I really hate the word “slacks”, but am not sure what a better word would beDecember 7th, 2007 @ 7:01 am
I started, as a temp, at my job almost eight years ago. When the temp agency first called me to tell me about my new office assignment, they also informed me that I would need to dress up for this particular office. And by “dress up” that meant ” wear hose”. I showed up for my first day wearing black slacks, black hose and a black top.
Eight years later, and now a full time employee, and I’m still wearing the same black outfits. Except now instead of chunky Dr. Martins I’m sporting pointy heels. And instead of full hose I’m rocking the knee-highs.
By initially being given the dress-code of “hose” I assumed that meant that everyone that worked for my company also had to follow the same dress code. I quickly learned that wasn’t the case. I seem to be one of the few that actually adheres to it.
Since I work in the construction world there I have a lot of fellow coworkers who have spent a great deal of time out on construction job sites tromping around in mud and rain. They now are stuck in an office, and for some reason, think that they might need steel toed shoes at any given moment. And so, they wear their steel toed boots and keep their hard hats nearby. It goes without saying that they are also wearing jeans, right?
On the rare occasion that I do wear jeans to the office, they are a nicer denim trouser that I wear with heels and my typical dressy work shirt. (I also must tell you that I only paid $12.99 for them. Ann Taylor Loft, marry me.) Never would I wear a tennis shoe or a t-shirt. It just wouldn’t feel right, to me.
What I’m saying is that the corporate world seems to be a little more relaxed these days. I would say the majority of people I see walking into my building are dressed in jeans or casual khakis. I would fall over dead if I saw a man wearing an actual suit and white shirt. Or even a tie. The King doesn’t even feel comfortable wearing a suit to church anymore. (He always wears a tie to church.)
The thing is, I’ve heard this is mostly a West Coast phenomenon. Word on the street is that the East Coast still typically dresses up for a day at the office. I remember Metalia, who works in NYC, ask once if it was appropriate for her to wear short pants and heels to her office. I was all “dude, I wear that every day in the summer and it’s totally appropriate.” But for her, working in the stock broker world, it just didn’t feel right to be wearing what was essentially shorts to work.
The King works in a very creative field. Meaning that his coworkers like to show how creative they are on the inside on the outside. We’re talking pink hair, short skirts and kicky shoes. The King usually just represents with a polo shirt and jeans. Most days the jeans are even washed. As of late he’s been particular to the Simple Eco Sneaks (found super cheap at our local Ross). So The King’s office is even more casual then my office.
And yet, I still dress up for my eight hour work day. Because I feel like in order to be taken seriously, I must be wearing slacks and heels.
So tell me, how do you feel about your office’s dress policy?
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Hey did you notice me new blog header?! Click over to view it if you’re reading this via a blog reader. I figured we needed a little something more Christmasy here hola,isabel. Thanks to Carrisa for putting this together for me.
Random · Work
-R-
said,
December 7, 2007 at 6:44 pm
The attorneys at my firm dress very formally, but the staff does not. Some attorneys do wear jeans (like the ATL ones you linked to, which I am going to have to go hunt down, by the way), but I don’t feel comfortable doing that. I dress up every day.
-R-
said,
December 7, 2007 at 6:45 pm
PS I like the Christmas-y header. I changed mine, although not to a holiday one.
Rachel
said,
December 7, 2007 at 6:56 pm
The dress code in my office is pretty lax. I usually wear a nice shirt and dress pants and heels everyday though. I would prefer to wear jeans on Friday, but we still have clients sometimes on those days so we don’t. Although, I will wear a nice pair of khakis and a sweater or something instead.
Emily
said,
December 7, 2007 at 6:58 pm
I don’t like the word slacks either, I prefer pants. I also don’t like blouse, that’s what my grandma says.
I work at a bank, so we have to dress up. I’m pretty sure banks everywhere stick to the dressing up, no?
Danielle
said,
December 7, 2007 at 7:10 pm
My office is pretty casual. But I usually wear work pants (aka slacks) and a sweater and heels M-Th. Friday is always jeans day. ALWAYS. But ever since I messed up my toe last weekend, I can only get my foot into my comfy non-heels. And I can’t wear slacks with those shoes. So I’ve been wearing my nice jeans this week. And I can easily get away with it. (Dude, there is a woman in my office who wears stretch pants. To work. Anything is better than that.)
(P.S. Will you please share your secret to finding those trouser jeans for $12.99? Because? Score!)
