We have such a variance in locales, professions, etc. represented on this board. What each of us chooses to wear to work would naturally reflect that variance. What do you wear?

I live in California bay area, for a startup biotech company. I have a management title, but I am not senior management. My daily wear consists of:

My jag jeans, non denim. The top, no buttoned-down blouses. No t-shirts. No plain cotton turtlenecks. I tend to buy my tops from boutiques, and they are unusual in color or cut. On feet, either my black leather boots, or (right now), high-heeled sandals. If I need a coat, it's my black leather jacket or my tan spring short trench.

I'm known for my silver jewelry. I wear a bold chain with a pendant that matches my outfit. Lately, that is most often a lemon topaz.

What do you wear?

I'm a librarian in a public library.

I tend to wear pants, due to the reaching up or down for books. Usually I'm colorful - Oregon can be gray enough. I like to have fun jewelry on. On top it's often a shaped t-shirt with a jacket, cardigan or open button-down on top. Public buildings are notorious for unpredictable HVAC systems. Flat but not boring shoes. I do have a couple of dresses for the 'I have no brain while trying to get dressed' days.

The one thing I'm neurotic about is looking approachable but very modest. Unfortunately I tend to view all of my clothing purchases through the 'could I wear this to work' lens, and I only work part-time. Probably getting more appropriate for me as I slide towards 40, anyway. I did find in the past (read: ten to fifteen pounds slimmer than I am right now, before baby #2 and before moving to Oregon) that some male patrons get some awfully strange ideas about lady librarians....

I work for an attorney litigation service and but dont come into contact with the public, so i can wear whatever I want. I usually wear jeans and a cute top and most of the time my doc martins, sometimes I will wear heels but the office is so casual I could wear sweats and tennis shoes but I wouldnt

I am an HR Administrator for local government. Sounds like we should be conservative, but I live in Key West so anything goes. We don't have a dress code. I wear whatever I want . No shorts for instance, no torn up jeans, no tanks (although some girls do wear tanks).

Usually I wear dark wash jeans, a crisp long sleeve (the guy kind, in nice colors like blue, fushia, or white my favorite), and loafers. Sometimes I wear a dress. Sometimes I wear a slim pencil skirt with heels and a nice silky top. It depends entirely on what I have going on that day. I wear slacks and jeans more than skirts and dresses. I NEVER wear a suit, except when it's cold (which is rare), and I have a meeting somewhere. We're very laid back here. There are people however that take it too far, like wearing birkenstocks, tank tops, spaghetti straps. The guys always look presentable though, some of them will wear shorts b/c they work in the field but generally they look okay.

Nobody wears a tie - EVER.

heh, I've covered a broad spectrum over the years. I'm a manager at an importer/distributor and there's a dress code, but it's really geared towards keeping us respectable. My attire ranges from suit & tie (negotiating table) to sweaters and leather jeans, to buttondowns, bluejeans, and boots or sneakers. On Saturdays it's a golf shirt and jeans or shorts. I wore a lot of sportcoats to the office and am slowly phasing them out this season.

I work in a pretty conservative environment (federal government). Most days I wear separates...skirt or slacks and blouse. Sometimes a suit. Hose, always. We're not allowed to wear certain things like open toe shoes, jeans, etc. It's pretty boring, actually...I'd love to have a 'casual Friday' like a lot of workplaces, but that wouldn't go over here.

Clothes, dammit.

I work from home, so usually I wear whatever I feel comfortable in on any given day. If I have to go to corporate headquarters for a meeting, it's business casual attire. Working from home has been detrimental to my wardrobe, however.

I work from home, so I can be casual. Periodically I attend fund raisers where I get to wear cocktail dresses, g or sometimes a gown that's usually fun. Golf outings are my least favorite thing to dress for. I like to golf, but I don't feel like myself in the clothes. At home I never work in my pajamas, it's just a mental thing. I feel sharper when I'm showered and dressed even if nobody can see me.

-Noelle

I don't work, so therefore...

When I worked in cosmetics there was a uniform which made life easy.
In South Florida.............people dress casual business which usually means slacks, capri's a top with or without a little blouse or jacket..........open toed heel sandals.......It's too hot to dress in suits here. Especially in the summer. Nobody here wears hose. Skirts or little dresses are o.k. but...mostly slacks.

LOL!!
Sounds like something my father would say.

I don't have a dress code, but I put some thought into getting dressed. On days when I'm leading my discussion section, I usually wear some sort of knit top (on great occasion, a button-down shirt) with a jacket or cardigan over it. If it's raining, I wear a shorter skirt and tights or long socks. If it's not raining, I'll wear a longer skirt or pants. In lecture, I ditch the jacket, since it's terribly hot in that room.

On days when I have office hours, I don't wear T-shirts, but I am likelier to wear jeans (and likelier to avoid, sadly, Chanel No. 19/ Cabochard/ all my chypre lovelies). I try to approach office hours as a chance to work on problems collaboratively with students, and that happens better if I'm visibly less formal than in class.

