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 have 2 workplaces at moment. Neither officially has a dress code.
I can dress down at WP1 but would be unthinkable at WP2. Most people are very smart at WP2 & I struggle hugely trying to figure out how to fit in. I wish we had a dress code.

I read an interesting article about moving up in the world and one thing it said was, dress according to where you want to be, not where you currently are.

I word in a creative industry, and love not having to have special work clothes. It means I get much more wear out of all my clothes, and I can take some more risks - eg, I probably wouldn't have bought a pricey brightly coloured top if I could only wear it once a week, but knowing I can wear it anytime means I'm more likely to splash out on clothes which make me happy and can express my personality more.

I used to work in a traditionally very formal environment, and I hated being constricted by those norms. I don't dress particularly crazily, but I do pay attention to trends etc, and couldn't really make them work in my work wardrobe which I had to wear the majority of the time, and it seems too frivolous to buy trendy stuff just for the weekend.

I'm much happier in my casual clothes. I think my work quality is much the same, but I'm just more comfortable.

@Jammydodger1981

Cunt klaxon has just become my favourite MN expression. Well sounded too.

I like to dress at the smarter end of casual. I just wear a lot of dresses because Ive discovered that theyre much more comfy.

I have been pestering the management at my place to introduce a dress-down policy almost since I started - I find it very old-school to wear smart clothes at work. Can understand a bit more if you're client facing, but dressing up to sit at a desk all day makes no sense to me.

We can wear whatever we want on Fridays and I always feel much more comfortable and relaxed.

It is changing the way you think about work. My company had a casual policy but I always wore corp attire Monday to Thursday and did a casual Friday as we'd go out.

When I got pregnant I decided to only buy casual clothes, I didn't need corp and saw it as a waste of money.

I can 100% confirm I was just as productive, probably more so even the 50% I worked from home [whispers] in trackies.

This dress 'where you want to be' train of thought, does that uniform include skirt and heels because that's usually the uniform I see of those that are trying to be go-getters in my industry and I feel really disappointed in that.

No overlap at all in my wardrobe. I like the delineation.

I also have a work uniform. Navy bottoms, various tops & accessories that mix and match easily. A couple of blazers for external meetings.

I dress 'where i want to be' as where I want to be is working in a forward thinking company without any outdated notions of dress codes.

I’ve always worked places with a smarter business dress code - a level down from suits but proper skirts, dresses, trousers. Now I work somewhere where the dress code is very casual, jeans, trainers etc. I love it. I stick to dark jeans, reasonably smart sweaters and tops and boots mainly though.

We have quite a tight dress code but more for when out on business than for office itself. The more senior the role, the more formal the dress. Aspirational staff tend to dress a grade up. Very occasional maverick dressers but they have to be a big personality to carry it off.

No slogans, pictures or visible ‘labels’. Nothing sleeveless. No cleavage, transparent tops or mini skirts. No shorts. Dark/muted colours. Minimal jewellery. Depending on role - no artificial eyelashes or nails (sometimes a basic grade admin assistant could get away with it). No sandals. No jeans.

Men wear suits usually. Women wear dress and jacket or sometimes a trouser suit.