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 .

I used to work in the civil service, with no written dress code, but we were expected to dress "appropriately". Which, for us, meant dressing more formally if we had meetings, etc. Day to day it was more casual.

Where I work now, it's smart casual (local government), and aa little more smartly for meetings (ties, etc). But we have many dress down days, and wfh is whatever you want, and we all have a smart top to hand for any online meetings.

OP, I suspect your GM is just imposing personal preference, because dark colours hasn't been the norm in my experience or that of my friends (I know what they wore or wear). Just smart or smart casual.

Some companies have been caught out by this because insisting on certain clothes for staff in low paid roles can put them in breach of the NMW if the staff have to buy their own. Some firms have had to make substantial back payments for telling staff they had to wear certain types or colours of shoes/trousers etc.

www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=fadedf94-5905-4b45-aaa4-5f5da955e589

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.
God I'd struggle with that.
I love my casual dresses and only wear tights in winter with boots.
My manager face timed me yesterday for a chat and work chat up and had a flowing top on with shoulder cut outs
I'm so glad I'm not office based especially in summer when we can wear our jumpsuits, denim dresses and vans trainers ( my favourite summer work combo)

In my first qualified solicitor job dress code was very conservative I wore navy or black suit - I had same style of shoes in navy and black I looked down one day and I’d worn one of each luckily no one else noticed. I can’t imagine wearing white shoes in a formal office.

I did exactly the same thing at least once back in the nineties Dixiechick. Once you found a pair of well fitting mid heeled leather court shoes and your preferred toe shape at a reasonable price you might as well get them in both acceptable colours but the problem is that first thing on a winter’s morning it’s not always immediately obvious which is which. I wouldn’t put it past me to have worn a navy jacket with a black skirt either (not a morning person).

I have seen some awful coloured suits on men that make them look quirky rather than professional.

Years ago I was looking up the dress code of our company to be informed that we were not allowed to wear thongs Turned out as our parent company was Australian they actually meant flip flops

Dark colours could include pine green, burgundy, plum purple, etc, and could be smart office wear. As the suit/trousers/smart dress base colour.

Are lighter colours allowed for blouses/shirts/tops etc, and or scarf/tie/jewellery? Or must even the man's shirt and tie be dark colours?

I worked in the office of a machinery design and manufacturer in a very small "city"/large country town. No formal dress code but I was a direct transplant from a corporate environment with the accompanying wardrobe of smart dresses and heels.
The only rule was closed toe shoes on the factory floor so I purchased a magnificent pair of closed toe stilettos in snake print with a gold heel.

A previous firm banned flip flops in summer but Birkenstocks even the toe post style were classed as sandals and allowed

"My manager face timed me yesterday for a chat and work chat up and had a flowing top on with shoulder cut outs"

In March? How much is she spending on heating?

@ImAlrightThanx

Yes, they can implement a dress policy and put whatever they like in it, I suppose. Bit weird though innit.

Wouldn't they have to inform you of it when you take the job though and present you with a written document? Rather than just make it up as you go along?

I have worked in companies that require uniforms, these are given to us as an employee.
If your company wants you to wear a certain colour for an item of clothing, they need to provide this. Have a look at your contract. If it isn’t apparent they can swivel.

In my line of work the higher up you are, the more deranged you look. Lifestyle publishing, innit.

People wore exactly what they felt like, and there was pressure to look good and 'individual' - anyone rolling up in a polyester suit wouldn't be treated in any way differently but they would have had their nose pierced after a fortnight.

If you're dealing with a sleb, you really do make the effort to look at least nice - a lot of artistes are pretty visually sensitive and can get genuinely offended by dull/whiffy/dowdy dressers.

Like it or not, that's how it works.

One argument for strict school uniform rules is to prepare people for the work place. So, I guess they are just following through

I find these types of rules ridiculous. If employer insists on an uniform it should be provided.

As long as the rules do not discriminate on basis of sex and possibly religion then they can set rules yes. Whether you are prepared to accept them as part of your terms of employment is up to you.

Wow, I'm so glad my new job has a lenient dress policy. It has to be 'neat' and something that isn't revealing ie 'if you look down or up you can't see too much'. So low cut tops and mini skirts are both out!!

My manager face timed me yesterday for a chat and work chat up and had a flowing top on with shoulder cut outs"

In March? How much is she spending on heating?
She was in the office.
Our building is either roasting or freezing.
This time of year we wear layers if we go in!

My DH worked for an IT company and was told his blue socks were unacceptable and that only black could be worn from then on.

Unless you are the bride, white shoes are frightfully common.

@ImAlrightThanx

Yes, they can implement a dress policy and put whatever they like in it, I suppose. Bit weird though innit.

But when you're already working there? So it may require some expense to conform?

I can understand with new recruits though, if that's what they want

We aren't customer facing and our rules are just office clothing, and no exposed toes/denim and being sensible basically
I wear anything from skinny trousers and a top to dresses and everything in between in all colours

They can, yes but it makes them very unattractive employers in this day & age!
From my experience, most gen z & certainly Y wouldn't want to work in that old fashioned prescriptive culture. Can't say I blame em!
Controlling dinosaurs 🦕

@iklboo

I worked in an office in the 80s where women couldn't wear trousers except on half-day Friday and never jeans.

Same here back in the 1980s. Could you imagine the outcry now? It wouldn't be tolerated, and rightly so.

We certainly had a 'not acceptable' rule where I worked, but it was because we had lots of school leavers who tended to wear belly tops, leggings, low cut short dresses, and skin tight jeans in a call centre. The CEO and HR said it wasn't fair on the young lads to have the girls prancing about so indecorously - a dress code did improve sartorial standards. We also banned flip-flops for safety because all the office chairs had wheels.