Some basic dress and grooming suggestions for women follow:
Hair
Hair must be well groomed. It does not matter whether you wear long hair or short. It should be neat and clean looking. If you color your hair, make sure you have a first class job. Blonde hair with dark roots showing looks awful-and lazy! If you wear a wig, make sure it looks like real hair. Invest in a good one-because cheap wigs usually look that way!
Cosmetics
Use make-up very carefully. Sloppily made-up or overly-made up women look awful, but one who knows how to select and apply her make-up well looks great every day. If you are not too adept with make-up, then have someone help you. You do not want to make a poor impression, just because your make-up looks bad.
Colognes and Perfumes
Go easy! A light, pleasant scent is fine, but you want to avoid wearing strong scents. Also, cheap perfumes have a tendency to smell that way. Wear a good quality cologne or perfume.
Jewelry
Jewelry should complement your outfit. Avoid gaudy jewelry. Also, avoid too expensive jewelry. There may be an appropriate time to flaunt the big diamond-but the interview is not it. You would not want to appear richer than the boss-would you?
Dresses and Suits
Neat, conservative dresses and suits are best for interviews. Many do not like pant suits for job interviews. Avoid wild patterns and colors. Also, avoid the plunging neckline-it may offend the interviewer if the interviewer is a female, and distract the male interviewer. For the same basic reasons, make sure your clothes fit well-not too tight or too loose.
Stockings
Should obviously be in good taste and coordinate with the rest of your outfit. No fancy mesh weaves or bright colors. Neutral flesh tones are best. Summer or winter - wear stockings.
Shoes
Should be dressy heels. How high or how low depends on how tall you are. No extreme, high-fashion shoes. Best materials are leather or suede. Dressy boots are also acceptable. Neutral colors, for shoes or boots, are best.
Handbags
Should either match the shoes, or coordinate with them. No extreme styles or gaudy colors.
Outerwear
Dress coats are excellent, as are all weather coats. Tasteful wools and wool-blends look best. If you own a fur ... there is such a thing as over dressing... leave it at home.
Hats and Gloves
Should either match, or coordinate with, the coat and shoes. Make sure you are on the conservative side in selecting your hat-if you choose to wear one. You do not want to look as if you are getting ready for the vaudeville stage.
Briefcase
There are many good-looking briefcases designed for women. Invest in a good one, if you do not already own one.
Glasses
Basically the same comments as made earlier for the men. Avoid wearing sun glasses into the office. Avoid extreme tinted shades. You may have seen some really wild shapes and styles of women's glasses; but be conservative-be stylish, but not outlandish. But, if you need to wear glasses, wear them. Do not leave them at home because you feel they do not look good. You will look a lot worse bumping into a door!
Proper dress for an interview boils down to good taste and common sense. Your clothes and accessories are your outer packaging. We all know how valuable good packaging is to the sale of products. We all probably have purchased products, at one time or another, based on packaging. You are about to have that interview - you are a very important product - be packaged well!
