.
• You aren’t going to be taken seriously.  The men in your office may like your choice in skirts/dresses, which may make you feel like you’re being taken seriously, but you’re not. Plain and simple.

What’s appropriate?

• For skirt/dress lengths for work, stick to ones that are no more than 2-3 inches above the knee.  For more conservative work environments, go with 1-2 inches at most.
• Opt for more structured materials.  This will lay flat against you without hugging your curves too much. Skirts with less structure can be fine too, just make sure they aren’t pasted to your body.

Here are a few examples of skirt/dress lengths that make the cut (did you see how I did that??).

Remember, it’s perfectly fine to be stylish at work; I encourage and highly recommend this.  What becomes a problem is when you start crossing the line into “provocative” or “sexy”, particularly when it comes to the length of your skirt/dress.  You’re better than that.