Sizing up Agencies: Check out the chic clothes

After yesterday's heady post on Ad guys and their socks, Shana challenged me to take on Ad women and their shoes. I'm definitely up for a dare, but...

I have a new hypothesis:  A woman's shoes say more about her agency than about her personal style

Part of an agency's culture is how it looks. From super casual to buttoned-up, from flip flops to stilettos, women take cues from their co-workers about how to dress and just what exactly will be seen as cool and compliment-able. The agency uniform may have different colors and styles, but it's still part of what defines the place...

Allow me to illustrate with these cases:

The look: Stilettos and crisp jeans
Type of agency you're likely in: These women wear their effortless style like their easy brand leadership. They're from a big name agency. Maybe the biggest one in town. They walk by a bulging awards case on the way to a white table cloth lunch on a patio. They're the agency people come to town talking about.

The look: Casual skirts, eclectic prints and modern flats
Type of agency you're likely in: These women are from an agency of specialists. Likely small and choosy. A little green, a little quirky. They eat their yogurt and soy on the patio behind their office. Clients who work with them swear by them. Most everyone else says - wait, who?

The look: Pencil skirts and pumps
Type of agency you're likely in: First up, they probably changed their shoes. These women are from a hip, urban agency. They're practical - probably came to work in walking shoes, probably have a process that "works every time."  They grab something for lunch on the run. Always have a granola bar and a slightly overripe piece of fruit on their desks, right beside three projects only half done. Clients trust their brand, but aren't always inspired by their work.

The look: Hoodies and pumas
Type of agency you're likely in: Well, first up, you're in the Midwest. This is the only place they even sell hoodies. Beyond that - you're probably at an agency that grew fast, that uses lots of young (read: cheap) talent and believes they work and play hard. Although, really, they probably scrape by on deadlines and have had quite enough of each other by the end of the day (thank you). They might split a pizza or divvy up meeting leftovers for lunch. They have a small front team and a big back office. They have lots of legends.

The look: Church clothes and practical shoes
Type of agency you're likely in: Market research. Enough said.

The look: Flowing pants and strappy sandals or knee-high boots (depending on the season)
Type of agency you're likely in: These women have a lot of corporate clients. They work in a big shop with lots of little practices. They spend a lot of time in front of people who they need to impress, but they also just spend a lot of time - long days, big commitments. They microwave calorie-controlled choices for lunch and sneak handfuls of mini reeses cups in the afternoon. They might be in a suburb and likely specialize in PR or niche advertising. People know them by their client roster.

The look: Corduroys and uggs or crocs 
Type of agency you're likely in: The local college assigned "open your own agency" as a class project. Or the freelancers are loose in the conference room.

Comments

[Steve Worthington]

I work for all of the above in bare feet from home!

[DenverAdChic]

Stilettos and crisp jeans fits my agency exactly! We also have the trendy flats!

[Boss]

I can't believe that the first time I jumped onto advergirl in a while and the hot topic is shoes. Too funny.

[somethingyouare]

I'm sitting here at a big client's office, in black flowing pants and black strappy sandals. 'nuff said, I guess. ...although i really wish i could break all those "eclectic prints" out of the closet!

[Gitti]

The hood line made laugh so hard! Actually in the DR, hoods are almostt mandatory for new art directors, it's kind of an uniform. Hoods, flip-flops and a light sweater. That was also my beginning stage, I confess, but now -15 years later-, I'm #1, some days #2. And it is a statement, a real one.

[Andrea Hill]

I love your stuff! The Midwest comment re: the hoodies cracked me up!

[Shana Ray]

Great post. My agency culture and I fit almost perfectly into the 2nd category of casual skirts, eclectic prints and modern flats (though modern “flats” to me are any heel less than 4 inches).

My boss once told me that I should always try to mirror what the senior executives are wearing because they determine the type of “culture” the agency has. What I like best about my agency is that while it is very relaxed, we are all individuals with many different points of view and I feel that I can be myself.

I will keep your post in mind during future job interviews, if I see any practical shoes or pencil skirts I will try to run out of there in my modern shoes as fast as I can!

Though my last job was doing marketing for a bank and as you can guess it was ALL church clothes, practical shoes and black socks.

[beth]

Us in house people working for giant corporations are the hoodie and jeans folks too.