To think that spaghetti strap dresses/tops are not appropriaye/professional office wear no matter how hot it is?

[SerenDippitty]

Except perhaps on a dress down Friday and perhaps not even then.

In all the office jobs I’ve had, I’ve found that if you don’t attend work drinks etc you are quite set apart from everyone else actually. It’s an unspoken rule that you have to attend, and they think you aren’t a team player if you don’t.

Completely agree. Nobody will say so to your face but it’ll be noted that you’re not one of them with all the consequences that entails.

Nothing else to worry about???

Depends on the job. If you work in an extremely professional environment where business contacts or customers etc may see you that day then no, it isn’t really appropriate work attire. If it’s a run of the mill office where you’ll only see your day to day colleagues or something like that then in this weather as long as it was a nice smart strappy top not a £2 primark scrappy vest then I think that’s ok. Hopefully most people will know what is appropriate or not in their own work environment.

Unless you're a funeral director, it's not that important. And I do manage a team of people on professional services.

Spaghetti straps don't look very 'business-like' but ideas about what is appropriate or not have become relaxed over the years. Bra straps on show are unsightly IMO.

There was an external trainer running a course at our office today.

She had a very pretty top on, black with a tiny floral pattern and a lace trim round the neckline and - horror of horrors - it had spaghetti straps! There was no visible bra, so she was probably wearing strapless or none at all (she was petite with tiny tits), and it was teamed with a white bias-cut skirt that came a few inches below her knees and white Birkenstock flip flops.

She looked really nice, cool and comfortable, and not in any way inappropriate.

Regarding the after works drinks - I have worked in many, many offices and there have rarely been work drinks. If you don’t go to the Christmas social events, nobody notices or cares.

NHS, Civil Service, not for profits, local authorities, banking in the City.

What am I missing?

I wear vest tops and strappy stuff all year. I work in an office and it’s always too hot and stuffy for me.

Feel free to send me home to change. Please ......

*What am I missing? confused

Promotions?

Many years ago when I was a trainee solicitor I wore a plain navy halter neck top with trousers when it was sweltering. You couldn’t see any cleavage, but I guess you could see my shoulders and upper back when I wasn’t sat in my chair.

A much older female secretary told me it was inappropriate because I was distracting the male partners.

Laugh about it now..I was mortified at the time.

Find this thread and the attitudes in it quite surprising. We wear whatever we want to work and I actually find it a bit offensive that people might be offended by seeing my shoulders or cleavage even. It just seems so judgemental. How on earth would wearing a strappy top impact on anyone’s ability to produce good work?

jessbuni - all my vest tops are £2.00 Primarni.

They are my work wardrobe. They wash brilliantly and don’t go baggy.

If a company wants to dictate what its employees wear then it should provide it at their cost.

If they want a dress code then it should be in the policies made clear to staff so they can decide when accepting the role of its for them or not.

But I don't think spaghetti straps are exactly crime against office wear! There is some lovely dresses out there with with design and personally they are better than (smart wise) the jersey dresses with shoulders.

ikeepaforkinmypurse - ha de ha.

I think I’m doing okay career wise in a middle management line of way. I have no wish to be a senior manager. Jobs are jobs, like many people I neither want or need to have a high powered stressful career

I have never worked anywhere where they even have regular after work drinks. Or where wearing a sleeveless top and sandals would get you disciplined. I guess I’m just not a high flyer. How awful.

Our office dress code is business attire. They are quite relaxed but I have to say spaghetti straps normally come on tops that are quite skimpy and this wouldn't be business attire. Sleeveless tops fine as the straps are wider.

One of our other offices has to be much stricter as people there can often be called on to give last minute interviews on tv so on a dress down day they keep a business outfit in the office.

Having a spaghetti strap versus a none spaghetti strap doesn't actually reveal a great deal more of indecent flesh does it?
Is it maybe that a spaghetti strap could be just snipped in an instant with a pair of office scissors leaving the wearer naked except for a spaghetti thong?
Sorry. I think this is ridiculous, start a proper thread called "revealing summer clothes at work" rather than picking on one item. Anyway, what about spaghetti straps with a cardi over the top?

Looking forward to wearing my maxi dress and fit flops tomorrow just like my director does in this weather!

What a lot of fuss. Who cares? What difference does it make to anyone? Surely there are more important things to get your knickers in a twist about?

Exactly what Mummadeeze said. I would never accept a job anywhere where management felt it was appropriate to tell me what I may or may not wear.

Polarbearflavour

If your work doesn’t have regular work drinks then it’s irrelevant to my post. My post was about offices that DO have work drinks, and that the (unspoken) expectation is to attend. I was responding to a poster who said that work drinks aren’t obligatory - this hasn’t been my understanding of offices with a work drinks culture at all.

if one of my suppliers turned up for a meeting in flip flops, presumably on their way to the beach, I would chose someone else more serious to handle the contracts. If people don't want our business, I won't force them.

I wish our dress code was a little more relaxed , yesterday and today I was showing contractors around our site a fair bit of this means been outside , we have to wear black tshirts black trousers ( can not wear skirts as we spend a lot of time on ladders ) and steel toe cap boots .
Last week I asked if we could wear black shorts , nope , not part of the uniform

I have never worked anywhere where they even have regular after work drinks.
lucky you. I have seen more than a few places where you are not part of the team if you don't show your face, and you won't stay long. The worst are the places who insist on organising weekends away or just a Saturday "do" of some kind. Some employees actually love them. I don't

You sound like you might work for the same company as me! We’re not ‘allowed’ to wear spaghetti straps unless it’s dress down Friday which I think is ridiculous in this weather! Iv had to sit with my jacket on today as my straps were deemed inappropriate 😳I’m not customer facing either.

Scrap everything I've said on this thread - I got called into work this afternoon to sort a non issue that anyone could have dealt with an emergency... I was conveniently driving through the town my office is in & as I live 30 miles away by the time I got home, changed & back the office would have been closed so I rocked up to the office in denim shorts, a bikini top, a beach cover up & a pair of flip flops 🙈

I'm the boss & the only female member of staff... the boys took it in their stride to be fair & not one of them batted an eye!