The Best Interview Attire for Different Types of Jobs

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What is the best interview attire for women for different types of jobs? When is a classic suit appropriate — and when is it really not?

I’ve always approached our various suit roundups from the perspective of Interview Attire for a Very Conservative Office, but I think there’s a fun discussion to be had about what to wear for interview attire for a business casual office, or a creative casual office, or an Office So Casual People Wear Hoodies and Jeans.

Interview attire in 2026 is less about decoding a single dress code and more about signaling judgment — the ability to read a room, respect norms, and still look like and feel like the best version of yourself.

Warning: my advice for a lot of these positions is still going to be “wear a suit,” both because it shows you’re taking the interview seriously, it is going to be so much easier than almost all of the other stuff we’ll discuss, and — even if you’re interviewing in a place where people wear hoodies and jeans — if you’re hired in a position of authority (lawyer, say) then you’re being vetted and interviewed to be the grown up in the room. 

But let’s discuss! What do you think is the best interview attire for different types of jobs? Here are some of my thoughts, below…

The Best Female Interview Attire for a Conservative Office

Go formal, all the way: wear a dark suit in a seasonless fabric like this one. Cut your vents. A suit dress (with a matched dress and blazer) is fine, as well.

If you are very junior and interviewing with very senior people (such as, say, that crusty old partner emeritus they trot out for interviews) then a skirt suit is still probably your best advice, but pants suits have come so far that I’ll say wear whatever you feel the best in.

Do the mirror check if you’re wearing a skirt. If you need a blouse or a top for under your suit, you have some choices. We have a whole guide about this, but quickly:

• a collared shirt still looks crisp and stylish (like this one)
• a no-button blouse like this one
• a silky T-shirt like this one
• a silk sweater tee (like this one)
• an elevated T-shirt (like this one) in a very traditional color (think pastels, whites)

(See also our entire Guide to Interview Suits.)

We’ve rounded up suits in all budgets, but in general, note that you should get the best fabric quality that you can afford. Be wary of new (or old) suits with very trendy features, such as puffed sleeves, blazers that aren’t mid-hip (both too short and too long can be problematic).

There’s been a meme lately for “office siren…” don’t take any advice from that meme. In general, avoid looking (or feeling) like you’re in “corp cosplay.”

Our Latest Favorite Basic Suits

The Best Interview Attire for Polished Professionals (Who Don’t Need a Suit)

This is where I’ve noticed a lot of readers have said they are lately — I’d think of this category as including consulting firms, in-house legal positions, tech-adjacent roles, healthcare admins, seniors at non-profits…

These can be some of the trickiest interviews, IMHO. One easy guideline is to dress slightly better than your interviewer… but this can take a bit of research to figure out what to expect your interviewer to be wearing.

When we’ve discussed this in the past, readers have called this “straddling the line between something I feel comfortable wearing to an interview, and casual enough.” One reader noted that for think tanks she wore a dress and jacket (not a matching suit), and that was fine; she also said that for tech interviews she’s worn an elevated business casual outfit like a skirt and nice top, a dress and cardigan.

(Another reader noted that she wore a Boden dress with a nonmatching blazer for an interview at a tech company, and “ended up immediately removing the blazer to dress my outfit down.”)

Interview Outfit Ideas When You Don’t Want to Wear a Black Suit

Some outfit ideas to consider here:

• “Column of color” — it’s always a classic way to look polished. Think: black blouse or short-sleeve sweater, black pants, and a blazer with a bit of texture, like this one.
• “Shades of a color” — here your third piece is a cardigan, jacket, or other shirt that is a shade lighter or darker than your base shirt color. Example: medium gray pants, a darker gray blouse, and a light gray sweater or blazer. IMHO it’s best to stick with neutrals here for a minimal, classic look.
• Monotone — this is slightly different from the first version in that it’s all the exact same shade (even matching fabrics). Think: a white suit, a beige dress with matching beige cardigan.
• “Top top bottom” — Here your top two pieces match exactly, and your bottom is a totally different color. Especially at the stores with bigger inventories, there are often many pieces in the exact matching shade as a suit, but with different fabrics

Above all: wear a shoe that signals authority but without pain. Now isn’t the time to see if you can walk in those stilettos from when you started. Think: block heels (if any heel at all!), like this one. I’m a fan of kitten heels like these boots, but you can also go with flats like this one or this one.

The Best Interview Attire for Women In a Business Casual Office

This depends a lot on what position you’re interviewing for, and it depends on the office, the region, and who you’re interviewing with.

My $.02: if you are interviewing for a role of authority, you should have a structured blazer on, unless you are such a rockstar that you are interviewing for CEO. This one conservative element helps to anchor the outfit. This could also be tailored trousers or the like.

This can be especially confusing if you’re interviewing with leadership that dresses casually. You always want to convey understanding of the interview power dynamics, the role itself, and the company.

It can be really tough to know what to wear for these interviews, though, so I would err on the side of being overly conservative rather than overly casual, and if you don’t plan on wearing a blazer, at least bring one with you. If you look at the company’s social media presence or pictures of staffers on their websites you might get an idea of how they present themselves to potential clients — but it’s hard to believe you’re going to go wrong to show up in a suit because it is, after all, an interview.

