Communication of The Business Attire in Brazil’s Business World
Formality is very important in the Brazilian business world and what a person wears either communicates formality or informality. Formality shows that a person is serious about the business that they they do. When people not from Brazil think of Brazil, many of them think of beaches in Rio di Janiero, where people in swimming close lie about the beach. But Brazil is also a very large company with large business and there is a code to business attire. It is not the case that people just sit around in swimming cloths in the office. There are important codes of etiquette that must be observed in dressing for business success in Brazil. Conservation is key in business attire. The other aspects of liberalism in Brazil do not follow people to the workplace. Because of the high temperature the matieral is made from light materials like cotton, and wool is rarely used because of its warmth. Men wear dark suits and women can wear a dress or a jacket. They also wear skirts and these can very in length depending on the nature of the business. In a big financial company, a woman would not want to have her skirt too short because this would be seen as a lack of modesty and paint a picture of the woman that she would not want painted. Ties can be colorful, but they must be tasteful. Silly ties with cartoons on them are not a good option for a business place in Brazil. For more formal meetings, it is good to wear a white shirt with cufflinks. White is better than blue because white implies that a person is of a very high position. These white shirts must be kept clean.
Dress is one way that people communicate. It goes beyond words and is often more important than the words said from one person to another. To have holes in ones clothes communicates that a person is poor. This is not the message that one wants to have communicated about themselves in Brazil. It is important to have cleaned and ironed cloths in Brazil as wrinkles are seen as a sign that a person does not care about their appearance. Because of the temperature, it is likely that in between an air conditioned office a person will sweat going to work and coming from work. Because of this, shirts and pants and undergarments should be washed after a day of using them. Often it might be okay to wear a suit coat for more than one day without washing it, but that is only if it has not been contaminated by sweat.
Dress has increased in the last three decades as bussiness in Brazil has increased. It is not just a choice, but crucial for becoming successful, a person must first dress successfully. As Andrea Novais writes in her article Dress for Scuess in Brazil, “Appearance becomes a crucial aspect, a code that determines who is going to succeed and who is going to fail.” Part of appearance is not just clothes but grooming. A person should shave every morning (for men) and women should keep up with the current hairstyles. A person must get a hair cut before it becomes so noticeable that people say “you need a haircut.” A hairstyle should be formal, and not attract too much attention to itself.
References:
Business Etiquette in Brazil. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2014, from http://traveltips.usatoday.com/business-etiquette-brazil-16277.html
Dress for Success in Brazil. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2014, from http://thebrazilbusiness.com/article/dress-for-success-in-brazil
