Office dress codes

[tubspreciousthings]

Our office dress code is fairly relaxed, smart casual - think smart jeans/top/shirt etc. Those further up the food chain wear trousers/shirt/tie.

I'm starting to wonder if I should make more effort & have clear work clothes and non-work clothes. Nothing OTT but towards the smarter end of smart casual. Any obvious benefits to this?

Any thoughts??

i think in an office, even a casual one, you should dress reasonably smart, not jeans or t-shirts ( unless your somewhere like google) as i think the nicer you dress it makes you feel good and makes you look more professional and when promotions come around they may favour a worker who dresses the part over someone who looks extra casual everyday

I've always dressed smartly and it helps me to focus. If I'm wearing jeans (dress down Friday for example) I find I don't concentrate as much as they're my weekend clothes, iyswim.

At one time I would have though the same as OP. However I'm 8 months into a new job with no dress code. I bought a couple of suits but after 3 months I was wearing jeans and jumpers / T shirts like everyone else. It's much comfier so I can actually focus on work more.

Down side is that my home clothes are the same as my work ones so I don't get the same 'change clothes and relax' at the end of the day.

It’s easier to become more casual over time than it is to get smarter over time. In the latter case, your colleagues will think that you are going for an interview or are trying to impress somebody.

My current workplace allows (but doesn’t mandate) a casual dress code. I always dress smartly. People react to you differently when you wear a jacket and trousers to when you wear jeans and a sweater. Do the most senior people in the business ever wear jeans and a casual shirt? Do they hell!

Thing is there's 'jeans and a tee shirt' and then there's 'jeans and a tee shirt'
I'm wearing jeans today in the office but with a cashmere sweater, healed boots and makeup/jewellery etc. It's casual but still smart. Others in the office are in converse, sweatshirts and jeans. So it's a bit smarter but not out of place.
Can you start to smarten up by switching into smarter tops/shoes/accessories/jackets etc?

In start-ups it's casual and the more casual the smarter/higher up you are. I like that.

I fucking detest power suits though.

I like having clear work and non work clothes even though I also wear jeans and jumpers in the winter and nice tops in the summer. It’s easier in the summer as my tops are different to what I’d wear at home but in winter my jumpers are pretty similar to what I’d wear at home. It helps me compartmentalise work a bit though to have work and non work clothes. It makes my other clothes feel more special at the weekend

I have office wear and home wear and it does feel nice at weekends dressing down but other than that there’s no real difference to me. We have a culture where managers and SMT tend to dress more corporately than junior staff so it does give you a head start in meetings where people don’t know you that you need to be taken seriously if you are wearing more formal wear. It depends on the culture of your organisation though.

I think you have to take your cues from the movers and shakers around you, especially if you’re trying to get ahead. What does your boss wear? What do the people you admire wear? What do the talent pool wear?

We are casual but I tend to do black jeans/blouse/boots plus make up and jewellery. So no powersuits but not weekend clothes.

I have a work uniform. Basically grey/black trousers from m and s, the same colour cardigans and some plain blouses. They all intermatch. I’d never wear them on a weekend. Today is dark grey trousers, pale blue shirt with a light check pattern with a navy cardigan. It looks a bit school uniformy but I add a nice scarf and some jewellery.

I would. I just don't think you get taken as seriously if you're very causal.

Our office is very relaxed but even if I wear jeans they are dark with a smart top and jersey jacket etc I tend to do this on a Friday but any other time wear dresses with tights etc.

I have the issue that I have taken over a team where I think people are too casual but I will have a hard time enforcing anything else. It just surprises me that people think it's ok to come to work in ripped jeans and tracksuits 🤷‍♀️

Jeans are part of the office dress code for day to day in our office.
I usually wear jeans, shirt and blazer with boots in the winter, skirt and blouse or smart top/dress with heels in the summer when I'm in the office and suit/dress and blazer if I have customers in/meeting them externally.

I’ve been mulling this over since our dress down went from once a month to once a week. I have concluded that what I wear was zero effect on my work. Our directors are in jeans and hoodies which means not dressing down properly makes you look a bit odd. I can see other work cultures might be very different though so I’d play it by ear until sure.

healed boots

They're better now, are they?
The word is "heeled".

cunt klaxon

We have no dress code.

I normally wear black jeans and a smarter top with boots but some days i'll chuck my converse on and a normal tshirt.

Wow Gertrude - wrong side of bed?!

Most places the higher up the org the smarter you get. I work in a "creative/start up type environment" but in one of the professional services parts. So I'm smarter than most.

I take my lead from the women more senior to me: there's a lot of truth in dress for the job you want not the one you have.

Everyone from CEO down wears jeans/casual at my work.
Although if you prefer to wear smarter, nobody minds that either.

We dress up on occasions if we need to - if a client is coming in etc.

@GertrudeWilloughby
healed boots

They're better now, are they?
The word is "heeled".

The boots are feeling much better thanks, but my autocorrect is feeling really crap at the moment...

We have no dress code.

I dress casually, but in reasonably "nice" clothes. Skinny jeans and a jumper usually. Casual dresses. etc. Not ripped jeans or trackies!

I have no real separation between "work" and "non work" clothes, so it makes no difference to my concentration levels. If we had a smart dress code and casual fridays it probably would! But because I don't mentally link "work" with my outfit, it's just not something I think about.

Personally I hate having separate wardrobes. I like being able to wear the clothes I want every day. I like never having laundry issues because basically all my clothes are suitable for work. I'm looking for a new job at the moment and anywhere with a "smart"/corporate dress code is massively offputting!

never worked anywhere with a dress code, jeans/trainers fine - office based, creative industry.

I do stick with jeans and trainers with decent jumpers and tops. Things that I make more of an effort with are my nails and I wear a nice necklace.

I do have slightly separate wardrobes, but not that dissimilar.

We have a dress code, smart casual.

I always wear a nice blouse with either black pants or.a nice skirt with heals. No one at my work would ever wear jeans other than casual Friday.

I've always had separate work/home clothes everywhere I've worked. I even had separate clothes when I started my business and was working from home. Nothing better than the separation of work/home life to allow you to concentrate on "work" and then switch off at "home".

I've always tried to mirror the other staff, and now, clients. If I'm meeting a client and know they usually wear work suits, I'll do the same. If I know they turn up in scruffy jeans/t-shirt, I'd dress down, but not as far as looking scruffy! Nothing worse than having a meeting when your client is in a suit and you're in jean/t-shirt - it's just imbalanced.

I got dressed today before I read the comments! I've gone for a smarter look, mainly because I was struggling to motivate myself and thought I'd feel more "in character"

We have a pretty flat structure at work, but are expected to look smartish if we have visitors etc so maybe it's a good default to keep to.

We don't have a dress code as such, but smartish & no jeans is the done thing. Today I have tapered black trousers (my favourite pair, always good on a Monday), teamed with short jodhpur boots (they were my daughter's but she doesn't like this brand), and I have this leopard print top from M&S and a long black cardigan with BIG pockets (in which I have an open bag of Percy Pigs that I'm NOT sharing) as my desk is near the door and there's a draught.