AIBU to think a mini skirt is not appropriate office wear?

[Andiose]

Afternoon all,
first of all I’d like to state, this isn’t an attack of the woman I’m referencing, I’m genuinely curious and willing to be corrected if I’m wrong.

For context, I’m 42, I have spent most of my professional life in a role which required uniforms, then took years out to raise children and complete a masters degree so I have only been in an office based role for less than one year. I work in a small office and while there are certainly women and young people, there aren’t actually many young women, so this is my first experience of this.

My team has a new employee, she is about 25, and is completing her masters but has been brought in once a week for some training as there will be very little overlap between her joining and her predecessor leaving.
It’s been a few weeks now and I’m genuinely wondering if I have the wrong idea on what appropriate office wear is. One week she wore linen trousers and a nice top, fine that makes sense. But since then she’s worn a skirt which seems to me to be a mini skirt, she is quite tall and has very long legs so it’s hard to tell if it’s intended to be a mini skirt or just appears that way. On one occasion she wore it with sheer brown tights, but on one occasion bare legs, or skin tone tights.

Now I was under the impression this would be seen as immodest in the work place, even if it is, of course that’s not my business and I’m not suggesting it is.

Im simply asking, AIBU to have been under the illusion that a mini skirt with or without tights isn’t appropriate for the work place?

I’m tall and 6” above my knee is mid thigh. Perfectly decent.

You're bang out of order, OP. Mumsnet rules state that a woman should be allowed to go to work naked if she so chooses, as it's "Empowering" apparently.

Women wore minis in the 1960s...

Not allowed in my workplace, but that's due to daily contact with sex offenders

Odd, because that’s not what most people are saying. They are saying that it’s not particularly short, and that colleague needs to meet the dress code.
The work place is quite different to a night club.

Are you ok, has the heat perhaps addled your brain? The woman was wearing a mini. They haven't been controversial since the 1960s 😕

Well, that’s good then considering the lass OP is jealous of works with has clothes on!

She’s wearing a skirt 5-6 inches above her knees, hardly scandalous or approaching nudity.

Can you see her knickers? If not, I can't see the problem. If you can, then yes it's too short.

I haven't seen a dress code that requires tights since I worked for John Lewis in about 2002... and even then it was desperately old fashioned 😳

there is one simple question does the office have a dress code ? then if not then without it being rude then they can wear what ever they want

They're probably the kind of person who has a lecherous husband and blames the target of the letch rather than the letch himself. I've seen it before.

I think using the word 'immodest' is really not something we should be seeing in this day and age.

I'm NHS, not patient facing. I have unnatural coloured hair and a visible tattoo if I'm wearing short sleeves. I like wearing long skirts and dresses in this heat, but wear shorter stuff in winter, with brightly coloured tights and floral boots. Nobody cares.

Last year someone got pulled up on having their shoulders out, but this year nobody has had the nerve in this heat.

I think it's great that dress codes are relaxing across the board. It's about what you achieve, not what you look like.

I’ve not worn tights for decades, I hate them,whe it gets really cold I will wear trousers. But I’m bare legged from early spring to late autumn.

op, why are you judging whay this woman wears. And using the word immodest, as 42.about a skirt that is more short than mini.

part of me thinks you’re a bit jealous and think she’s attractive. But every other part of me screams there is no way a 42 year old is sitting being jealous over a 25 year old.

There’s usually an office dress code.

having said that I worked in a school and you should have seen the fuss over the dress code. When it got warm (like thirty degrees) some of the male teachers came in with shorts and SLT updated the dress code to say no shorts and there was practically a riot.

not to mention that they all pointed out that the PE staff lived in shorts.

anyway, there’ll be a dress code.

personally I tend to go for long and flowy in this sort of heat (especially if no aircon) but I have sympathy for those who prefer top and short trousers/skirt/skort.

That sounds fine to me - but then I'm old enough to remember when all women wore mini skirts to work 😃

Honestly it doesn't sound that short, I can't see what the issue is, she's hardly showing her knickers.

I think as long as they feel comfortable and if no one is pulling them up for a dress code then not much can be done. It’s ok though to personally dislike it.

Mini skirts were a huge part of office wear in the 60s and 70’s.

its literally 50 years later 🤷‍♀️

we’re going backwards

37 worked in an office always. I would wear an above the knee skirt with tights. Maybe a shirt or jumper depends on time of year. But tbh my office is so relaxed now I usually wear jeans and trainers.

You sound a bit old fashioned.

Things are less formal. I’m not surprised that mini skirts are worn in the office, probably better than sloppy jeans and a t shirt.
It’s less time consuming to dress in comfortable clothes but society is worse for it imo.
You see people wearing inappropriate clothing at weddings, funerals, court and working in corporate roles.
DS had a psychologist a few years ago. I wasn’t sure if she was a stripper after 5pm, she was dressed to go clubbing anyway.

It depends on the work place and the dress code
I have 2 jobs - one is smart casual so no jeans, logo t shirts, trainers etc, the other is more formal so sandals are a no as are sleeveless tops, no cleavage and tend to stick to plain colours or small patterns - not a barrister but think similar role
If tall short skirts would still be ok - especially with dark or opaque tights

I don’t think youngsters know what dress codes are tbh.
A woman at my work place in her mid 20s works in customer facing - one to one meetings and often wears low cut vest/camisole type tops .
I often wonder if her male Clients feel uncomfortable as her boobs are very much on show.

Ive never heard of the finger tip test? What is it?

I think certain jobs have stricter rules than others. My own job has no dress code. Ive worn denim shorts, flip flops, crocs etc before and nobody minds or cares. Everyone (male and female) has worn shorts this summer

I am a semi public facing role, we do not have it stipulated in our contract how far our skirt can be above the knee but its not something I have the nerve to test out with management. I can understand how it could be percieved by the public, and I might need to don my hard hat but we deal with a lot of elderly customers.

So mid thigh? That sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I’m in my 60’s and occasionally wear a mid thigh dress to work although it is usually with opaque tights in the winter. I do have really good legs though even if I do say so myself 😃.

One of our admin staff who is even older than me (mid 60’s) wears mid thigh skirts with bare legs and looks great and is very professional.

Wouldn't be surprising in an office now unless it was particularly old fashioned I don't think? Pinterest is full of this kind of thing as officewear inspo.