Comments on: Work Attire Over the Last 10 Decades

By: Andrea Sitler PhD

Andrea Sitler PhD — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 04:25:19 +0000

I miss looking nice at work and wearing a decent suit. Jeans have no place in the office or professional setting. Warehouses, yes; offices, no. As our outfits become more casual so does our attitude about our work. Time to take pride again in our appearance and our work. Return the suit to office place.

By: dm walsh

dm walsh — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:58:53 +0000

i can vividly recall getting on a city bus, going home, in a time when nearly all young men wore anything slumpy and frumpy. it got so that it was not noticed (a statement once became an everyday thing). now, onto the bus came a young gent, dressed in tan slacks, lobster red shirt, a tan tie , socks with clean slip-on shoes and all eyes turned to this good-looking, well-dressed man. he and his clean attire was a sight for all eyes. i was one of those who looked up from reading my magazine to admire he and his apparel. casual dress is ok and fine but want to stand out? want to be special? (like who doesn’t), then do and be something others aren’t. dress for success still works in my book. oh, this kid (i think he was around 16, maybe 17) might’ve been a student, might’ve been whatever, but i can tell you this that if this kid followed that path of ‘image is everything’, he is probably everything today. this event was in the mid-80s. see? over 20 years ago and i still remember. what an impression he made.

By: traci

traci — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:22:18 +0000

I love love love dressing up. I work in a corporate office building and when I showed up, I was shocked at what everyone was wearing! It varies from suits to ripped “khaki” pants, polos, and sneakers. Obviously the younger associates stretch this rule more so than others. Our dress standard is business formal, with “casual” on Fridays. This, however, consists of jeans, heels, and a blazer for the ladies and jeans/khakis, polos, and dress shoes for men.

I love to sit in my office and look out the windows at the people walking in / out. It always amazes me what I see coming in masked as “business wear.”

By: ~Geek Girl~

~Geek Girl~ — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:18:58 +0000

I work in a bank also and I LOVE to dress up. Skirts and heels pretty much every day for me. My boss on the other hand is a t-shirt and stretchy pants kinda girl :( I think there is something to be said for maintaining a professional work enviroment. Maybe I am just an old fashioned kinda girl.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:25:23 +0000

I work at a bank and the branch that I am in is hopelessly casual. We have had jeans day for about 3 months now. I prefer to dress in nice slacks or kahkis most days. I do participate in casual Fridays but a bank seems to be the one place that you definitely expect a professional environment on a daily basis. Nice clothes are not that uncomfortable! Conversely the last branch I was working in had a strict no jeans policy, even on corporate sponsored charity jeans day. Theres got to be some middle ground!

By: mellieup

mellieup — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:01:21 +0000

I’m a west-coast academic — just about anything goes, but you’d get a funny look if you wore anything close to a suit.

By: Katie

Katie — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 13:43:48 +0000

I agree with Nicole.

I work in a lab as well, and I’m hunched over all kinds of chemicals and biological, um, substances all day. We can wear whatever as long as our legs are covered (no skirts above the ankle or you have to change into scrub pants). Even open-toed shoes are ok (we change into special shoes that cover our feet in the lab). We have to be able to move around and perform procedures, as well as not get too broken up if we get something on our clothes (especially our pants, since we wear lab coats or scrub tops that protect our shirts). This makes jeans what most people wear to work, even the higher-ups. I will say, however, that us women tend to dress up a little more (nice blouses or knit shirts, but never sweaters…too hot under the lab coat) while the men seem to be fine with t-shirts.

When my coworkers wear their “nice” clothes to work, it tells me that they don’t plan on doing any work in the lab that day…and that makes everyone’s day harder.

By: Tambp

Tambp — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:03:25 +0000

At my job they made a huge change to the dress code last year. Women were allowed to wear trouser socks instead of knee-high pantyhose under their pants. I did get in trouble once for wearing striped socks. Also we have to use the company approved sippy cups at our desks. This is a true story. I am expecting a new policy requiring us to be tethered to our desks with child leashes any day now.

By: Liz

Liz — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:31:27 +0000

Retail management, current employer jeans Monday through Friday, khakis/dress pants on weekends, pretty much anything above a t-shirt goes, but I prefer golf shirts. Have worked in stores ranging from actual uniforms to true business attire ( blouses and dress pants). Since the job can be quite physical, jeans are great.
Never understood how someone can spend 9 hours on their feet in a pair of heals!

By: Eden

Eden — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:56:24 +0000

No flats except Fridays for women? Yikes…that’ll be nice when they have to pay out for the foot and leg damage.

I work in IT, as well as on a very large board. Meeting days are full suit and heels, in-office days with no client meetings are jeans and a dress shirt, possibly a suit jacket as well. I love my heels, sadly though I am looking at having to give them up soon due to foot problems.

All of the rest of the shop (I am the only woman) are suits for client meetings, jeans and dress shirts with nice shoes for day to day, no client meetings. Honestly, if you are crawling around replacing a full network from the ground up, you are going to ruin your suit. Unfortunately most places do not keep their servers and equipment in a sterile room in an organized manner…..would be nice though……