 Poster: A snowHead
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| tomj wrote: |
I work for a (very old school) building society. There is a very strong culture of suit and tie for men (which since I hate wearing a tie is probably why I don't feel that I fit in, but that's another problem). Women, on the other hand, seem to have the broadest interpretation of 'office attire', ranging from very frumpy suits worn by those who appear to be trying to dress like men, in an effort to break the very obvious glass ceiling, to slinky, shoulderless figure-hugging dresses that would look just right for a night out in Swindon.
Thing is, there are regular 'dress down Fridays' when we are strongly encouraged to chuck a quid in a bucket so that we can "wear our own clothes to work".
Quite apart from being treated like schoolchildren, I wonder - Who's clothes were you wearing the rest of the week?  |
One of my clients is a building society, though not as bad as this. Blokes generally wear smart grey or black trousers and a shirt, no tie. Women can get away with a lot more, the rule appears to be no jeans or trainers. I hate wearing shirts or blouses, so I revert to what I'd normally wear (a long sleeved tee and a cardi) but with "smart" trousers and boots. They also do "dress down" once a month. I don't mind the charity aspect, but I do wonder why it matters what you wear the rest of the time? Front desk and branch staff have a uniform, so their look is prescripted.
Most of the other clients I work on-site for are design agencies, so I'm with Queen B on the hoodie, jeans and trainers 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I do business with "traditional" companies, which often seem more like social clubs than businesses. Their people have strict dress codes, as described above.
In there, the women are easiest to classify, in my humble experience. You don't even need to be able to tell the difference between an expensive suit and something M&S.... the senior women will all be well maintained with discrete make up. They will wear black or dark "suits" with flat shoes. They will uniformly be fit and probably won't show any grey hair.
Obviously the important thing is what people do, but target acquisition is aided somewhat by these cues.
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It is funny dealing with bankers... they all wear school uniform, so I try to have my tattiest jeans on for them. Of course I'm trying to liberate them from this stupid old tradition, not make it clear that I'm paying them, not the other way around.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Dress down friday in my office is when people take off their tie and pay up anyway. I hate it - the productivity goes down and I can`t trust people in trainers.....
I have no problem with business formal in the office. We`re a professional services company, people are paying us money to behave in a professional way, that includes looking the part.
I`m a suit dress and jacket person. Minimal brain power required.
No one wears flat shoes - shows and bags are a show off opportunity.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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In my current company it varies by office. Most of the time I'm in the countryside campus site, well away from any potential customers, and it's very laid back. Jeans everywhere, some tshirts, some hoodies (in winter), also some shirts etc. But generally smart shoes, never sandals or grubby trainers. I'll generally be in jeans, a nice shirt and smart jacket or cardie, unless it's horrible weather. Flat shoes for me though - heels are banned by my doctor until my tendonitis goes!
But if i'm in the Canary Wharf office - then it's full smart office wear. Normally for me a nice dress with smart jacket, or shirt, top and jacket. Guys always in shirts and ties, though jackets usually not worn around your own floor, only if you go to another floor.
I don't wear suits any more - but that's after spending 4 years in the Geneva office of a Swiss private bank. Women do NOT wear suits in Geneva, it marks you out a visitor straight away. Local office wear tended very much more towards the chic French look - nice, well fitted, understated dresses, and simple but polished grooming. I liked it.
In a ski resort - jeans and a non-grubby top will get you through pretty much anything 
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| HoneyBunny wrote: |
| I arrived at a hotel once to see a woman in her 50s sitting casually at the bar wearing shiny plastic knee-high platform boots, a laced-up corset and very short skirt. I think people were wondering if someone had ordered 'extra services', but no, it was just how she liked to dress on ski holidays! |
Don't suppose you have her number 
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Don't get me started on dress codes for female solicitors. How my heart used to sink when yet another young lady would arrive for interview in a drab, dark suit. And I even got told off myself once for coming to work in jeans. Jeans, the horror of it! In fact I was wearing what was pretty much the uniform of all the women in our Paris office at the time (late 1970s) immaculately ironed designer jeans with Chanel-style tailored jacket, medium-heeled court shoes (I never could walk in really high heels) and the obligatory Hermes scarf loosely the tied at the neck of a crisp tailored shirt. All a bit OTT, if truth be told, but the Sloanie look was much in fashion in Paris at the time.
