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.

Bare legs are unprofessional
(In 1864)

If you're in a role where you don't need protective equipment and you're not being seen by anyone except your colleagues then any dress code beyond "clean and decently covered" is pointless and old fashioned.

Bare legs are fine, but I'd never think a t shirt or anything from white stuff was appropriate for work, even in the relatively relaxed environment I work in

Hair the colour of a horse means you have to have natural coloured hair but it doesn't have to be your natural colour. But if you dye it you can only dye it the colour of a horse! So no red, blue, green, pink, etc.

No idea who on earth thought this up. If I still worked there I'd argue that strawberry roan is a horse and that's pinkish!

Piebald hair would be fun, and totally the colour of a horse!

See, that would REALLY piss me off.
I know I'm seen as anti feminist on here by some as I'm pro women being able to make their own mind up and have a choice, but why can't you get your legs out? As in short skirt and no tights?
Do you have a regular uniform? If not, wear what you like.
If you do, makes sense to stick to that as that's what the company says.
Same with men if that was the case and they can't just say they want to rock up in cut off denim short shorts.

M and S do fab nude fine denier tights - wouldn't tell they weren't legs unless you looked awfully closely. It's tan nylons that look Nanna.Nothing wrong with bare legs if youre blessed with the legs - yes I also think the manager was just jealous as you looked smart and cool

ps whats wrong with White Stuff clothes....have a few bits and kinda like them actualllly??

I don't think I wore tights at my interview; it was in the winter though so I probably wore leggings and Docs under a skirt. We all sat around a small table anyway so no one really looked at my legs. All they were interested in was my ability to do the job.

The amusing theme in this thread is:

no no no, I go bare legged , no one cares - BUT I wear tights if we have clients in … thus proving the point that when you have to present a corporate or business image you dress appropriately.

For all the posted who apparently wont be told what to do , super! But if you had a dress code and knew that when you took the job, that would be entirely different.

Our NHS trust is rigid in its dress code, I've yet to see a nurse minus tights. The director of nursing would go Garrity.

Flip flops are a definite no-no in the NHS. Complete trip hazard. She'd be shot if she turned up in my department in them.

Bare legs are fine - I'm a hospital consultant and have bare legs all summer long (and White stuff skirts).

Bare legs are fine to me.
Casual skirts and t shirts aren't professional dress to me, but neither are flip flops.

I'm off to London in a bit for a job interview, and nothing in the world is going to make me wear tights on a hot day - even if the interview room turns out to have air con, the tube certainly won't be, and I don't want to arrive sweaty and cross. My compromise has been to not wear the dress that stops just above the knee, and switch to one that ends mid-calf, so won't be flashing too much 50-something leg. My wedge shoes cover my toes, and I have a nice jacket to wear over said dress. I wasn't worrying about this at all until I read this thread...

I prefer to wear flesh coloured tights with a dress or skirt, it stops sweat running down my legs from my thighs. Culottes keep me cooler though.

Wearing tights would cost me a fortune as if they are sheer tights they rarely last the day on me before getting a hole or laddering!

More policing of women’s bodies. It’s so much worse when it comes from another woman too.

Never worked anywhere where bare legs were considered unprofessional. It sounds draconian, especially in this weather. Free the calf!!

I used to work in an environment where bare legs were considered unprofessional. So were open toed sandals, strappy tops. It's slightly engrained in me, so I do feel dressed down if I wear bare legs. (They're the lesser of 2 evils though between that and sheer tights).

(Men certainly couldn't wear shorts in that environment).

I'd never wear flip flops in the office. Save them for the beach!

We can have our legs showing, but oddly, not to much shoulder. I tend to wear smart summer dresses to work, the shoulder straps have to be thick.
I just purchased a lovely pale blue maxi dress that shows no cleavage, it covers the nape of my neck. I then realised it had about 4 inches of spaghetti straps, so a no-no for work.

Clearly ladies shoulders are to sexy in my workplace.

Think your problem is your boss 😬

I work in a reasonably formal industry, flip flops have been a no on every dress code I’ve seen, bare legs never mentioned or been an issue.

Enforcing a dress code is a pain - unless someone looks ridiculously inappropriate I don’t bother. And definitely cut everyone some slack in summer. Can they do their job? Are they ok to face clients/customers? Then fine.

Plus some people can follow a dress code to the letter and still look a mess while others could break every rule and still look smart!

Youroutfit was absolutely fine for an NHS admin job. This is not a very corporate environment.
I am a senior manager on the corporate side of the NHS and as long as your not in tiny shorts or crop tops or jeans or joggers or similar I would be happy with what you are wearing. I don’t even mind ‘smart’ trainers or flip flops.
As long as you stay over the smart end of the smart casual line that’s enough.
FWIW I spent yesterday interviewing prospective bidders for a contract worth hundreds of thousands of pounds while having bare legs yesterday. I still managed to remain professional.

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

How ridiculous. The only difference between tights and leggings is that tights have feet.

I can understand leggings being banned because so many people wear them with short tops, not realising (or perhaps not caring) that they often go transparent around the arse, but if your arse is covered that really shouldn't be an issue.

I bloody hate dress codes. The only "dress code" we have at work is that if you wear shorts they can't be beach shorts or hot pants. There's not even a flip flop ban, lots of people wear Fit Flops or Birkenstocks. Even our CEO doesn't generally wear a tie.

I agree with some previous posters. It depends on the legs.
I wouldn't dream of wearing a knee-high-ish skirt without any form of tights as I've got some lumpy veins beginning. If I had better legs I would slap on the fake tan & go for it!

Ps have a look and the dress code policy in the intranet. Id be extremely surprised if tights were mentioned as mandatory.

My 49 and a half year old legs are bare today under my run and fly maths dress.