Clothes people wear when doing........anything.

[lizzzi]

+1

[jrhampt]

Haha!!  For those who think NYC grooming standards are onerous compared to the PNW, you should try spending time in Dallas.  I moved from the south to New England and immediately eased up on the makeup routine.  I can still pick out a Dallas woman even when traveling abroad.

[acroy]

My policy is that your crotch must be covered - front and back.  Ideally, the stuff you're wearing shouldn't smell too bad.  Other than that, anything goes.  I'd far rather we get offended by people who have chosen to be fat than people choosing to wear old clothing.

Hahaha
+1

[Chris22]

It just doesn't seem that difficult to me. Men: dress pants and a button down collared shirt. Women: Blouse or button down shirt with dress pants or skirt, or a dress. That's it. Our work wardrobes are TINY - he has five dress shirts, one vest, and three dress pants. I have nine dress shirts, two dress pants, two skirts, four dresses, and a few sweaters/wraps. These people probably have at least triple the amount of clothes we do, and still screw it up.

It's usually casual Friday which trips people up.  M-Thurs every male in my office is wearing what you described (maybe polo shirts instead of dress shirts in the summer) but then Friday comes along and it's like people don't know what to do.  I'll admit, I bend the rules a bit too, for instance right now I'm wearing Puma driving shoes, which are sorta sneakers, which isn't really allowed, but they're brown suede so they don't look completely ridiculous:



I also occasionally wear boat shoes or loafers without socks, which is technically not allowed, but with pants no one can tell anyways so it doesn't really matter. 

[coppertop]

I once worked at a company that allowed nice shorts or jeans on Fridays.  A certain element in the office decided that Daisy Duke shorts fell into this category.  Instead of addressing that issue head on, they rescinded the entire casual Friday policy.  I don't know how anyone with half a brain could think that Daisy Dukes were okay in an office environment, but there they were. 

[onlykelsey]

Haha!!  For those who think NYC grooming standards are onerous compared to the PNW, you should try spending time in Dallas.  I moved from the south to New England and immediately eased up on the makeup routine.  I can still pick out a Dallas woman even when traveling abroad.

Dallas is no joke. I realized pretty quickly in Austin that SMU girls had a uniform and an entire code of speaking that I was not privy to.

That said, in NYC it seems to be more formal.  In Dallas it seems like the requirement is "put on girly clothing. shorter hemline. makeup. MORE makeup. now enough hair product to shellac your hair in place.  and 4 inch heels."

[Vilgan]

I really like the PNW approach: where what you want to any event w/ friends and for work its basically way more casual. I remember wearing business casual to meet with a client and was waaaaaaay overdressed. The top level people were wearing jeans and a polo instead of jeans and t-shirt. Some people dress up to go to a fancy restaurant but many do not. At the opera there will be people who are clearly dressed up and people who are wearing jeans and nobody cares. I was always confused when my wife (east coast originally) would make statements about how we need to dress to X level or we wouldn't at be welcome at Y restaurant which never made any sense to me. After a while in Seattle she adjusted and far prefers it here and also prefers not HAVING to wear makeup if she doesn't want to. In some other places, not wearing makeup was scandalous whereas in Seattle many don't bother.

Traveling to NYC really hammers home how different it is, lots of guys who actually do crap to their hair, wear fancy watches, etc.

So I guess to OP question, its very regional at least in the US.

[Khaetra]

I have a question on makeup. Judging from some of the comments in this thread, is it considered unprofessional/slobby to not wear makeup? Like you're not put-together or "not trying" or something? I almost never wear makeup, and now I'm wondering if I've been leaving bad impressions all this time because of it. (Not like I'll start now, but I'm just curious.)

I have allergies and makeup not only makes me nauseous from the smell but also it makes my skin turn red and break out in blisters (my dermatologist witnessed this first-hand), so I stay away from all of it.  Granted it puts me in a bad spot, since I have spent over 40 years surfing on and off and have the lines and wrinkles to show for it, but I am out of the dating pool and as long as I am clean and my clothes look decent that's good enough for me.