But frankly, any kind of uniform or proscription is unnecessary - looking clean, tidy and contextually respectable is quite enough.
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| Quote: |
contextually respectable
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and the above is what some people really struggle with...
Let's face it the majority of people don't need a dress code because they know how to dress themselves and take pride in their appearance.
However, the people who really are in need of a dress code to avoid stunning others into oblivion are usually blissfully unaware of the same... (but hey, I'm easily entertained...)
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@schneeflocke, spot on
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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T-shirt, hoody or heavily discounted Goretex is my dress code these days. Much more comfortable than previous offices I've worked in. Can't remember the last time I voluntarily put on a tie, and would have to focus to remember a Half Windsor. Happy days
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| T-shirt, hoody or heavily discounted Goretex is my dress code these days. Much more comfortable than previous offices I've worked in. |
So far so good but the foot-wear isn't so comfy.
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You know it makes sense.
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@dogwatch, that is a very fair point!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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When Frank Judd was briefly Minister for Overseas Development he ordered up a two-day "thinking outside the box" seminar, largely for senior staff. However he also wanted some more junior staff who would not be too intimidated to speak up. I was naturally on that list, as a well known big mouth and trouble maker who was forever challenging "what we've always done". On Friday we wore office style clothes but at the end of that day Frank said he'd be wearing casual stuff on the Saturday ready to go off on a mountain walking trip and told us to do the same.
I thought harder that night about what to wear to the office than I'd ever done before and decided on a pair of good, but rather tight, jeans and a sweater. I had an excellent bum in those days and my decision was vindicated when one of Under Secretaries bought me a gin and tonic at lunchtime.
It was very interesting seeing what people had chosen to wear. Most were really boring - some even looked like they were wearing their third-best office suit and a slightly more colourful tie.  The only really stylishly dressed man was famously gay.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I have always dressed in pretty much the same way all my adult life, whether working in an office or not. Except, obviously, when I'm exercising, hiking or skiing, I wear smart but casual separates, with decent accessories (not trainers). I only wear dresses for really posh dos. I wear trousers more often than I wear skirts, often (tidy) jeans, but also more formal ones, including evening trousers . I aim to look quietly elegant but sometimes think that is an impossible goal for someone who's only 5'2"!  I wouldn't be seen dead, out and about in town, in trackie bottoms, hoodies and trainers. (Come to think of it, I'd probably dress quite differently if I lived in the country.)
Opportunities to dress up are few and far between, save for concerts. Have to be all in black for those, though, with no sparkly jewellery. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Hurtle,
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I wouldn't be seen dead, out and about in town, in trackie bottoms, hoodies and trainers. (Come to think of it, I'd probably dress quite differently if I lived in the country.)
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Not quite sure what you meant by that. Obviously we dress differeently in the country (more wellies and thicker jumpers) but I'm not sure we'd be any more inclined to wear trackie bottoms, hoodies and trainers. I tend to think of them as a bit more Jeremy Kyle urban chich.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@foxtrotzulu,
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Not quite sure what you meant by that
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Simply that I'd dress a bit less formally - though I'd probably still go easy on the trackie bottoms and hoodies - and obviously my footwear would be different.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Short sleeved shirts? Only if you're a professional darts player.
Brown shoes? Never after 6pm or in town.
And ask your lady's permission before you remove your jacket, eat with your mouth closed, pass the port only to the left and keep your elbows off the table.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@foxtrotzulu,I often pull on a pair of trackie bottoms and a hoodie first thing in the morning, then the waxed jacket and wellies to take the dog for the first walk of the day. I had the same on this morning to walk her on the beach at 8 am, doing a swift change in the car before heading to our sailing club to do a cooking course. I will nip to the swimming pool at our local hotel looking fairly scruffy,but would not go into Chichester like that. I wear a lot of dresses and opaque tights in the winter when we are back here probably because the rest of the winter I spend in ski clothes and jeans or other trousers.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Damn. I'm wearing trackies, hoody and trainers...
