Can an employer specific what colour clothes and footwear you wear to work

[redshoes2017]

I work in an office of 4 women and 1 man. There is no official dress code for the company it's just a given that you wear in smart office attire. We are not a customer faced office we speak with customers by phone only - not sure if that makes a difference to my question........ The general manager has said that smart office wear means dark colours only - blue/black/grey/brown...... footwear has to be black or white only....... is this reasonable to specify the colour of clothing and footwear? Not sure if I'm out of touch as it's been a while since I've worked in an office or this is plain weird , I would be interested to hear what others think .

When I used to go in to the office I would mainly wear navy with nude shoes. Wouldn't want to wear navy with black shoes and I don't own any white ones except for one pair of beach sandals which wouldn't be office appropriate.

Yes. In my workplace you cannot wear heels over 1inch. No ripped jeans and no hoodies. Safety shoes must be worn after a certain point in the building also.
A lot of the rules are for safety reasons though.

Black tights and white shoes......would look for another job lol

Fascinated by the white shoes thing - are you in Essex in the 80's?

We have lines on the factory floor where you need safety shoes if you step outside them. So, H&S obvs perfectly valid reasons.

If we had female shop floor staff then there would be rules about no long hair etc / tied up / to avoid getting caught in equipment.

Wouldn't want to wear navy with black shoes

Why not? Is it a fashion faux pas?

My office has a no bare legs or bare shoulders rule, so skirt and tights or trousers only no shorts, skirts without tights or tops with no shoulders.

We also have to have footwear that fully covers our feet.

Just a normal office, no factory or anything.

@RampantIvy

Wouldn't want to wear navy with black shoes

Why not? Is it a fashion faux pas?

I'm certainly no authority on fashion I just personally don't think it looks quite right.

@topcat2014

Fascinated by the white shoes thing - are you in Essex in the 80's?

No 🤣 I think the white is acceptable because the company brand colours are dark blue and white so I'm guessing the white is from that 🤷‍♀️ Like I said no official guidance just verbally told to dress smart office wear.

My old office also used to have a no exposed shoulders or toes rule. No toes sounds reasonable if your mind immediately goes to flip flops but actually it also rules out a lot of otherwise formal women’s summer shoes.

Not mixing navy and black is a long held fashion shibboleth which you can only break if you’re either very clueless/indifferent about fashion or very confident in your own style.

Another one fascinated by the white shoes. I don't think I've ever seen office wear white shoes

Well, I work with a professional orchestra and they definitely do specify what I must wear on stage. Up to tights colour and density, and sleeve length. Shoes are also specified. Hairbands and pins can only be black, brown, or silver. Long list of etc, it's in my actual contract.

For a normal office that seems odd.

I've worked in an office for a couple of decades and this very odd request.

This week I have worn a navy, mid-green and burgundy dress. In the Summer lots of blues, green and a very bright orange dress! I think shoes should be smart but who wears white shoes? Although lots of white boots online but I thought that this was a teenage thing.

Does the dark colour part include shirts?! That’s not even smart if so. It’s just bonkers.

It’s very odd.

Buy the most lurid and garish handbag you can possibly find. A big one.

@Tablegs

Buy the most lurid and garish handbag you can possibly find. A big one.

Ha love that idea!

I wear very smart, formal dresses and jackets for work but they're every colour under the sun! This week was mainly black and purple.my summer dresses are mostly red and orange.

Wear a black bin liner and white plimsolls. Sorted.

@DuggeeHugPlease Same here I wear navy shoes with a navy outfit I just couldn't wear black shoes. I must be extra sad as I swap handbags too so navy, black or brown depending on what I'm wearing.

Every job I've ever worked in has had uniform restrictions, even ones where you have to supply your own clothes. I've always thought it was normal.

You have reminded me that I used to wear a pair of high heeled white shoes to work in an office. This was the late 80s though. I had airforce blue tights and a green/purple plaid dress to accompany the look. I was the bees-knees.

I’ve worked places that either have an actual uniform or dress code with H&S reasonings behind them.

The only office I worked in that introduced a no bare shoulders and skirt/short length restrictions did it because of constant arguments over the temperature. Vest tops in January whilst others were dressed for cold weather kind of scenario.

wow it sounds so restrictive! yes bright accessories and jewellery for sure!
make your point....

I’ve attended work conferences with office staff from Harrods and they ALL wore black and were extremely glamorous. It was very conspicuous (compared to the rest of us duffers).

I like the sound of the black, grey and pink dress code mentioned above!

Unusual, the influence of Mark Zuckerberg and tech companies on office style (or lack of it) has grown over recent years.