[SeanMC]

I really like the PNW approach: where what you want to any event w/ friends and for work its basically way more casual. I remember wearing business casual to meet with a client and was waaaaaaay overdressed. The top level people were wearing jeans and a polo instead of jeans and t-shirt. Some people dress up to go to a fancy restaurant but many do not. At the opera there will be people who are clearly dressed up and people who are wearing jeans and nobody cares. I was always confused when my wife (east coast originally) would make statements about how we need to dress to X level or we wouldn't at be welcome at Y restaurant which never made any sense to me. After a while in Seattle she adjusted and far prefers it here and also prefers not HAVING to wear makeup if she doesn't want to. In some other places, not wearing makeup was scandalous whereas in Seattle many don't bother.

Traveling to NYC really hammers home how different it is, lots of guys who actually do crap to their hair, wear fancy watches, etc.

So I guess to OP question, its very regional at least in the US.

+1. This is exactly my experience contrasting east coast/NY area to PNW and Seattle. At first in Seattle, I would think "Is this the type of place I should wear a button down vs. polo shirt?" or "Will jeans be ok?" Then I was grateful that it did not matter. What I really like is having that full range, so you typically won't look either over OR under dressed depending on what you feel like wearing.

[serpentstooth]

Haha!!  For those who think NYC grooming standards are onerous compared to the PNW, you should try spending time in Dallas.  I moved from the south to New England and immediately eased up on the makeup routine.  I can still pick out a Dallas woman even when traveling abroad.

Dallas is no joke. I realized pretty quickly in Austin that SMU girls had a uniform and an entire code of speaking that I was not privy to.

That said, in NYC it seems to be more formal.  In Dallas it seems like the requirement is "put on girly clothing. shorter hemline. makeup. MORE makeup. now enough hair product to shellac your hair in place.  and 4 inch heels."

Also, it seems like you don't have to be quite so thin in Texas. NYC women are thin and TONED. It takes a lot of discipline in terms of both not eating too much and regular exercise to get that body. Plenty of Texan women I see are groomed to the nines and fairly heavy. In the PNW, most people are relatively thin, but not necessarily toned or groomed. In the South, groomed but a fair amount of flexibility is granted in body size and composition.

[Guses]

It just doesn't seem that difficult to me. Men: dress pants and a button down collared shirt. Women: Blouse or button down shirt with dress pants or skirt, or a dress. That's it.

I am surprised that HR allows for a different dress code between males and females. Seems like it's super sexist to me.

What if a guy shows up in a skirt?

[serpentstooth]

It just doesn't seem that difficult to me. Men: dress pants and a button down collared shirt. Women: Blouse or button down shirt with dress pants or skirt, or a dress. That's it.

I am surprised that HR allows for a different dress code between males and females. Seems like it's super sexist to me.

What if a guy shows up in a skirt?

Knowing Vancouver, it's probably fine.

[Zikoris]

It just doesn't seem that difficult to me. Men: dress pants and a button down collared shirt. Women: Blouse or button down shirt with dress pants or skirt, or a dress. That's it.

I am surprised that HR allows for a different dress code between males and females. Seems like it's super sexist to me.

What if a guy shows up in a skirt?

I'm 100% sure that if a guy wanted to wear a skirt, and did it in a way that looked professional, it would not be a problem. Especially if it was a kilt or something. I think most dress codes are different for men and women, not because of sexism but because women's clothing has so much of a wider range of styles than men's. It's honestly kind of tricky sometimes trying to draw the line on whether an article of women's clothing is professional or not, because so many things depend what you wear it WITH. You even just look at shoes - most offices sandals/flip flops are not allowed, but a lot of women's shoes are pretty borderline. You just don't have those issues with men's apparel - stuff is generally either professional looking or it's not.

[big_slacker]

We have a dude at our office that regularly wears a kilt style skirt. Truthfully it barely got a second look from me as it's so open in the seattle area.