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@queen bodecia, with your gorgeous looks, you can carry off that sort of thing. I can't.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@pam w, glad you didn't have your slippers on this afternoon, certain standards to maintain!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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There are times when, despite all, you really need @stanton, . This is one of them.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I generally wear a suit when representing a company at client meetings, but mostly that can be a sharkskin grey with red/brown dress boots and matching belt (always accessorise). For general business attire in a civil engineering environment I wear country/shooting style green trousers coupled with a shirt. It is servicable and looks smart. If a company starts forcing you to into a certain attire then there are ways to rebel. Wear the loudest Hyacinth Bucket dress you can find along with combat boots and claim you are considering transitioning but are also visiting a site with PPE requirements
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/keepingupappearances/images/7/75/Hyacinth.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110519214122
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I've been to work today, as usual. ..Friday. ...Im relaxing on the sofa in my black pencil skirt, black top, black opaque tights. I have removed my grey and black flecked jacket and my black Gabor shoes ..I can't bear footwear indoors.
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You know it makes sense.
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@holidayloverxx, I like to take my shoes off too, but would have had to take off my tights. They are worse than the shoes.
Only tonight for some reason I am still wearing my outdoor shoes, but I am blaming the dogs as they are moulting, and I don't like the fur between my toes.
I will never, ever ever, wear wellies. They are the worst footwear ever. If anyone sees me in them, please shoot me.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I like to take my shoes off too, but would have had to take off my tights. They are worse than the shoes.
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+1 I can't bear tights.
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Wear the loudest Hyacinth Bucket dress you can find along with combat boots and claim you are considering transitioning but are also visiting a site with PPE requirements
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 and a hard hat?
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Hurtle, should have gone to specsavers honey...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@queen bodecia, don't be daft!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| I can't bear footwear indoors. |
Personally, I can't bear a bra indoors. But that doesn't go down well in an office environment.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I'm wearing PJs. But it's 11pm and I'm in bed.
What a bizarre thread direction...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Thornyhill, sweet baby cheeses... I pretty much have the same kind of wardrobe, i.e multiples of identical items. I have to make so many decisions in my work day that I don't want to have to make decisions every morning about what to wear. I've been this way since uni days.
Suppose it doesn't help that I wore a uniform for 12 years. I'm more comfortable wearing the same thing all the time.
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Oh and I do not have MZ's millions, so we are nothing alike and I do not identify!
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My business partner had a meeting at a suit 'n' tie City institution on the day of the G8 demo/riot. He was advised the day before to dress down. So he turned up at reception in torn jeans and a sweat shirt. Then, when he was asked to take a seat for a few minutes, he donned a balaclava while he read the FT!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Zero_G wrote: |
Suppose it doesn't help that I wore a uniform for 12 years. I'm more comfortable wearing the same thing all the time. |
I've been self employed for the best part of 20 years and 3 careers. At the start I fell for that 'bank business' thing along with the 'first impressions' nonsense. Expensive 3 piece suit, hours of grooming, haircut twice a week......Then I realised that I preferred my own uniform. Black Cat boots, tidy 501s and a white tee shirt. Raised some eyebrows when I was dealing with 'big cheeses' in IT and always in financial services, but people came to accept it. They realised that my skill set was more important than my waistcoat. It would be a tough one to carry off in sales where the scruffy(ish) bloke needs the business rather than the suity bloke needing the scruffy bloke. Anyone who worries about being over or under-dressed for an occasion probably has some confidence issues. As far as I am concerned, I am dressed appropriately and anyone who thinks differently got it wrong
Why would anyone wear a noose to go to work?
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FAQ
Without even asking myself whether I was "carrying it off" or not. 