office wear

[Flute56]

I work in an office and the majority of the peole wear casual and by that I mean jeans and t shirts and trainers. I always dress smart for work. Some who have tatoos wear short sleeves and show huge tattoos down each arm. I do not think that is appropriate for the office. I really wish i worked for a company who has a strict dress code wehre the women have to wear smart trousers and jackets and dresses and skirts and the men have to wear shirts and trousers and maybe a suit. I could not go to work looking sloppy even if there is no dress code

Don’t get the OP started on teeth! She’s already had a thread on that!

@PineappleBanana Oh god! I'm sorry! 🤣

Fingernails, though, let me guess… women who don’t wear nail polish are not smart?

I wear DMs in the office so I polish mine weekly 😌

I wear heels to work sometimes. I like them and I can walk in them. I also polish my shoes regularly because they were bloody expensive and I want them to last and look nice.

We dress for our day. So if we are public facing we will do business attire but to sit in an office most people are much more comfortable in jeans and T-shirts. Even our CEO would rather wear a polo shirt and jeans and had to be reminded to
put on a suit and tie when going to the Houses of Parliament!

I remember wearing what the OP described in the mid 00s, it was very much the office wear of the time. The likes of Next, H&M and Marks and Spencers had rails of office wear. In the summer I'd switch the smart jumpers for a top. But pencil skirts or black trousers and heels were worn by almost every woman in an office. And you definitely had that differentiation from your non office wear, even men wore trousers and shirts.

It started relaxing from about the mid to late 2010s then the pandemic happened.

I do miss having that separate wardrobe of office clothes but it's so much cheaper not having to buy work clothes as well as non work clothes.

I work in an office with 'business ready' dress code and I hate it more and more.
It's so old fashioned, middle aged women teetering about in heels and mini skirts it looks awful. Would much rather be more in line with Europe- smart casual dress, denim ns trainers acceptable. No crop tops or hot pants etc

My old company made a counter offer to a mate of mine after he had handed in his notice. Whilst explaining the offer/pay raise the technical director told him that he would have to smarten up his look. He still left……..

I dont know why some on here dislike leggings. I absolutely love them and one or two women at my office wear them too. Someone on here also said that Kate Middleton does not dress like most women her age and indicated that she dresses a bit old fashioned. People love what she wears because they put up replicas of her outfits in whatever shop you can buy them in and within days they are sold out. She dresses conservatively because she is a Royal and so do all the other Royal women. The only person I think who dresses old fashioned is Princess Anne but that does not mtter because she has bagged two husbnds in her lifetime so they dont see her as a fudy dudy. I do wish though tht she would do something with her hair. She has had the same updo for donkeys

Your post is about formal office attire. There’s nothing formal about leggings. My husband always says they’re for people who can’t afford real trousers.

I do miss having that separate wardrobe of office clothes but it's so much cheaper not having to buy work clothes as well as non work clothes.

I retired six months before the pandemic hit and one of the things I most appreciated was no longer having to buy work clothes and especially shoes. Not that I wore suits but I did wear smart dresses, or smart separates. We did dress down Friday at my work too. I have noticed trouser suits have gone out of fashion, or is it that they’re seen as too masculine in a world that seems more gender stereotyped than ever?

Mini skirts are not business wear.

@Flute56
I said it and I am right. Most women in their 40s do not dress like Kate for the following reasons:
She dresses too formally and old for her age as she has to fulfill so many criteria for her unique role and she always, always has to look so well put together otherwise the press will have a go at her
She has loads of money.
She has a stylist which puts her outfits together - literally everything she wears at every event has been chosen by someone else.

Normal people just simply don't have the job, money, stylist or bandwidth to dress like her. If I did have the money and stylist, I definitely wouldn't be asking to be looking like Kate M- there are way more other women who dress stylishly that I would put ahead of her

The magazine articles 'buy the look' are just BS. They are there literally to fill the pages and potentially get revenue from brands to show their wares. Occasionally elements of the 'look' might sell out but that's certainly not every day and certainly not the whole outfit.

Anyway, you are certainly pivoting away from your OP, which is still wrong btw. I still believe that dressing down in the office benefits more people and that it's your issue so maybe you should change jobs so that you find your clothing tribe.

@Flute56 I don't know anyone who bought a similar outfit the Princess wore. Or wears her prescribe style on a regular basis.

Yes, some of the dresses she wore 10-15 years ago were nice as a formal special occassion outfit and they made an effort buying from high end high street shops like her Engagement dress but otherwise they are awfully old for her.

The same is for most of the European monarchies, look at Sweden, Victoria dresses like a 50 year old for decades, the only one with a style is Maxima.

I don't dislike leggings. You're lamenting people not dressing smart for work, then going on to say you wear leggings and a jumper with flats for work. I was just pointing out that's not smart. Not at all.

I dont know why some on here dislike leggings

Who hated leggings? Your thread is banging on about formal office wear which leggings certainly aren’t.

Leggings are 💯 in the casual category. I wear leggings to work with a shirt/blouse and trainers. That’s not smart - it’s informal office attire.

I don’t even own an iron. 😁

I wouldn’t wear leggings as trousers. I wear them instead of thick tights - so with dresses or skirts. I am old and have wobbly bits though! 😂

@KimberleyClark "I have noticed trouser suits have gone out of fashion, or is it that they’re seen as too masculine in a world that seems more gender stereotyped than ever?"

Probably 75% of the female managers in my CS department wear a trouser suit of some description. We're not fashionable though, and trousers are practical.