Here dress is much more related to job function. Engineers are more typically casual but range from jeans/hoodie/tshirt/sneaker types like me to business casual for some. Project managers, middle managers, etc. range from business casual to suit and tie. FWIW the two big bosses in our group are both pretty casual.

I'm not in love with all aspects of Seattle culture, but the lack of dress code is completely awesome. I clean up well and look great in a suit but I'd hate to deal with it every day like east coast offices do.

[Guses]

It just doesn't seem that difficult to me. Men: dress pants and a button down collared shirt. Women: Blouse or button down shirt with dress pants or skirt, or a dress. That's it.

I am surprised that HR allows for a different dress code between males and females. Seems like it's super sexist to me.

What if a guy shows up in a skirt?

I'm 100% sure that if a guy wanted to wear a skirt, and did it in a way that looked professional, it would not be a problem. Especially if it was a kilt or something. I think most dress codes are different for men and women, not because of sexism but because women's clothing has so much of a wider range of styles than men's. It's honestly kind of tricky sometimes trying to draw the line on whether an article of women's clothing is professional or not, because so many things depend what you wear it WITH. You even just look at shoes - most offices sandals/flip flops are not allowed, but a lot of women's shoes are pretty borderline. You just don't have those issues with men's apparel - stuff is generally either professional looking or it's not.

It would probably be better for HR to list a series of acceptable dress ware without attribution to the person's sex is what I meant.

Anytime you have a rule where there are different requirements for different gender is prone to be questioned on the gender equality front.

[Zikoris]

It just doesn't seem that difficult to me. Men: dress pants and a button down collared shirt. Women: Blouse or button down shirt with dress pants or skirt, or a dress. That's it.

I am surprised that HR allows for a different dress code between males and females. Seems like it's super sexist to me.

What if a guy shows up in a skirt?

I'm 100% sure that if a guy wanted to wear a skirt, and did it in a way that looked professional, it would not be a problem. Especially if it was a kilt or something. I think most dress codes are different for men and women, not because of sexism but because women's clothing has so much of a wider range of styles than men's. It's honestly kind of tricky sometimes trying to draw the line on whether an article of women's clothing is professional or not, because so many things depend what you wear it WITH. You even just look at shoes - most offices sandals/flip flops are not allowed, but a lot of women's shoes are pretty borderline. You just don't have those issues with men's apparel - stuff is generally either professional looking or it's not.

It would probably be better for HR to list a series of acceptable dress ware without attribution to the person's sex is what I meant.

Anytime you have a rule where there are different requirements for different gender is prone to be questioned on the gender equality front.

I don't remember if it's even divided up by gender - it might not be. I was just paraphrasing what it actually translated into in a practical sense. There were definitely no pictures of men in kilts/skirts though.

[MandalayVA]

I work in an urban area where "business casual" is routinely interpreted as "ghetto fabulous."  The general feeling is "if you can wear it to the club, you can wear it to the office."  I could fill up pages with the descriptions of outfits I've seen in my time here. 

[zinethstache]

I had this thread open yesterday, but just for a nice read, not to post.

And then this morning DH and I had to head to the bank to do some stuff toward our retirement planning.

Now he's been retired since 2011, I still work. So I dressed in skinny jeans, a long button up white oxford with long vest over the top and nice short boots.

He gets up 15 minutes before we leave, he has long glorious blond locks, BUT he didn't shower, he didn't shave. He is wearing black sweats (nicer ones) and a tank top.

He doesn't EVER go out this frumpy looking (hair and unshaven) so I actually complained, nicely of course. I asked before he embarked on his other tasks would he please shower and shave.

I felt WAY overdressed at the bank!

Seeing this made me point out something else that happened to him. Two days ago he had a negative buying experience while trying out a truck (part of our retirement plans also) so I got to complain a little more in that IF he went to test drive something and looked like he did this morning, no wonder they blew him off!

Now in general I cannot wait to be retired with him and we can BOTH look frumpy! But we need to remember if we want to be taken seriously we do need to shower and wear more than frumpy lounge clothes. That will be a nice problem to have and I cannot wait!