http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... ce-clothes



And that would be me. I've no desire to 'impress', goes against my entire nature. I utterly detest the thought of working in an already DULL office in a shirt and trousers, never mind adding a tie and jacket.

A friend is a mechanic for a well-known car company and they've told the staff they must maintain whatever facial hair they've got going on! Consequently it legitimises his 'fashionably unshaven' look , but it just shows how ridiculous it all is. I mean you're speaking to someone caked in grease and oil! If you're even speaking to them at all...

Same with tattoos. Little point in demanding a 'smart' outfit with a wrist tattoo on display, for example. Even the local weather girl has visible ink these days

It depends on the situation. In our office we have customers coming in every day, so jeans are ok, but no t-shirts and management have to wear a shirt and have a jacket handy for meetings.

When I worked at the DHSS, we were allowed to dress as we liked in order not to seem too distant from the "customers". That's changed, and I believe everyone has to wear business attire. Not that I'd know - I've not needed to go into such a place for 20 years.

My office is fairly casual, especially as it's already over 25C :s


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We go for shirt & trousers for the support guys. Devs seem to turn up in whatever they fancy.

Personally, I like to go for things with no unnecessary flaps of fabric. I've never been a fan of ties (they seem to have no real function other than being a symbol of conformity), I'm not a fan of collars or lapels either.

I work out of hours, so I can actually turn up to work in whatever the hell I feel like. \•/

Mark

When I read the title of this thread I thought somebody had turned up in a bikini or underwear or something. A t-shirt and jeans is not "less" than a shirt and trousers.

Living in one of the most unnecessarily posh places within an hour from Milan, I often struggle due to being foreign and casual. But then I open my mouth and people are surprised to hear Italian. Conventions will also be there. Here or in the UK, or Germany. The trick is to conform, or find work which does not require conformity...

Its simple – if you don’t want to wear a suit don’t work in an environment (office / company) that expects you to wear a suit

In my last job I worked in an IT development office so generally wore Jeans and a polo shirt – which in that environment was considered smart

I now work in a Project office so have to wear a suit – Now Personally I think it’s pointless but it’s what is required and if I disagreed with it that much I could leave – and of the battles I have to fight in the office its one I would lose and so is pointless having.

What I do object to is that the women in the office can basically come in in what they like and no one in management says anything. If the suit is a “requirement” of working here then it should be for both sexes

This has been a bugbear of mine. A guy has to wear shirt, tie, trousers and jacket for it to be considered a suit and hence smart. Women appear to have more latitude with what they can wear. Surely this is sexual bias/discrimination? IMO if men have to wear suits, women should wear them too - jacket and skirt/trousers, blouse, no tie required.

Totally agree.

Also, there's that whole thing were women's clothing costs a fiver in primark, and even a half-decent suit/shirt/tie for a bloke costs a fortune.

But hey, welcome to the wonderful world of employment...

The problem with me is that off-the-peg suits don't fit. Otherwise I could get away with a suit for £150 or so from Next/Burtons, and a £25 shirt. Ties drive me nuts because you need to make sure they reasonably match and as a result, I have in the region of 30 ties.

do you really think that women's dress cloth, suitable to wear in an office can be found in Primark?
And don't get me started in places making high heels and make up compulsory for women, despite the fact that it's incredibly bad for health.

M&S do a big & tall range online which are cheap, machine washable, good quality and most importantly fit properly as they've changed the patterns to fit (I'm 6'7" so have trouble with regular cut suits)

I once worked in a company where I was told I had to wear a shirt and tie yet women wore pretty much anything