Business Formal, Business Professional and Business Casual: What Each Dress Code Means

Three phrases turn up on offer letters and office handbooks, and nobody defines them. Business formal, business professional and business casual are genuinely different things, but the gaps are narrower than people fear, and in Los Angeles narrower still.

Business formal

The most demanding of the three, and the rarest. A matched suit in a dark solid colour, charcoal or navy, with a white or pale shirt, a tie and black leather lace-ups. A waistcoat is welcome. For women, a matched trouser or skirt suit, or a formal dress with a jacket.

You will meet it at a board meeting, a closing dinner, a funeral, a court appearance and a bank's client floor. It is the daytime equivalent of black tie without being black tie, and the difference matters: black tie means a dinner jacket, and no business suit substitutes for one, as our guide to the black tie dress code in Los Angeles sets out. What it is not: a light grey suit, a sport coat with odd trousers, brown shoes, an open collar.

Business professional

This is the workhorse, and where most offices actually live. A suit is expected, but the colour and cloth loosen: mid grey, a quieter check, a subtle stripe, a blue that is not quite navy. A tie is usual but not absolute, and brown shoes are fine. For women, a suit, or a skirt or trousers with a tailored jacket.

The practical test is whether a stranger could tell, from across a room, that you came from an office. It is the register for client meetings, conferences, depositions and most days in a law firm or a bank. Lawyers work to a standard that has barely moved in thirty years, and we wrote about it in suits for Los Angeles lawyers. The common error is a jacket and trousers that nearly match: two near-identical greys look like a mistake, two clearly different colours like a choice.

Business casual

The vaguest of the three, because it describes what you may leave off rather than what you must put on. It means a collared shirt and proper trousers, with a jacket optional and a tie generally not worn. Chinos, flannels or odd trousers rather than denim, and leather shoes. For women, trousers or a skirt with a blouse or a jacket, or a day dress.

A navy blazer with grey flannels, a plain shirt and loafers is the most reliable business casual outfit there is, and it will carry you through an unexpectedly formal lunch. If you are unsure what a blazer is as distinct from a suit jacket, we set the terms out in suit, blazer or sport coat; custom trousers Los Angeles covers the odd trouser.

Smart casual sits one step below again: a knit in place of a shirt, a clean leather shoe in place of a brogue, and in Los Angeles sometimes dark denim. Not shorts, and not trainers you have run in.

How Los Angeles reads these differently

In London, business professional means a suit and tie, and the tie is not really optional. New York finance and law hold the same line with the suits a shade sharper. Los Angeles has quietly dropped the tie from almost everything short of business formal and substituted fit for formality. An Angeleno in a well cut navy suit with an open collar reads as more senior than one in a poorly cut suit and a tie, which puts a great deal of weight on how the jacket sits across the shoulders, because no tie is drawing the eye to the centre of the chest.

Industry matters more than city. Century City and Downtown still run on suits, and a deposition in either is read the way New York would read it; we cover both on our pages for custom suits in Century City and custom suits in Downtown Los Angeles. Studios and agencies on the Westside run two registers lower. When you do not know the building, dress for the more formal reading and remove the tie in the lobby.

What to wear to a job interview

One rule covers almost every case: dress one level above the job's daily code, and never below it. If the office is business casual, wear a suit without a tie, or a blazer with flannels. If it is business professional, wear a suit and a tie. If it is a creative studio in Culver City, wear a jacket, good trousers and clean shoes. Nobody has lost an interview for being slightly more careful than the room.

Dark navy is the best single interview colour: it photographs well on a video call, reads as serious without severity, and suits nearly every complexion.

What one suit can do

A single dark navy suit, well cut, covers all three. With a white shirt, a dark tie and black oxfords, it is business formal. With a pale blue shirt, a quieter tie and brown shoes, it is business professional. The jacket alone over grey flannels is business casual, and the trousers with a knit and a blazer will pass smart casual. Four dress codes out of one commission, which is why we suggest navy as a first suit and grey as a second.

What makes the difference is the cut rather than the cloth. A jacket whose shoulder ends where your shoulder ends, a collar that stays against the neck, and a trouser that breaks cleanly will read correctly in all of those settings. A jacket that does none of them looks wrong in all of them, whatever you put with it. We set out what having one made costs on bespoke suit cost Los Angeles, and we do home and office visits across the city.

Questions we are often asked

What is the difference between business formal and business professional?

Business formal requires a dark solid suit, a tie and black lace-ups. Business professional allows mid grey, quiet patterns, brown shoes and sometimes no tie. Formal is the narrow version of professional.

Does business professional require a tie?

In London, and in New York finance and law, effectively yes. In Los Angeles it is optional in most offices, though a client meeting, a court appearance or an interview is safer with one.

Is business casual the same as smart casual?

No. Business casual still assumes a collared shirt and proper trousers. Smart casual allows a knit instead, and in Los Angeles sometimes dark denim.

Can you wear jeans for business casual?

Usually not. Business casual means chinos, flannels or odd trousers. Dark undistressed denim passes in some Los Angeles offices, but it belongs to smart casual.

What should I wear to a job interview in Los Angeles?

Dress one level above the office's daily code. Dark navy is the best single choice, with a white or pale blue shirt. Add a tie for law, finance or client-facing work; leave it off for studios and agencies.

Can one suit cover all three dress codes?

A well cut dark navy suit can. White shirt, dark tie and black oxfords for formal; pale shirt, quieter tie and brown shoes for professional; the jacket alone over grey flannels for casual.

If you would like something made for the office

We are a European house at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey, by appointment. Every garment is full canvas and fully bespoke, made by hand in our atelier in Southern Brittany, and a two-piece starts priced at consultation. The consultation is an hour and costs nothing. See custom suits Los Angeles, or women's bespoke suits for the same codes from the other side of the wardrobe. For a sadder occasion, see what to wear to a funeral. Otherwise, book a fitting and talk to Robb.