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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think Tracy Brabin should be able to wear what she wants ?

309 replies

Clawdy · 05/02/2020 13:59

She's been the subject of criticism and vitriol all day about her dress, which she apparently wore to an earlier social event. She's a bright, lively and committed MP, who cares what she wears?

OP posts:
kenandbarbie · 05/02/2020 15:36

She looks unprofessional. There are professional dress codes and that isn't suitable. Same as if a man had shorts or a t shirt on. She does look lovely, if she was going out for dinner or something, but not in the workplace. The trolling is unacceptable though.

Porcupineinwaiting · 05/02/2020 15:37

I dont think the top was appropriate for the house but she should have been quietly pulled aside and told this, not slaughtered on social media.

northernknickers · 05/02/2020 15:41

I would not be allowed to wear that dress to work (primary school teacher). We have very clear dress codes in our school which states no 'off the shoulder' items 😂. There's a long list...including spaghetti straps, toe sandals, translucent clothing of any sort (so we have do do a double check in good lighting to make sure nothing is even slightly visible 🤦‍♀️). Some schools I've worked in have been much less formal but none would have been happy with this dress 🤷‍♀️

Iamtooknackeredtorun · 05/02/2020 15:42

I'm torn.

I'm a lawyer and I imagine that the HoC is a little like court in terms of formality. I wouldn't wear that outfit to court and I would expect a judge to be critical if I did. I was in a Mags court recently and the District Judge refused to hear a defence solicitor because he had arrived just in a shirt (no tie or jacket) because he wasn't expecting to be in court. He was told to go and borrow one.

In the office I can wear less formal clothes but there is a clear expectation that you should be prepared at any moment to go to court and therefore have alternative dress available.

So I think regardless of the circs the dress was wrong for the occasion. I don't think the comments were warranted and I was amused by her response to the ridiculous insults.

northernknickers · 05/02/2020 15:43

But no...the vitriol is indeed vile!

Mrsjayy · 05/02/2020 15:45

Piers fucking morgan was giving it large about her for that we should all be supporting her Grin

ChardonnaysDistantCousin · 05/02/2020 15:48

No way, I could never wear something like this for work and I’m no one as important as her.

PineappleDanish · 05/02/2020 15:50

The trolling she got for it is grim but I’m not convinced it was particularly professional business wear as it was, tbh

Completely agree. It was a great top for a night out, or a party. But not for work.

Orchidflower1 · 05/02/2020 15:50

Yes it was inappropriate clothing. Put a cardigan/ blazer on or something. No even office attire. Someone should have helped her out with a jacket. Or she should leave one in her office.

No she doesn’t deserve the vile responses from the trolls out there.

itwaseverthus · 05/02/2020 15:52

She is free to wear whatever she wants, so long as the HOC has no dress code she has breached, which seems to be the case. The public is free to judge her on it.

Gilead · 05/02/2020 15:53

Yay, look at all these women supporting other women. FFS.
Grow up, pull yourselves together. I bet half of you don't even know what the point she was making was (an extremely important one about the barring of journalists from press briefings).
It's the 21st century, we don't need a dress code. If she'd turned up wearing shorts and a tee shirt, so fucking what? She had a point to make and it was important. Drag yourself out of the fifties and support other women.

midsomermurderess · 05/02/2020 15:55

Dominic Cummings shuffling into No 10 with half his arse hanging out didn't meet such cries of 'inappropriate'.

SunshineBabies · 05/02/2020 15:56

What's so frustrating is the Daily Fail article fails to mention the fact that she was attending an event and was fitting her speech in around that. Just reads as if she turned up on a normal day wearing a cocktail dress.

fpurplea · 05/02/2020 15:58

You can think it's inappropriate without being a misogynist. Do I think people calling her a slag etc are well out of order? Of course, absolutely without question. But if I was an MP who knew there was even a slight chance I'd be unexpectedly called into the HoC and be televised to the scrutineering masses, you bet I'd have something to "upmake" (someone please put me out of my misery and tell me the word I'm thinking of here!) my outfit, like a jacket or cardi. Broken ankle or not.

saraclara · 05/02/2020 15:59

Dominic Cummings shuffling into No 10 with half his arse hanging out didn't meet such cries of 'inappropriate'

Yes it did! You only know he did so because the papers picked up on it and people were complaining!

saraclara · 05/02/2020 16:01

I'm pretty sure that Tracy Brabin didn't venture out for the day in an off the shoulder dress, at the beginning of February, without a jacket. Which as a professional person heading into the HoC she'd have been sensible to put on.

Alsohuman · 05/02/2020 16:02

If I were a cynic I’d say this ridiculous furore was to distract from the very important point she was making about press censorship by the government’s comms machine.

WorraLiberty · 05/02/2020 16:03

She doesn't deserve the trolling and nasty comments

But she wasn't dressed appropriately for the House of Commons.

FizzyIce · 05/02/2020 16:04

@Gilead oh fuck off with that shit. Most of us aren’t being anti women ,we just think ANYONE who goes to work in a similar setting should dress accordingly.
The dress was rank regardless though and I’m not going to say otherwise just because she’s female .

PotholeParadise · 05/02/2020 16:05

And yet, Johnson turns up every day in suits that look like they don't fit, looking as if he last saw a hairbrush in before we joined the Common Market...

BarbaraofSeville · 05/02/2020 16:05

Did people say that DC looked like he'd just banged someone over a bin or he was still pissed/hung over?

Unlikely, and I can't even think of an equivalent word to slapper or tart for a man, it's that infrequently brought up.

Maduixa · 05/02/2020 16:05

I'd rather she be there in irregular but nowhere near indecent clothing than not there at all. The Rules of Behaviour do prohibit certain things - e.g., jeans, sandals, T-shirts, advertising/slogans - but bare shoulders aren't explicitly mentioned. I do think dressing like that in the chamber on a regular basis would fall foul of the "usual business dress" standard.

That said, "Brabin should be prepared to attend Parliament at any time and figure out a way to have easy access to a jacket" is a very different line of criticism from "Oooh, must be a slag!"

mrsbyers · 05/02/2020 16:06

It was really inappropriate , I wouldn’t wear it in an office let alone a Government building

Frothybothie · 05/02/2020 16:07

Disrespectful to the place she is working at, disrespectful to her constituents, but not worthy of the sexist junk.

WorraLiberty · 05/02/2020 16:09

I'd rather she be there in irregular but nowhere near indecent clothing than not there at all.

Errrrm you could say that about anyone in any job.

But dress codes are there to be adhered to.