Thoughts on this dress for work?

[Hop27]

Corporate city role, bought a couple of dresses for work before Christmas.
One white, one red. I've worn the white one lots but I've not worn the red one yet (which maybe tells its own story) So now I'm doubting myself. (It's high summer where I live)

Thoughts?

RED

https://www.cue.com/au/Shop/Product/Asymmetric-Pencil-Dress-S93374-S22?gclid=Cj0KCQiA8aOeBhCWARIsANRFrQG5i6lwHat1kyQHogmXi1iRR9V11jiOM3kQU4CQNBPRlJo-DmENwQaAnyPEALwwcB

WHITE

www.cue.com/au/Shop/Product/Scoop-Neck-Dress-S93421-S22/501878

London workwear is pretty laid-back.

Not when you're a Director in Consulting!! You're expected to look smart and quite formal/conservative. Definitely no thigh skimming dresses or skirts, and no flashing flesh.

(I write this as a London based Director in Consulting).

An oversexed teen? Your misogyny is grim.

and actually yes, some of can and do dress how we like in senior corporate roles and are very professionally successful

perhaps we work in places where people are more concerned with performance than with judging their colleagues clothing 🤷‍♀️

Oh my. Dressing appropriately for the occasion is not hard. Yet some have not a clue or else they’re obtuse on purpose.

Neither dress is corporate wear, come on. The white dress is too short and the neckline on the red dress precludes it from being workwear. They’re both cocktail dresses. Most people know this. Sleeveless is ok (with me anyway) since they’re wide on the shoulder and wear with a jacket or cardigan in the office. Although many people do not think sleeveless is ok for work no matter what.

The swing dress looks like something a very young immature girl would wear to a party on the beach. It’s not evening wear or suitable for going out for drinks in the usual venues. Of course wear what you want but it doesn’t look appropriate for the occasions you’re talking about.

I think people do these threads on purpose, it’s hard for me to believe women don’t know what kind of dresses they’re looking at.

OP what are the women wearing in their headshots on London based offices for the sorts of companies you are interested in working for? That should give you an idea of the level of formality common in your industry.

I think some people on here cannot conceive that other people have different experiences to them.

the OP has literally said she wears these dresses in a senior corporate role and/or out in the evening - therefore they are senior corporate workwear/suitable for drinks

you denying that doesn’t make it true - regard your experience of Australian corporate workwear/social wear ?

what she’s asking for are recommendations for clothing in the UK - do you have any? Or are you just here to deny her experience and tell her she’s living her life the wrong way?

Thanks everyone, this thread has made me smile. Just what needed for a Friday morning!

@FurAndFeathers perhaps we work in places where people are more concerned with performance than with judging their colleagues clothing

OP works in consulting, ie going into other businesses/organisations to advise. You are being judged by your clients, hence the more formal dress code.

Consulting in which industry OP?

I’m senior management in broadcasting and none of the outfits you’ve posted would be suitable - because they’re either a) too formal (red dress, green dress) or too evening (black Reiss dress or play suit).

I could easily wear the white dress in the summer but it’d be with Converse baseball boots (scuffed, slightly!) and messy hair.

Sector is key here.

I think they look very dated. I’d go for something a bit more modern.

I think you'd like L K Bennett OP

I worked in the City in a corporate setting, and also in local government too. The white dress is too short but the orange is fine - I often wore sleeveless dresses in the summer. No tights, and rarely wore a jacket or a suit either.

The Fold has some nice pieces. Joseph would work well. I guess it's a case of how much you want to spend. Personally, I would wait until you're in your new role and then buy according to the culture of your work place. To my mind, that would be the most sensible thing to do rather than buy new pieces blind.

I like the green one though I'm damned if I can work out what colour jacket/cardigan to put over it. Black would look crap IMO. Some sort of blue perhaps? That's the problem with bright colours. Reiss is a pretty safe bet if you can't face Hobbs.

My office dress code a couple of years ago used to be "no shoulders, no armpits, no back, no midriff, no toes" and I think that still holds good. Let's face it if the men had any of that on display they'd be frogmarched out. I think you'd probably get away with the green or red dress because their shoulder straps are very wide, but you would really stand out. I'd have worn both the red and green ones when I was your age: my dress sense has always tended to the eye-catching side of formal.

Not keen on the white at all. Love the red one though.

Personally, until yoi get to your new office and suss the culture, I’d be going for something like these until you can go shopping in London!

Reiss dress is lovely. My workplace is very laid back but that playsuit would raise a lot of eyebrows. Just not in any way suitable for the office.

If dresses aren't an option what about loafers with a tailored trouser (ankle grazer style length is popular) and a smart shirt

Love these!

This is ridiculous. You're taking the piss surely?!

It depends on the sector/organisations/clients

I’d hope most clients would judge performance over clothing choices

The white one, assuming you're that height and that dress looks like that on you, is too short.

The red one is fine, but you'd expect to wear something with sleeves over it.

The green dress is very suitable, but again, you'd expect to wear something with sleeves over it (e.g. a blazer or cardigan that you could take off).

The black dress is a no, even for evenings. You'd expect to wear something that goes from day into evening, not something that you clearly couldn't wear during the day. When you work in the City, you work long hours, and you don't have time to change. You have to be able to adapt your day outfit into a night outfit.

The playsuit is an outright no if you're working for a traditional City firm. You'd have to be working for someone really fun for that to be acceptable. (A much smaller list of places.)

I don't mind the cold, but I think you'd find coming from Australia that you would want to layer up and/or wear things with sleeves anyway. It's not entirely that flesh is scandalous; it's more that it's usually too damn cold in the City to show that much!

Some would judge, some wouldn't.

There's enough misogyny in the City without making your life even harder for yourself by giving them a stick to beat you with.

There are some firms and sectors where you can wear what you want. There are more where, truthfully, you can't.

I don’t think anyone is disputing that.

but I don’t see how telling the op that she dresses like an oversexed teen is anything other than simply nasty judgemental ageist vitriol.

Have a leadsership meeting in 15 minutes, wondering which of my oversexed teen outfits to wear today.

I think they're both awfully dated.