Dirka
said,
December 7, 2007 at 7:13 pm
I usually say “dress pants”, but that kinda sounds like a little kid.
My grandma used to call the couch a “davenport”.
Operation Pink Herring
said,
December 7, 2007 at 7:18 pm
I hate the word slacks — hence my coining of the term business pants, which has garnered me much ridicule. whatevs.
We have to wear biznass pants and adhere to “business casual” dress code every day except for designated Casual Fridays (not every friday, mind you. That is only in my dreams). However, what people here consider to be business casual can only be called FUGLY. Christmas sweater and polyester pants DOES NOT EQUAL business casual, people. No. NO. But I’m not complaining, because that makes me look better in my three pairs of identical Gap pants.
I am troubled by the idea of someone telling you you HAD to wear hose. In my brain, hose are a type of underwear. Someone telling you what kind of underwear to wear is not OK. (I HATE hose. Too constricting. Too… itchy. Too easy to rip. HATE!)
Stephanie
said,
December 7, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Slacks make me feel like I am my grandma’s age or that I like women (not that there is anything wrong with liking women, I just like the husband).
I wear dress clothes everyday. I have not wore jeans to work in probably… ever. I work for a university doing fundraising and previously was in sales. So today while we are getting two inches of snow, I am sporting pointy knee length brown boots, blue tweed skirt and cream sweater, but honestly, I would love to be wearing jeans, same sweater and some brown slip on shoes.
Christar
said,
December 7, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Dude, my work is a big.fat.joke. It’s supposed to be business casual, but no one dresses up. Not even close. Most the people who work here are scumbag type of people because my work doesn’t require drug testing or background checks… so we get all the low-lifes here. I’ve never gotten ‘dressed up’ for work. I just wear what I wear every day. Jeans, cute tops, skirts… whatever.
And I totally noticed the new header right when I came to your page! It’s super cute!
Valerie
said,
December 7, 2007 at 8:29 pm
I work for an online media company, so our clients never see us. Ever. Usually people are dressed somewhat nicely on Monday, but by Friday most of us look pretty wrecked.
And I love it.
Carrisa
said,
December 7, 2007 at 8:37 pm
If you saw what I have on today you would kick me. Since we can wear whatever we want on Fridays I have on a dark gray henley and black old navy fleece type sweatpants with a drawstring that were too long so I cut them shorter with a pair of scissors. So the bottoms are uneven and jagged. And I’m wearing chucks.
Everyone in a non supervisor or manager position can wear jeans. I technically cannot wear jeans. Which is no big deal since I look like crap in jeans. However if I came to work in jeans on a Tuesday no one would care. They would just make fun of me for not wearing my usual black shirt and black pants. And for the record I like trousers better than slacks.
Steph T
said,
December 7, 2007 at 9:12 pm
I work in the corporate office of my company, so the dress code is “business dress”. But it is a relaxed business dress. The men who don’t work in the labs are required to wear ties and the ladies wear “slacks” (yes, I hate that word), or as I like to call them dress pants and a nice shirt or sweater. Being as that I am in Chicago, I do cheat some in the winter and pull out the big bulky wool sweater, just because it is so cold. Many people wear suits, but my boss is pretty casual, so we get away with a lot. Today is a fushcia cable knit v-neck sweater and black dress pants and black chunky heeled loafers. That pretty much sums up my wardrobe. I have the same cable knit sweater in 5 colors.
Carrie
said,
December 7, 2007 at 9:13 pm
I have to wear scrubs to work and I love it. LOVE IT. I don’t have to think about what to wear. Well…except which colors go together.
Sadie
said,
December 7, 2007 at 9:16 pm
In my field, it’s “business dress;” men in full suits, shirts and ties, women in pantsuits/skirtsuits or trousers and dressy sweaters - and always stockings, except in the summer. While it is a pain in the ass sometimes to always have to iron (or dry clean! the expense!) and buy new hosiery, overall I think everyone looks and acts more professional this way.
We do have casual Fridays, but that just means no tie for men and maybe a less dressy pant/skirt for women. Today I wore trousers and flats, which I couldn’t wear other days without looking underdressed.
Audrey
said,
December 7, 2007 at 9:20 pm
The new header is super cute!
My office is really casual. I can wear jeans and flip-flops all I want. Since we never interact face-to-face with our clientele, comfort is valued more than appearance. But I would still never wear shorts or a ratty t-shirt to work. Even I have some standards.
