The manager's past history of very casual clothing at work -- specifically, those blue-and-lime-print clamdiggers -- had come back to haunt her. The colleague's plea embarrassed her, and she worried it undermined her authority.

No matter how much we hate it, no matter how much we fight it, no matter how casually Silicon Valley millionaires dress, the truth is: Business clothing matters.

Whether you're making the leap from campus to the business world, emerging from home after a child-rearing break, or just ascending to a more responsible position at your current firm, it pays to polish your appearance. The rigid, insecure days of John Malloy and the dress-for-success, navy blue skirt-suit are well and truly over -- but on the job, you must still dress to impress.

"You're trying to package yourself," says Victoria Seitz, a marketing professor at California State University in San Bernardino and author of Your Executive Image . "People like to be around winners."

The key to dressing to impress, the experts say, is to perceive what others expect to see and deliver that image. Assess your industry and ask yourself what executives think successful women in your profession wear.

"People make assumptions based on their view of the world -- fair or unfair, it's what people think," says Lisa Scherrer, a principal of The Professional Image, Inc., in Atlanta . "Once perceptions are made, that's what lasts."

Go Shopping for a Sharper Business Image

If you've resolved to get your image and your wardrobe together, make one more promise to yourself: Your business clothes will fit properly. The experts say fit -- too small, usually -- is one of the most common problems they see in the business world.

"Too tight is a big mistake," says Leah Feldon, whose latest book on clothing, Does This Make Me Look Fat?, comes out in May. "Even Cindy Crawford looks cheap in too tight."

:: Sandra Early