Casual Clothing has Changed:

Casual clothing could mean something different for everyone. For some, it's a simple pair of jeans, a T-shirt and sneakers. For others, casual clothing could be some khakis, a logo-type shirt and some nice shoes. It could even mean a fashionable pair of jeans, high heels, and a trendy shirt.

At work, some employers are allowing a casual clothing code for their employees. Usually, if you are being seen by my customers or clients, it probably means that you should not look sloppy. However, some companies allow that employees who don't normally have contact with any clients or customers to wear pretty much whatever they want. This is rare in most companies, but there are some examples. There is a great point for the employee is that shopping for clothes for work at a place where they allow casual clothing will be much less expensive than shopping for business dress attire. You may not need to even go shopping for work clothes. The clothing you have in your closet could make do.

About.com shows us some tips for casual clothing wear, whether it be casual Friday wear, mouse potato duds, urban street wear, weekend warrior attire, slacker style or geek chic. The challenge is to not be boring when dressing casually! You also don't want to look sloppy either. Here are some tips from About.com:

• Buy your casual clothing the same way you would buy career clothes -- think about building wardrobes. For example, choose cohesive pieces built around basic styles and three colors for the best mix-and-match wardrobe (khaki, denim, red; black, khaki, white; etc.)

• Find great casual shoes because nothing kills a chic sporty look like a pair of white running shoes. Retro sneaks in colorful suedes, boots, sandals, etc. are great with most casual wear.

• Use casual accessories and handbags - don't try to mix a gold and diamond watch with a sweatshirt unless you're a rapper. Choose sporty watches and bags to keep from mixing styles.

• Keep your casual clothes in tip-top shape -- ironed, cleaned, mended.

• Avoid casual clichés like baggy sweats and leggings. The former is for lounging around the house only and the latter will make you look like you're stuck in the '80s. Instead, opt for great track suits with a more fitted look in fun colors (pink, blue, red) and rich fabrics like velour or terry.

• Don't get ridiculous about style. If you're working in the garden or cleaning the house, you can wear whatever works for you. As a matter of fact, keep some grungy clothes just for those down-and-dirty tasks. Unless you live next door to Mr. Blackwell, no one's going to hold it against you.
With these tips, you'll have a great, dazzling wardrobe that is filled with fabulous casual fashion.

Casual Pants -

Casual pants have taken on a whole new level in the past decade. There are so many different styles of jeans to choose from, low-rise, slim cut, boot leg, flared, zipped, buttoned, vintage, ripped to even those with glitter and designs.

Here's a cool glossary to help you out from About.com:

• Right hand twill - Using uniform yarns, this weave is considered more rugged.

• Left hand twill - The weave runs diagonally, resulting in a softer, loftier feel.

• Ring Spun Denim - The original denim fabric, which is known for its characteristic slubs.

• Open-End Denim - The most popular type of denim that results in a consistent yarn thickness.

• Dirty denim - Filler yarns are brown (instead of natural which is woven with the indigo) which gives the denim a "dirty" appearance

• Stonewashed - Most jeans today are stonewashed, but not in pumice stones like the original method. Now enzymes, sand, ceramic balls and other methods give jeans their worn look.

• Flares - Slim through the legs, flaring right above the ankle -- to about an 21+ inch opening.

• Bellbottoms - Start to flare at the knee, resulting in a 22+ inch leg opening.

• Peg legs - Extremely narrow leg opening (very '80s)

• Bootcut - Slim through the legs, with a slight flare at the ankle to accommodate a boot (about a 16-18 inch opening)