What to wear to work in a laboratory?

[peaceonearth]

I have been in academia so used to dressing very casually (e.g. jeans and Converse) but I now need to dress in "business casual" whilst also adhering to general lab rules like no open shoes and no skirts or dresses.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions for what to wear?

Thank you

Also how do I know if something is appropriate or not? For example, is a blouse with lace around the neckline appropriate?

A white coat?

If you are on your feet a lot, comfortable shoes. Smart trousers, blouse or top, smart top-like jumpers or cardigans.

Shoes could be smart brogues or oxford type shoes.
You could wear a smart jumpsuit or culottes.
Depending on whether you have to wear a lab coat or not, you could wear a soft jacket that looks a bit like a blazer but is more like a sweatshirt in fabric.

Apart from the trousers and closed toe shoes, does it matter if you've got a lab coat on over? If you're wearing good clothes then make sure it's big enough to do up.

It may to some extent depend on what sort of lab it is.

Yes I have to wear a lab coat over the top.

Would a fine knitted jumper with smart trousers be ok?

I'm sure that would be fine, depending on the temperature of the lab. It might possibly be a bit warm.

DH was a manager in the chemical industry, he typically wore dark chinos, a striped cotton shirt and a jacket - I assume he swapped jacket for lab coat.

Normal black trousers or chinos (or even cords) should be fine, we are technically business casual but in reality 90% of us wear jeans so go smarter at first and assess from there. The lab will almost certainly be temperature controlled, can you find out what it’s set to? Ours is boiling and poly lab coats are hot and sweaty, I couldn’t wear a fine knit, even a long sleeved cotton top is too warm. We all wear smart t shirts/ shell tops or very thin, floaty blouses. Any flat sensible shoe or boot will be fine, the more comfortable the better! We wear safety trainers so don’t need to worry about that bit.

I work for a big CMO. Generally scientists can wear jeans/top etc and just wear slightly more formal clothing when we have customers in

I would assume business casual was any non denim trousers/skirt, and anything either collared for a man or smarter than a t-shirt for a woman, with a jumper, cardigan or casual jacket as preferred.

Cotton, wool and leather shoes are better than synthetics if flammability is relevant.

Depends what sort of lab?

I’ve never known anyone who actually does lab work wear business casual or anything even vaguely “nice”

But that might be I worked in a biological lab so we had bleach buckets everywhere to drop equipment into as soon as it was used- it was guaranteed you’d get some bleach splashes even with lab coats, and everything needed to be machine washed fairly hot, so no point wearing anything precious or vaguely expensive.

If it’s a new job go on the smarter side for the first week and gauge what everyone else wears. Trousers and a shirt/blouse is fairly neutral.

Something easy to add a jacket to if needed - so one jacket living on the back of your chair, ready to be added to every outfit.
For me: flat black Clark's boring shoes. Black or grey trousers (full length, not ankle length), extra thick socks. Jersey tops with thick cardigan. Or shirt and jumper. Switch woolly layer for lab coat or black blazer as required.

Sorry, I should have mentioned that it's an NHS lab so I think may be more dressier than other labs?

I think for the first few weeks I will wear a blouse or thin knitted jumper (I get cold quite easily!), slim fit smart trousers and flat ankle boots and then adapt when I see what everyone else wears.

DH, in his NHS lab years never wore anything other than jeans and t shirts. It was pretty much the uniform for all the scientists, male and female.

I tend to wear short sleeves all year round under my labcoats, I'm just too warm otherwise and long sleeves drag on the inside of labcoat sleeves. Typically I wear a plain, fitted teeshirt or loose, short sleeved top and trousers or jeans, trainers, flat comfy Clarks type shoes or flat boots. Maybe a dress in summer but cool cotton, and fairly loose fit as I have to bend and lift quite a bit. I keep a cardi for time spent out of the lab (have a separate office in my current job). I can't remember the last time I wore a shirt or blouse.