This kind of look might also work for one of those fun “is it an interview?” situations where you’re meeting someone with hiring input for coffee, or as an informational interview where there is no job.

(See also our entire Guide to Business Casual.)

Interview attire that might be appropriate for a business casual office: 

• the same dark wool suit you’d wear to a conservative office interview, but with a bit more personality in the outfit — a brooch, a necklace, fun shoes, a patterned blouse you love — if the conservative office interview attire is plain vanilla, think “butter pecan” here — still dependable and pretty basic.
• suiting separates, so long as they clearly are non-matching — a blazer worn on top of a sheath dress, for example, in a different color or with a different texture
• the column of color look where you have a solid column of color with your blouse and pants but a “fun” blazer on top.
• nontraditional suiting separates, like a collarless blazer (like this), a lady jacket (like these) or jardigan (like these), a pleated skirt instead of a pencil skirt. The look is very formal and would still look dressed up and polished, but in my humble opinion, this has to be very close to your personal style — it’s hard to play dress up and look confident in a look like this otherwise. 
• a matched color on top with a different color on the bottom. This works nicely with a light blue blazer, blue top, and black pants, but you can also go for basic black on the top and then a clearly non-matching pant or skirt on the bottom. 
• an option for some casual roles at casual offices: a sleeved dress with pockets (like this one), maybe with a blazer carried with you that layers nicely. 
• an option for more conservative roles at more conservative offices: a slightly fun suit like the one we feature in our Suit of the Week — I probably wouldn’t advise wearing a bright red suit to an interview but a light gray suit, a black and white gingham suit, a dark suit with an unusual pattern

The Best Interview Attire for a Casual Office

TREAD VERY CAREFULLY HERE!

If you are interviewing for a role that is creative, maaaaaybe you can consider a bright red suit or something a television show might tell you was interview attire.

But interview attire for a casual office is hugely dependent on what typical wear is for the office, what you wear most of the time, what you feel the most confident in, and how you really want to present yourself.

When we discussed this in 2019, women with engineering positions in tech had some great suggestions for California/tech firms. As she put it,

Now with a bit more experience as a woman engineer, I’d feel comfortable wearing dark jeans to dress down the biz casual blouse (I’m really not a t-shirt person). Black ponte pants would also work, if I steered away from the standard “dressy casual” flats (or god forbid heels, seriously don’t wear heels for a Silicon Valley eng interview). I’d wear Euro-chic sandals if possible, or Chelsea boots in winter, maybe a casual-looking slip-on loafer. It’s tough for me to toe the line of being slightly dressier than my probably-male interviewers without calling attention to being a Well-Dressed Woman.

Also, all this experience is in California… if I were interviewing at the NYC or London offices of my current Big Tech company, I’d happily bump up to any form of unisex-ish business casual sans suit. The male engineers actually know how to dress there.

One approach is that you can go for a more traditional “interview” outfit (dark colors) but go in with the theory that there’s a 50/50 chance you’ll want to remove your jacket as soon as you enter the room. A sleeved dress with pockets (in a dark color) is another great option, like this one — it gives you a great base to have fun with accessories while still being the grown up in the room. 

In addition to the interview attire for business casual offices, consider wearing:

• Separates that are more dressed up than what you would regularly wear — if you expect to be in jeans for most of your time as an employee, wear pants, or jeans with heels and a blazer. They’re hard to find but you could even go for a structured top that isn’t quite a blazer, like this wrap top from The Fold.
• a statement dress like this one
• a basic sheath dress like this one — but only go sleeveless after some serious thought, social media investigation, or with a back-up blazer or cardigan with you
• a nontraditional jacket or topper, like a moto jacket or sweater blazer like this one — but really, proceed carefully!

The Best Interview Attire for Remote-First or Hybrid Interviews

This can be another ball of wax, and I’d love to hear readers’ thoughts on this. A few observations on video interviews:

• anchor your outfit with structure, such as a blazer or a crisp blouse — pay attention to how your upper body and especially your shoulders look on screen! An old trick from news anchors: sit on your blazer to pull it down so it fits better in your shoulders; you do not want any padded shoulders riding an inch or two above your shoulders.
• think about colors and how they look, both on camera and on you. For example: I almost never wear white because I’m pale (and messy, tbh) but a crisp collar of a white blouse is a classic, timeless look. Another thing to consider: what your background will look like. You want to make sure that your outfit stands out against your background (and that the background isn’t clashing with your outfit or otherwise distracting the interviewer from you).
• we’ve talked about interview makeup as having a few main goals: looking awake, alive, and interested — and this can be especially challenging on camera. Experiment with going a shade or two darker with your lipstick, and think about the structure of your face — for example, my eyebrows are too light in their natural form and I really look washed out if I don’t have brow product on. Think about the lighting in the room, as well.
• Although easy updos can be a great interview look, I would caution against something that makes you look like you don’t have hair. You don’t want a messy look (with, like, wisps in your face or a messy bun), but you also don’t want a slicked back look. Know yourself well enough to know if having your hair down is going to distract you, though!

Readers, what did you wear to your last interview? Did you feel like your interview attire hit the mark for the type of job, was too casual, or too formal? Readers who interview frequently, what are your thoughts on these outfits — do you think they’re the best interview attire for different types of jobs?