Upgrade in Five Easy Pieces

Professional women looking for business clothing have to navigate a fine line between style and what's "in style." Much as they may love fashion, their business wardrobe has a job to do. The professional woman can't be swinging from, say, the glamorous hippie look to Doris Day retro. "I dress with the view of what clients expect -- and it's not trendy," says attorney Jean Chin, a partner at Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw in New York, who likes "very simple clothes with straight lines in blue or black."

As you get higher up the ladder, "you want the message of who you are to be convincing -- to superiors, boards of directors, and subordinates," says Dara Lamb, president and CEO of New York store Darabin Ltd., which sells her line of women's hand-tailored clothing. You should have a "constancy of presence," regardless of what industry you're in.