Leather jacket for business casual office?

I am a manager in a business casual environment where there really is a very wide range of what people wear to the office. I'm trying to make my look a little bit more professional, while not going to far to business professional end of the spectrum. My boss only wears a full suit when meeting with people outside of our organization, while on a regular day in the office wears a blouse or sweater and adds a more casual jacket about half the time.

I'd love to add some more jackets to my wardrobe. I currently have two blazers (one black, one grey with black details) and a recently purchased military jacket. I'm now considering a leather jacket, but I'm not sure if this one works or not, or what color to get. My neutrals are black, white, and grey (I don't wear brown), and for colors I have mostly blue, teal, purple, and blush.

Thoughts on this jacket for a business casual workplace? What color?

Express

taupe double peplum (minus the) leather jacket

View Info

Top Pick

Express

24 Inch Studio Stretch Notch Collar Jacket From Express

View Info

Top Pick

White House Black Market

Button-Front Jacket

View Info

Top Pick

6 years ago

tanstaafl

Active Member

The first jacket is the one I'm considering. The other two are jackets I have. Here is a link to the leather jacket and the colors it comes in.

https://www.express.com/clothi.....jacket/pro

Nomad

I have that first jacket in red, and it's one of my very favorite items of clothing. I've worn it to work as outerwear, but haven't tried wearing it as an indoor jacket... in my office, it'd probably be too warm most days. But if it works for your office climate, I say go for it.

(I hope they never stop offering this jacket... I'd replace mine in a heartbeat if something happened to it. If I could find the exact same jacket in real leather, I'd happily shell out the extra cash for it, too.)

MsMary

Veteran

Honestly, to me that looks like outerwear. It's fab but not very office-y.

Elle

I really like that jacket but it reads more casual/weekend than office. One way to make it work in an office would be to get a color like Chianti and wear it with more formal bottoms - a black skirt or dressy black pants.

The Cat

A very chic jacket! And it can absolutely be worn at the office and look great!

I have one in a similar style. In summer, I'll wear it as outerwear, but in winter, I'll wear it indoors, even in my rather conservative office environment. And it wins a lot of compliments from my colleagues, who are all younger than me. For tomorrow, I have planned to wear my short black leather jacket with: a black wool midi skirt with yellow pinstripes, a grey pullover with narrow horizontal stripes in lemon, blush, blue, white and black, a small blue silk scarf, grey opaque hose, black shoes, and a grey and white pearl bracelet.

The best colour choice for you will depend on your personal colours as well as your taste and style. I guess that you will get the most wear out of the black or the grey one.

Thanks all! I think I'll hold off for a while on this one and think about it a bit more. I may buy it for weekend wear, and try it out with a few outfits to see how I feel about wearing it to the office. Maybe just for Fridays.

Of course checking today it is now 40% off! I've got the honeydew color in my cart. It seems to be a neutral greige color on my screen, but I'm not sure what it would look like in person and no stores around me have it in stock.

Srah: How warm is this jacket? My office climate is a bit erratic. Some days I'm freezing and others I'm sweating. I keep a blanket and fingerless gloves for those days that it gets really cold.

Re: the 40% off, yay! Unless you're in a hurry or really don't want to let something get away, I'd suggest never buying anything at Express at full price (and a large percentage of my wardrobe is from there). If there isn't a sale or coupon now, there probably will be in a week. You may be able to get coupons/discount codes at retailmenot.com if they haven't started sending you coupons in the mail (I get paper coupons from them all. the. time.).

It's a light jacket, so moderately warm... I wear mine outside on cool days in spring/fall and sometimes early morning or evening on not-sweltering summer days. For me, it's a jacket for... maybe 45 degrees F through low 70s?

kkards

i think this would work well for a biz casual office. i have a similar jacket from a couple of years ago that worked both when we were biz cas and now when we are cas biz

Violettt

tan: Love all the pics of the jackets you posted! I would really like to recommend the faux leather moto jacket they have now at Express. It is so cute and comes in a variety of colors! I love the style personally, and bought the blush pink color. It comes in camel which would be great office shade. Express now has 40-50% off everything so check it out! It's the quilted Moto, and is $88.00 now. The style is adorable, goes with everything! I can't rave about it enough~
https://www.express.com/clothi.....acket/pro/
I think the cream one would be awesome! Black is too "biker chic", I love the rose blush one I bought! OMG, they have one in Blue, just may have to buy it! That would be a super color~ go with everything~and tan, you say you have much blue in your wardrobe, look at the blue one!

TheCat: Love your outfit description above! Sounds divine! It must be so fun to plan outfits for work! I used to do that, now it's what should I plan for church? for a potluck? lol? sometimes it's more fun of course, going to see Chris Botti again (fav fav) soon!

Hi SRAH: I used to adore Express when I was 30! Never shop there nowadays as I'm 60, but, while strolling in another town recently, I stumbled upon an "Express" store, and I did fall in love with this moto jacket! I simply adore it, just bought the blue, as I'm responding to "tan", original poster, it simply was too cute to pass up. Now here in hot So Cal, I'll wear a T, and just throw it on to go out! Fun fun! I'm glad you enjoy Express, it's really a great store, and yes, the coupons are always there, matter of fact, I had a $10.00 just now when the bought the already on sale blue jacket! Thrilled! I also bought a fabulous white blouse from there a month ago, OMG, fits to a T, so it is possible to find cute clothes even when you're old.....lol xo

Anonymous

Tanstaafl -- I really like the jacket a lot. It most definitely could be worn in the office as business casual. I would say the office temperature is your limiting factor.

Katerina

Lovely jacket! I am not sure about the dress codes in the U.S., but in Scandinavia, where I live, it would certainly work in a business casual workplace. The black colour feels the most casual to me, I would choose one of the lighter, softer colours, such as the honeydew, vanilla or camel and perhaps wear it with a silk blouse and dressy trousers or skirt, or add a silk scarf for more polish.

Violett, thank you very much. And feel free to plan outfits for all activities in your everyday life.

By the way, I wore my black leather jacket at the office again today. This time teamed with a black A-line knee-length skirt, a bottle green velour tee, a bottle green & black silk scarf, a purple braided belt (under the open leather jacket), purple glasses, black opaque hose and black suede shoes.

Category