My sister-in-law works for a very conservative company that requires women to wear dresses/skirts and hose every. single. day. I think there’s a rule that if it’s colder than 37-degrees out, they’re allowed to wear pants. that would never be okay with me.
janet
said,
December 7, 2007 at 10:33 pm
We have one rule at our office: NO JEANS. I hate hate hate it. I can wear gross wrinkly old khakis but not nice pressed dark jeans! wtf?
I push it to the limit by frequently wearing denim jackets and “dark navy blue cotton trousers” aka denim trousers. Take that, Workplace!
Bunny
said,
December 7, 2007 at 11:46 pm
I just love the Christmas touch. Very nice!
ali
said,
December 8, 2007 at 12:04 am
i cannot use the word “slacks” - i think i just say pants.
my office is a little bit ridiculous. there’s NO dress code. at all. some people wear ripped jean SHORTS (yes) and tshirts and some people wear suits.
i fall somewhere in the middle. i usually dress kinda on the nice side, but i will wear jeans and a nice sweater.
Kyleen
said,
December 8, 2007 at 1:09 am
So I work with kids - one day I can be hatching chickens and the next leading a group of kids in camp songs or even teaching a class to a group of adults. Most of the time if the boss lady is there and I’m not out in the schools I’m rocking “slacks” and some cuter top. Other than that I rock jeans, polo shirts with my work logo and crocs. If I want to take it up a notch I’ll wear khakis with the logo poloshirts and dress shirts.
Kyleen
said,
December 8, 2007 at 1:10 am
So I work with kids - one day I can be hatching chickens and the next leading a group of kids in camp songs or even teaching a class to a group of adults. Most of the time if the boss lady is there and I’m not out in the schools I’m rocking “slacks” and some cuter tops. Other than that I rock jeans, polo shirts with my work logo and crocs. If I want to take it up a notch I’ll wear khakis with the logo poloshirts and dress shirts.
Erika
said,
December 8, 2007 at 1:34 am
While most people in Washington wear suits (women and men), I work at a very blue collar agency, and I have seen (two desks over from me), on a Wednesday, a “SLAMMED I AM - CANCUN” souvenir tshirt with a cartoon grinch on it.
Suzanne
said,
December 8, 2007 at 3:30 am
I work at a bank where there is a blue & black dress code. Thankfully, because I’m a Partner and not a bank branch employee, I don’t have to wear blue & black unless I want to! So, I wear a suit a few days a week, or dress pants and a nice shirt or sweater. Always, Always heels!
May
said,
December 8, 2007 at 4:29 am
I too am wearing black pants with a black top, but it’s to hide the watermelon in my belly & the fact that I gained THREE FREAKIN POUNDS last week (I think it’s all collecting around my ankles in 3rd trimester cankle-fashion…)
At my old office, my first supervisor was a wonderful woman who weighed about 400 lbs & she wore VERY LARGE LADY stretch pants every day. It made me sad for her. She deserved to fit in some sweet “slacks”… Now I wear my own LARGE LADY pants while I work, but no one sees me over email so it’s cool.
May
said,
December 8, 2007 at 4:30 am
PS - know what word is even worse than “slacks”? “Moist”. Gross gross GROSS! Though I think we’ve already had this discussion…
Stacey
said,
December 8, 2007 at 4:35 am
I work in a newsroom, so there are SO many different styles of dress. Those who have been in the biz longer seem to dress down. The newbies are all hip with their pointy shoes and dressy trousers/skirts. I’m right in the middle … some days I dress up, but more often I’m a bit more on the casual side … Khakis and sweaters. There’s no dress code, so the one I’ve implemented for myself is to wear whatever makes me feel better about the fact that my metabolism is slowing down and I’m not looking so young anymore.
But that’s a whole different story. 
angela
said,
December 8, 2007 at 1:50 pm
I’m a jeans kind of gal, but it’s totally on par with my creative work environment. If I walked in all dressed up, people would think I was headed to an interview or something.
Lindsey
said,
December 8, 2007 at 6:24 pm
I have to be in work-attire everyday. No casual Fridays or anything. Given, I don’t have to be as dressy as say someone in the financial/corporate world, but I still have to be wearing appropriate clothing and shoes. No jeans, no casual khakis. I can get away with a slightly more casual sweater if paired with nice pants or a skirt though. I like wearing skirts to work though!