Teaching adults, no dress code, but I try to keep as professional an exterior as I can, with some creative, 'hip,' relaxed elements. Lots of separates, mix and match stuff mainly from Koreatown and a fairly good quality consignment store. Today is very tight grey dress pants, largish light grey shirt and darker grey jacket, which is pretty much my 'line' and fairly representative of my work clothes, albeit in the most successful 'exactly matching' bracket. Some of the clothes vaguely suggest dandies, or BPAL. Almost never accessories. Always black heels. In the dead of winter it all gets less creative and more plain and the lines more boxy and square. Suit. Pants. Sweater. Pants. Sweater. Really Long Wool Skirt.

I work partly from home, partly in other peoples homes and partly thousand other places. Every day I meet peolpe when they are at the top of happiness and in the deepest sorrow.

Most days I wear trousers (mostly black), a tee (long sleeves or no sleeves depending on the weather) and a jacket of some kind - often a short leather jacket. I almost always wear heels. At night I wear a skirt (black and mostly narrow) instead of trousers, but the rest stays the same.

For some part of my job I wear a black woolen, foot long uniform with a white starched, ruff collar. :-)

I am a pretty iconoclastic dresser. Pants or skirt, Tee, blouse in a contrasting color, jacket, scarves (oooh, I love scarves), funky or fancy jewelry. Footwear is always comfortable, often clogs--my current favorites are leopard. Lipstick is most often red.

Business casual. I haven't worn a suit in years.

Haha, I thought this was "what scent do you wear to work"! Since I'm a nurse, I wear scrubs, both tops & bottoms. And then what I call my "medical jacket" over them, since it has lots of pockets. Sometimes I carry a fanny pack with the stethoscope, tape, etc.

I've seen others wear varied outfits, even sweatpants but always with the scrub top. We were just informed we can wear lab coats, so I'm over the moon. This means I dont always have to wear the other medical/nurses jacket. I guess I just feel more secure with lots of pockets to stash supplies so when I go into a patients room, I wont be caught empty handed.

BTW, I often wear Chantilly EDC to work. Its subtle, and a patient remarked that she liked it so its kind of my "nursing" perfume, but I do wear it at other times as well.

Dorthea, here I am trying to figure out what kind of a job requires such a uniform. Maybe it will come to me...

I worked in a bank that had a highly professional dress code. No hose in the summertime is quite acceptable professionally in this city and the summertime norm at work, but jeans were not permitted, not even on casual Friday, which was business casual. Men, except those in tech services, wore a suit and a tie. Women could wear a variety of clothing as long as it looked businesslike but I found that to be treated professionally, a suit or dress with jacket was best. The purpose for this code was financial, not moral. It was felt that good-quality professional dress would inspire confidence in customers and drum up the most business. Now I don't work there and I can wear jeans every day if I want to, which I do!

I work on a community college campus and things are very casual here unless you are a top administrator. I wear knits, mostly, so that there's no ironing involved. Knit pants (LL Bean Perfect Fit straight leg with pockets are great) and knit tops, short or long sleeve, often with a velour hoodie and a knitted scarf on extra cold days. And always, always comfortable shoes for the long treks from one end of campus to the other to drop something off, go to a meeting, etc.

I think I remember what Dorothea does, but I'll let her respond.
I'd call it a helping profession. :-)

Business casual in my office, no jeans unless we have a fund raising Jeans Day.

I usually wear black or grey pants, a jacket and a turtleneck, t-shirt or shell. Black, red, grey, purple, pink, occasionally blue. Comfortable black slip on Naturalizer loafers. Sometimes a scarf to dress things up a bit, sometimes jewelry, depends on the jacket and my mood. Summer is pretty much the same, just substitute a print skirt a few times a week. I'm looking for some comfortable summer shoes though.......

Well, I'm not working now...but this thread got me to thinking about how I dress with my elder-care jobs.
I guess you'd label my style as "preppie" -- Oxford shirts, jeans (no low riders), loafers (with socks)...and usually I have a blazer with me for cool days or if I need to look a little more...conservative.
As for jewelry... two rings, a watch, a rope bracelet, and a pair of smallish gold hoops.
I never wanted to wear anything a nurse might wear...'cause I'm not a nurse or affiliated with medical home health care.

[quote name='FiveoaksBouquet' date='Mar 31 2008, 04:44 PM' post='353705']
Dorthea, here I am trying to figure out what kind of a job requires such a uniform. Maybe it will come to me...

Look again -- it will come to you!


I work for the US government, like VelvetSky, but our office is not at all conservative. That said, I don't wear jeans, except on Fridays, which is my day to put things away in my office. Usually I'll wear wool pants, a sweater or shirt, sometimes a jacket, and one piece of jewelry -- either earrings, or a necklace. I'll wear a scarf sometimes instead of jewelry.

As for shoes, I'll wear boots, brogues, or Dansko clogs. I know they're not at all stylish or "professional," but I can get away with the Danskos because I hem my pants long, and I walk crosstown several times a week, so I need something comfortable. Nothing beats Danskos for this, IMO.

I do think that heels look better, dressier, but I have to force myself to wear them. Even my boots are all riding style with flat heels.