My manager has banned all vests, skirts and shorts

Oh don't be ridiculous.

Maybe you should go back there?
Clearly this issue over your T shirt is taking up a huge part of your day and energy.

It's coming over like a stroppy teen asking why they have to wear school uniform.

You don't even have to wear a uniform. Be glad you're not in wall to wall polyester, and have freedom to wear almost anything except shorts, a micro skirt and a skimpy top.

You clearly care more about the clothes than the job if you're ready to quit over this. Maybe some young unemployed person would love your job?

Your union rep may be able to help. If you're not in a union, now is a good time to join one.

In the interim, you need loose fitting clothes in natural fibres - cotton, linen, bamboo. They will be much cooler than anything polyester even if more of your body is covered. You could consider wearing no underwear beneath an ankle length skirt (but maybe with thigh bands to stop inner thigh chafing)

Presumably you're not a lecturer.
I think that dress is not appropriate for any kind of work in an office setting.

Guidelines say offices should have a comfortable working temp of between 18 and 24. There’s no enforceable maximum (so you can’t refuse to work if over 24) but Employers have a legal obligation to manage health and safety risks, treating excessive heat as a workplace hazard.

If you work for yourself or in a highly creative workplace the dress code can be softer but still appropriate.

If you work for a huge public sector organisation - the NHS- there have to be minimum standards of dress code and professionalism.

Have you ever worked anywhere else?

Senior schools have a dress code (often business dress for women- suits and trouser suits.)
Commerce has a dress code.
Retail has a dress code.
Coffee shops and restaurants have a dress code.
Even hair salons have dress codes- often anything black and not showing too much flesh.

And taking care about how you look can show investment in your job rather than turning up as if you're ready for the beach or a spot of gardening.

Break her air con and phone in sick until it cools down!

I work in a university and have been in a strappy vest, shorts and birkenstocks today. 😆

I agree with this.

Every place I’ve worked we had a dress code that we were expected to stick to which was pretty much along the lines posted by OP.

And that’s for the reasons that PP have said - once one person wears a vest, then you get another person wearing a skimpier vest and then you get into stupid arguments about what level of vest is ok. It’s clearer to have a blanket ban so there’s no ambiguity.

OP, you already asked what’s wrong with showing your thighs at work or your armpit hair. You’ve taken it really personally as if it’s your body that’s somehow the issue. It’s everyone’s body - lots of places have a dress code for a variety of reasons. Clothes that flash thighs or armpit hair - on men or women - has never been viewed as suitable attire for a professional workplace.

It just reminds me of the “bring your whole self to work” mantra that’s become so popular. I don’t need or want to know everyone’s whole self, just their professional self. And along those lines, you can’t just wear what you want because you like it. Working clothes should be reasonably professional even if you’re not customer-facing, unless your dress code explicitly permits its casual attire.

If your workplace is hot then lobby for more fans, shades, or other things that will make a tangible difference to your comfort. As PP have pointed out, in hot countries people don’t wear less to stay cool, they wear loose, flowing clothes. Win win for both employer and employees, surely?!

Someone should sabotage her air conditioning so she has to share the heat and then see what she says (10 degrees more than outside though really? That would make it 45 degrees in London, I think that’s enough to kill you?)

What you look like at work does matter yes. It should reflect the organisation you work for.
Vests and shorts are too informal. The knee length skirt rule is ludicrous. And I would go back to her on that.

My husband is wearing those pyjamas right now. He got them from John Lewis.

It's a traditional pyjama look I think.

You say you have made the top-well done- and it's "brand fucking new." That bit surprised me as it has acquired that greyness that white items get when they been through the washing machine with other colours once too often and it does look very crumpled. The right edge on the sleeve is all to cock.

It's great that you can sew but it looks to me a bit sleuthry, as my mother would say.

I wouldn't present myself like that but it's not a crime to be crumpled.

I agree with the vest.

But decent tailored shorts or skirts that are knee-length onwards are fine (not skirts which are short enough to show your bum).

Turn up in a burqa

It doesn’t matter what year it is. It’s called dressing appropriately and professionally.

It's called 'standards'.

It's a dress code and means people look professional.

Wear whatever you like in your own time.

Business dress is the norm in many professions.
There are degrees of formality and yours is at the very bottom line of restrictions.

How does what your manager is saying compare to the organisation’s policy?

Individual interpretation is tricky so it's up to management to make things very clear for all in pursuit of fairness.

This is the point.

I think no shorts, no skirts just covering a bum, and no tops that are sleeveless is reasonable. And the no sleeveless tops will cover men's 'string vests' showing acres of chest, hairy shoulders and hairy pits (which some men may think are suitable for work.)

These issues arise because some people don't have good judgement.

It's probably because people have turned up in very in appropriate clothes at some point that this has been put in place.

The thing about shorts is that if women wear dresses or skirts why should men wear trousers. As long as they’re smart. This man at my work will wear his cycling gear in the office.

Really? It’s a bit crass. 🤮