Does anyone still dress for the job they want, or even dress up a little for the office?

[NotOneMoreLunge]

The idea for discussion is prompted by my current job hunt.

I have always loved clothes and style (follow fashion to keep in the loop, but value my own style over trends). I have mostly WFH since COViD, on camera daily, so ended up with two work wardrobes - small, more formal for office events, and different for WFH, sort of personal uniform that makes me feel great. People at my work were mixed, some loved to dress up, some wore corporate kit, but everyone looked smart.

Job hunting now, and it’s a very different look than before 202. One office in Birmingham, everyone looked they slept in their clothes, MD wore pull up trousers and scuffed shoes. Not that there is anything wrong with them, but I thought I would just look pretentious in this environment, as interview clothes were my usual office wear. I wore black Autograph trousers, blue and black Jigsaw blazer, white silk cami, LKB kitten heel pumps, Bayswater classic by for laptop, black belt. Very simple, not fashion, but just put together with a bit of care.

I hear in cities there is a slow return to dressing up but I am not seeing it in the Midlands…

I was thinking this yesterday seeing all the school children coming out of school in blazers and ties!!!!

I can’t remember the last time I saw a tie in the workplace!

I'm retired now and I'm so glad to be free of my office dress 'code'. I've used speech marks because officially there was no code. There was certainly no expectation to wear heels or suits and, on the surface, it couldn't have been more relaxed, and yet..... There was an unspoken but very real disapproval - and it came from the top down - of wearing anything at all that displayed any interest in clothes or fashion. All those 'Another new outfit, Flo?' comments - I only realised once I'd left just how oppressive I'd found them, and how I felt I was walking on eggshells when I dressed for work.

Now I volunteer at a place where again there's no dress code other than to look decent, but there's also no pressure to look as if you don't care. Some of us take an interest, some of us don't. It feels wonderful.

My office is business casual, but very European with lots of elegantly dressed French, Spanish and Italians. Jeans tend to be worn by the grads and interns, with smarter clothes as you become more senior.

I enjoy dressing up for work but, like others, have moved away from the Hobbs dress pre-COVID era. I have a weakness for The Kooples blazers and Vinted has extended my collection nicely. I wear a lot of black but like interesting fabrics, textures and shapes- drape, asymmetry, long silhouettes, soft tailoring.

I love Kat From Finance’s take on corporate style and have copied her on a few pairs of boots.

I work in tech. Looking like you’ve just been following a Grateful Dead tour for the last two years is a badge of honour among our senior devs. Our distinguished engineers look like 1970s roadies. Our CTO looks like he’s just been dug up. Among the younger contingent it’s all blue/green/pink hair, tattoos and piercings. As a middle aged Gen X I just wear black and do a good impression of a disquieting crow.

I’m the same. I bloody love a study day as I get to wear my own clothes. I’m always smart/casual, even on a stay at home day. I love clothes 😊

I mostly work from home so in winter wear pjs with a nice thick jumper over the top and woolly socks (I get cold just sitting) or a comfy stretch short sleeved dress in summer but when I go on site or to HO I dress up just because I would never wear any of my nice clothes otherwise! I don’t wear a suit but just a nice dress or jumpsuit or blouse and trousers and some nice jewellery, shoes or boots. If I work clinically (one shift a month or so) I have to wear scrubs and crocs so that’s sorted! I don’t care what anyone else wears. Each to their own!

I've noticed a slight return to heels in the office in the last year- a few years ago I noticed they seemed to be completely dead. I go into the office once a week and dress smart to smart-casual as that's the general feel. I don't usually wear heels and never have because I have a orthopaedic condition that means I can only wear low, block heels.

A typical outfit for me might be dogtooth check trousers, a smart black t-shirt top and smart, clean white leather trainers. Smart leather trainers seem to be pretty standard workwear. I wear makeup when dressing slightly smartly for work as I could get away fresh-faced 12 years ago, but I realised as I got older I looked a bit 'unfinished' in smart clothes without some makeup on, so I do a subtle full face (I've never been able to do eyeliner or contouring and can't be bothered anyway!)

