To think bare legs at work isn’t unprofessional

[Basketofkittens]

I work in a non customer / public facing role in an office. Today as it was hot I wore an nice knee length A-line skirt and a T-shirt. All very respectable. Think White Stuff style. With ballet flats.

One of the more senior managers pulled me up and said that bare legs and a casual skirt weren’t appropriate. She was wearing linen culottes and flip flops.

In my last job I would wear a maxi dress and sandals in the heat but there was no formal dress code. I looked at the dress code for this workplace and it’s smart-casual. Knee length skirts and smart tops are in the acceptable column. Flip flops are not.

Normally I would wear a smartish work dress with tights but it’s just too sticky and the office has poor ventilation.

Jeez I woke for the nhs in a clinic role and have a nose stud, I used to have pink hair! Not a rustling of a uniform policy was heard.
It’s ridiculous that you have to wear a close fitting layer of pointless clothing.

Bare legs are fine, bare toes aren't. Legs need to be looked after ie not hairy or flaky. IMO.

Career spent in corporate banking and finance so not exactly shabby. I wouldn't have worn a white stuff skirt tho but that;s a dress code issue

I hate saying this, but it probably depends on the legs tbh. I have a couple of tall slim friends with great skin - they'd look polished in that. I'm short, frumpy, bad skin, cellulite, the works. It would not look good on me bare legged, but decent nude tights would improve it (and I would always wear tights to work).

Would've been fine when I worked in NHS admin in the noughties, doubt it's got more formal since.

My office is smart casual and I wear bare legs in summer. It depends entirely on the environment. I think that it's sensible to ban certain footwear like flip flops but ridiculous to impose very formal dress codes on staff who never encounter the public or external clients.

I work in the NHS as a healthcare professional. I often go bare-legged. Technically I think it’s against the dress code but no one has ever said anything. I really don’t see how wearing tights (and being a sweaty mess) would make me any better at my job. I have to wear a hideous synthetic dress as it is!

I'm already counting down the days until our Matron gives us the all-clear to ditch the tights! Mind you, last year she waited until the outside temperature reached 30 degrees (by which point I'd conservatively estimate that the wards were about 57 degrees).

I even go bare legged to Court in hot weather. Wouldn't go in flip flops though. Absolute no no.

Omg I wore a little above the knee white stuff tea dress today ...

Horror of horror - bare legs and flip flops (not plastic ones though)

In my office (solicitor) no one bothers to wear tights on hot days unless they have a client meeting.

Well, the women don't. Men may do, but they keep it all covered!

But what does it matter? It’s just leg skin? We don’t expect people to wear tights on their arms? I see no difference between viewing a calf than I do viewing a forearm.

The manager is a mental health nurse. The other clinical staff dress casually.

In the winter I wear White Stuff dresses or skirts and cardigans with tights and ankle boots. Never been an issue in any office job! I don’t have the kind of jobs where I have to wear a suit and heels.

In other jobs I might wear a dress over leggings on dress down Fridays but leggings are banned here even under dresses...

And no, I don’t deal with service users/clients/customers/the public face to face AT ALL.

Omg nhs clinical here and it’s bad enough having to wear the scratchy thick uniform without having to put tights on as well! Matron regularly has bare legs and on management days sports some sandals along with her bare legs!

Maybe hunts about to pay you a visit and everyone is getting a bit twitchy as it doesn’t sound like the inner London nhs I work at!

I'd never work for a company that told me I couldn't have gel nails!

If I didn't have fat legs and therefore chub rub I'd definitely go bare legged!

Tights and trousers give me horrific cystitis in this heat. I figure my line manager would rather have me in work and bare legged (I dress reasonably smartly) than off sick because of some weird 1980s dress code .

I mean, flashing a bare calf- the very thought! Pass me the smelling salts!

What is the thing with tights? I haven't worn a suit and tie to work for ten years.

Why do 'public facing' jobs have to have something different?

It is all so naff.

well you could take ww2 tip : you use gravy browning to tan legs (& than you got friend to draw straight line up back of leg ) so do you have hairy legs? Massive varicose veins (actually you should wear support tights than!) ? Hey in the 76 summer I wondered into work in long cheese clothe skirt with short cheese cloth top (tummy showing!) think posh office in central London - no one said a thing!

But what is it that makes a leg with a covering of transparent fabric more professional?!?

People being ridiculously over invested in nonsensical cultural bullshit.

For goodness sake, so many of these responses are essentially saying WOMEN MUST COVER THEIR NATURAL BODIES or REMOVE ALL TRACE OF NATURAL HAIR in order to be professional.

I thought this was 2019.

There is a line to be drawn in each and every workplace, according to culture, but so many of these cultures simply perpetuate the myth that womens bodies need hiding, that we need to take a collective look at this. Surely a bare leg is akin to a bare forearm?!

Unless you work in a very corporate environment, bare legs are fine as long as not too much leg is on show.

Nude tights are mostly grim.

I worked in NHS admin for years. Bare legs are very common in the summer.
People dress professionally when they need to.
I was a board level director. Your colleague is batshit.
I would have had a word with someone in flip flops as they are a health and safety nightmare. Sandals fine. Bare toes fine. But not flip flops.

I’m baffled as to why anyone would think wearing tights in the summer would elevate one’s level of professionalism.

I hate work related clothing bullshit - I do my job just as well with no tights on as I do with tights on. I’m not sitting sweltering in the office so someone else can deem my legs to be professional!

So far none of the external stakeholders I meet with each week have refused to continue the meeting because they’ve realised my legs are bare.

Men don’t have this. Tights are much more binding than trousers are so imo not comparable as leg coverings. Tights in hot weather are bloody uncomfortable and thrush inducing - at least there’s a throughflow of air in trousers.

OP, you have to tell us. Was she wearing tights? Because I am trying to figure out how that would work with flip flops.

There’s someones office where they wear hoodies, jeans, trainers and leggings but a calf length skirt with a short bit of calf/ankle showing and smart basic shoes is un professional?!
Ok then...

Is this person my mum? Every time I have bare legs she says ‘no tights today’ she would say this in a heat wave