STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

My school middle-of-the-road fashionable. Of course there are the people who come to class in sweats everyday, and the girls who come to class in stilettos everyday. But I guess most people are middle-of-the-road. It definitely depends on which class I'm taking, though - I'm a senior, so I'm taking a lot of upper-level classes and I think that the upperclassmen tend to look nicer every day just becaue they're more "adult" and often have an office job to go to after classes. I'm also taking a general education course this semester, though, which most people take their freshman or sophomore year...and most people just wear hoodies or t-shirts to that.

My work is even less fashionable! I work for my family's businesses, which are actually two companies at the same location - an auto salvage and an online/software company that provides services to auto recyclers. I actually plan my wardrobe depending on which office I'll be working in. If I'm going in on a day when I know I'll spend most of my time in the auto salvage portion, or in an office where I'll mostly see the auto salvage employees, I'll just wear jeans and a t-shirt. If I'm going to spend the majority of my time in the building with the online company, I can upgrade to a denim skirt - wooahh classy! Most people wear jeans or khakis, polos, and gym shoes every day. Even when I wear a denim skirt, everyone asks why I'm all dressed up. I always try to just wear something that looks nice and ignore everyone's comments, but it's hard sometimes. I hate just wearing jeans and T-shirts, but anything else just invites tons of questions comments from people.

I work mostly from home now while I'm in school, but when I graduate I'm going to move back to my hometown and start going into the offices every day again. I'm hoping that after a few weeks people will quit asking why I'm "dressed up" and just let me be!

-- Edited by ttara123 at 23:46, 2007-02-21

I work at a Federal agency and my office is very polarized.  I'd say about 1/3 of the women who work here dress nicely and like to keep up with fashion. The remainder dress in a manner that says "I give up."  My office is "buisness casual," but a lot of women wear suits straight from the 80s as separates.  I see a lot of tapered, pleated polyester pants with ugly sweaters or turtlenecks, jackets with shoulderpads of linebacker proportions; old, blocky pumps, and shapeless ankle length shift dress/jumper things.  Oh, and tacky holiday sweaters and vests abound.  It's weird, but the worst fashion offenders are the women in leadership positions.  A few days ago, a supervisor on my floor wore a floor-length plaid skirt with a paisley turtleneck. 

I work in downtown Chicago, where there are tons of fashionable women.  There are even some that work for my company, however, not in my department!  I am surrounded by women who have probably worked here forever and dress horrible.  One wears those seasonal holiday sweaters/sweatshirts.  One wears pants that are way too short on her (they aren't supposed to be) w/black clunky shoes and knee highs.    I still dress how I want.  I definitely will not fall into their patterns!

I see a lot of 80's suits w/ shoulder pads around here too. *shudders*

Kenzie- I can TOTALLY sympathize with you on the Sloppy Fridays thing. Though in my office it's Sloppy Everyday.

I work in a very small office with two other people who put no effort into themselves at all. One guy consistently rolls into work each morning unshowered and in wrinkled, holey, faded tshirts and equally wrinkled jeans that I'm sure he just pulled on from the floor or the laundry basket. It's really gross and sucks because I feel like the students we work with don't see us as professionals when they come in and homeslice is dressed like he fell out of the sloppy tree and hit every branch on the way down.

Because of this, I'm a bit more motivated most days to look good and be creative in my outfit choices. Also, my office is located right near UNC which means the students that come in to see me include LOTS of super fashionable women. I use them as a reason to keep myself dressing nice and looking good, even in the case of Mr. Bedhead. Though I have to admit, on days when I'm not feeling like putting the effort in, thoughts of MBH make it really easy to want to throw on any old thing!

-- Edited by Sevilla at 17:45, 2007-02-22

-- Edited by Sevilla at 17:46, 2007-02-22

lynnie wrote:

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i work in a small studio with 2 other people- there is no point in getting dressed up.  I have to shlep around the city a lot.  I like creative/offbeat styles and would feel stifled by a business casual dress code (which i've done before, and hope not to do again...ever. or at least for a few years)

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This is totally me too! I do dress up sometimes if I have to meet a client, but mostly I shoot for sort of polished-casual. I often wear jeans to work, but everything else is more polished--nice tops or sweaters and shoes--no t-shirts or sneakers or sweats.  I wind up dressing the same for school since I'm often at both school and work in the same day, which means I'm usually overdressed at school compared to my friends, so they rib me about being a fashionista, but that's OK. If they're ribbing me that means I'm doing a good job! 

jacks435 wrote:

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My office is business casual (we can wear jeans), but there's totally an unspoken uniform. On any given day, I'd say 90% of the women are wearing black or khaki pants, black, square-toed shoes or boots, and some colored top, maybe with a white button-down underneath. On Fridays, they wear jeans with the same kinds of tops and shoes.

I find that wherever I'm working, I tend to fall into the patterns that others set. When I worked at trendier, more creative offices, I was more experimental with my styles, but at my current job, some days I think, "Why bother?" When I do wear something a little different (like, say, a wrap dress), everyone comments, but in this way where I end up feeling like I stand out ("Why are you so dressed up!?" etc.).

Am I alone in this? What about you?

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I'm in the same boat. At my last job, I was one of 3 employees and I could wear anything but jeans. I dressed much more stylishly. Now our office is between busines and business casual and is totally casual on thruedsys and fridays. On dressy days everyone just wears black pans and a sweater(not even a cute one, just a basic sweater) or a plain pant suit. One girl dresses more fun, but she's sort of claimed that role for herself so whenever I dress stylishly I feel guilty- Like I'm cramping her style or something?  And any day thats casual and I don't wear jeans I get the "why so dressed up?" Its boring and is making me tired of clothes.

My office is mixed. There is technically a business casual dress code, but it is not enforced. Some managers have been known to wear track suits to meetings. One manager will wear black jogging pants and throw on an eighties blazer if she has a meeting. There are some cute younger people who are fashionable. I really don't care. Some days I try and others I don't. I get made fun of by the older staff members a lot for my shoes, oversized handbags, headbands and scarves and my winter hat. I will admit my winter hat is a bit goofy. It has an oversized pom. I bought it from jcrew online - final sale. It freaked me out a little when I got it, but since I couldn't return it, I decided to rock it as if I meant it.

What kills me is the people I work with who will criticize my outfits to my face are some of the worst dressers I have ever met. Just because you bought a western inspired denim suit from Lerners doesn't mean you need to go buy matching denim knee high boots. I never say anything, because I am not a jackass. Actually, my new approach when someone makes a snide comment about something I'm wearing, like say my hat, I just say "Thank you!" and walk away.

haha, no way. if you actually get sressed for class people ask you where you are going, because you obviously are nt going to class