I really like the silky polyester button-down shirts I've found at Talbot's.

Hi Sterling --

Thanks for responding! I'm fascinated by behavior change (past professional work, eternal personal struggle!) so found the below really interesting:

"When I reviewed what I wore to work over these past six weeks, I saw lots and lots of tee shirts, chambray shirts, knits. Stuff like that. I wasn't pairing them with more work-relatable pieces, I was dressing like I would if I was running errands on a Saturday."

So, great: you have the knowledge to move in a different direction, and you have some level of motivation. I have to tell you -- these are huge pluses when you're trying to make a longer-term change. Most people don't give themselves enough credit for being at this stage!

• You *know* how to dress more formally, given that you did it in the past.
• You're interested in style and trends, and have examples of what others do to mix "straight" classic workwear with different types of clothes.
• You feel like you've gone too casual, and know what's contributing to it (internal motivation)
• You have new blood in the office who dress in more classic workwear (external motivation)
• You seem to have some classic workwear pieces already, though I'm not clear on the extent (decreased barriers)

Working against this:

• you've built up your casual wear (time, money)
• overall, you enjoy wearing it to work (pleasure, physical comfort, perhaps some psychological rewards that offset the "new staff wears classic workwear, I should too" pull)

Unfortunately -- hey, let's be real -- you're now at the hardest part. There are 2 basic philosophies re change:

• harm reduction (a sliding into change by making gradual shifts, you get to decide what that looks like)
• cold turkey

TBH I do better with cold turkey for some changes and harm reduction with others. This is very personality driven, especially when it's not "do or die" types of situations. You may have to experiment with both methods.

I could go on and on, but I'll link to a good-enough site that covers both a proven behavior change model and has some strategies for success that you're probably already doing!

Vix -- Your post was fascinating for me to read. There was so much useful information and I loved how you broke it down into categories. I had to read it several times to absorb even a portion of it. I'll read it more closely in days to come.

I made the decision reading these posts to start a new style journey. I will dress casually for home life (this is the first time I had a capsule dedicated to casual wear and it does marvelous things for my self esteem).

I will revert back to more professional stylings for work. I'm going to order some of the tops that Carter suggested. Her taste is superb and her climate is very similar to mine.