Yeah I’ve seen tech people in my workplace looking like that. What is it about being techy and adopting this look? Is it inspired by video games? Is it the result of spending teenage years marooned in a bedroom on a computer instead of socialising? Is it peer pressure?

I think it’s about more than must comfort because they all adopt the same sort of look. It’s like you have to be ‘alternative’ in order to conform in tech!

For the younger people it’s from game and anime/manga/weeb culture definitely. For the oldies (who are almost exclusively men) I think they are emulating the ‘grandfathers’ of the modern tech industry - the guys who invented the internet, open source, GNU etc all looked like that, because they were research academics in American universities. And so the look persisted. Add in the fact that a very large percentage are autistic and either have sensory issues with clothes or simply don’t care.

There is also the perception that anyone who dresses smartly, especially wearing a tie, is a phony. Richard Stallman famously refused to wear a tie and often rants about them.

I binned all my office wear after the first lockdown, no more tailored dresses or heals. I’ve never worn make up so that hasn’t changed. Boots or trainers and whatever I feel is weather appropriate.

Yes we have a dress code. I can’t wear jeans, hoodies, trainers for example.
Sometimes I’d love to be able to go to work straight from the gym in my fitness clothes but I absolutely can’t.
I do have lots of clothes.
The temperature varies greatly so for example I might wear a linen skirt with a cotton blouse in summer. I keep a pair of heeled sandals in my office and a pair of flat black shoes too.
When it’s cold I often wear a pair of dark, smart trousers with a blouse and jumper. Or a winter dress with black opaque tights and a cardigan.
I could just wear the same clothes on rotation but I like variety.

In the last few days most of the women have been in floral dresses and sandals.

I do agree about techy people. Whenever I go over to the tech department the vibe is completely different.
They are mainly male and almost exclusively wear jeans, trainers and some sort of slogan t-shirt, predominantly black. They all wear their lanyards too which doesn't happen in my office.
It’s also where the transgender people seem to work.
They all seem to like working alone and hate having to come out of their office,
much preferring to problem solve remotely.

I love dressing up for work, I work from home most the week but on office days I enjoy looking smarter. I also feel more confident in meetings and I'm senior management so I wouldn't feel right in jeans and a hoody, though it is perfectly acceptable in my office.

The only struggle I have these days, is finding nice reasonably priced smart office clothing.

@hereforthelolz I fully agree with you regarding shopping. I do not have the Fold budget or lever of formality, but being petite really struggle to find quality at reasonable, even if premium pricing. I love Reiss / VB style, but even Reiss quality varies. Whistles and Jigsaw are crap now too. Some lovely items in Zara or Mango occasionally but all for much taller people.

I don’t ‘dress up’ for work on the whole but I don’t really dress up for anything other than a wedding!
I am always clean and tidy and presented well; I blend in which is what I want. On days where I’m meeting clients I wear shoes rather than trainers, some days I’m just at my desk all day, others it’s all hands on deck and we are moving stuff about, and other days I might be at an event somewhere so it’s variable but from one day to the next I could be at either end of the smart/casual scale depending on what’s in my diary.
i do like clothes but I’m very rarely dressed up.

I base what I wear on what I’m doing if in the Office. Normal day pretty casual but smarter than home clothes, but maybe smart trainers. Not much different to wfh (except trousers/leggings are respectable). If it’s a team meeting etc. Then a nice dress and tights. But probably similar for London office or shows. I don’t wear heels ever (my feet wouldn’t take it), but I’m also not aiming too high.
I like that one of our female bosses still dresses like the techie nerd she is really, most of the time.

I think how you dress has an enormous influence on how people see you and with that in mind, Ive always dressed on the smarter side, for the job I want, so smart flats, tailored trousers, smart tops and relaxed jackets in neutral colours. Natural make up and hair.

Why not give yourself the best chance possible of getting ahead?