SJ
said,
December 8, 2007 at 10:43 pm
My work place is really casual, and while I can wear shorts to work if I’d like - I don’t. I generally wear jeans, or khaki’s or some other form of pants, and an occasional skirt here and there. Usually I dress comfortable, but on the end of nice.
Durga
said,
December 9, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I think it depends which industry u work in as to how formal u dress.
My husband’s boss earns many hundreds of thousands of dollars but apparently comes to work in shorts and a wife-beater singlet top. LOL
Most people in the IT industry dress casual I guess. People in the Legal industry dress very formal.
Ashlie
said,
December 10, 2007 at 12:10 am
How did you get those cute little snowflakes on there?
MK
said,
December 10, 2007 at 2:59 am
Down here is SoCal dress is very lax. We wear dress pants and tops..loafers and open toed slides to work. In the winter it we trade it in for sweaters and boots (only on the cold days). On Fridays we wear jeans with eather tennis shoes, loafers, slides with more casual shirts. I love it as I am rather casual person… Mush more now then I use to be for some reason. My husband works for an ad agency (not as one of the creatives) and he wears jeans, loafers and a polo to work m-thurs with jeans, tennis shoes and a t on fridays.
Lisa B
said,
December 10, 2007 at 3:07 am
Ohhh. Liking the header. Very cute.
And um… Not really in the office. My “biz uniform” is track pants and t-shirts.
But the hubby’s office went into bus casual mode this past spring.. Just a few months after he spend several thousand on suits because at the time he started, they were the suit-wearing type of office.
Art Nerd
said,
December 10, 2007 at 2:00 pm
I think the only rule for an art history professor is that your clothes have to be vaguely out of style and preferably monochromatic. I wear the slacks, though I also do not call them that, with sweaters, long sleeve Gap favorite T’s (or now, the pregbot version of them) and sometimes a nice button-up shirt. When I teach in the summer, it’s capris and respectable sandals.
But depending on the school/campus, it depends on what the others wear. When I’m at the architectures school, those coke-monkeys dress up. The art school, the studio profs quite often could be mistaken for being in their pj’s. I usually ride in the middle of those two extremes.
Katie
said,
December 10, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Oh how I love Ann Taylor Loft. I go straight to the clearance rack every time and always manage to find something beautiful for under $15. Love it!
My office’s dress code policy is pretty awesome compared to other places I’ve worked. We can wear jeans on Friday and the rest of the week is business casual.
HollowSquirrel
said,
December 10, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Pants, not slacks.
Shirt, not blouse.
Underwear, not panties.
Please readjust your language accordingly.
HUGS. Also: I’m pregnant, so all this talk of cute clothes from cute stores makes me JEALOUS!
Keri
said,
December 10, 2007 at 5:28 pm
I work from home, so its Jeans for me (Or jammies if I so choose) but when I lived in seattle, we were all suits. When I moved back to east coast, our company relaxed to biz casual unless you were in NY, so if I traveled, i had to pull out a suit.
Now, I go to an actual office once or twice a year and its actually fun b/c I get to dress up (but sorta sad b/c I realize none of my clothes fit & I need to exercise)
Also, I agree w/May. Moist is an awful word. I have a few words that make me cringe. That could be your next post and everyone could leave their terrible words in the comments.
Heidi
said,
December 11, 2007 at 12:58 am
I also use the word “dress pants.” I work in the construction world as well, as a project administrator for 3 general contractors. So…office work. Our company has a “no jeans” policy, but every once in a while someone bends that policy. The field superintendents wear jeans every day.
That said, “business casual” is a lot more casual than it used to be. I can get away with wearing a long-sleeve t-shirt (in a solid color) if I pair it with khakis or black dress pants. And I’ve seen some women in my office wear the equivalent of yoga pants! I think that they think the bosses don’t notice…
CPA Mom and Soccer Mom Angela
said,
December 11, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Dude, I wear khakis mon-thurs and jeans on friday and I’m a CPA. Our office is casual. in the summer i wear dresses with sandals. I’m on the east coast (southeast) and it’s all about where you work. Law offices - hose and heels and suits, no question. Bigger CPA firms, same deal. Non-profits (most of my clients)? Jeans.
the wifey
said,
December 12, 2007 at 3:59 pm
i work in the construction world as well. when i worked in the corporate office, i always, always tried to outdress all of the men around me. i felt i had to in order to get the respect that i deserved. now that i work out of a much smaller office and sometimes at home, i am a little more slack about it, but still try to outdress everyone. i always say: when in doubt, dress up!