Are you forced to dress conservatively because of your occupation?

[swiego]

As has been the experience for others, I have found that even in conservative professions, one's attitude and demeanor (and relationship with others) and flat-out performance and contribution to the organization can allow you to push the limits, but you have to look at it from the perspective of management. Allowing an employee to push a limit sets a precedent that others can take advantage of. ("You let Frank wear jeans, why can't I?&quot Now, if the supervisor can reply that Frank nails his projects and builds great rapport with other departments and that he/she is not interested in discussing dress code but rather the poor performance of the complaining employee, that's different. Ficticious Frank--his situation is the one you want to be in.

 

[merkur]

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[merkur]

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[Modernist]

Originally Posted by 0b5cur1ty

My experience is more of being forced to dress casually/boringly (I work as an IT consultant). When I wear a tie, I'm usually the only one... When I wear a PS, I'm *always* the only one. Hell, I'm often the only one wearing a suit.

On the plus side, I seem to get away with dressing how I like just fine.

I'm a software developer myself, and I feel overdressed all the time, and I usually just wear proper fitting jeans and shirts, and dress shoes. What are the reactions of your IT coworkers?

I guess that the above means that, yes, I do have to dress conservatively, within the context of the particular professional culture.

 

[Eagle]

Having dressed conservatively, pretty much all of my life. So I would be hard pressed to claim my work as the cause of my ultra-conservative sartorial bent. Admittedly I over dressed in high school, college and some might argue, throughout my career. Now retired, the wife and grown children marvel at the many excuses I find to wear a coat and tie and they have long since given up on gifting me with more casual clothing items, in their failed efforts to get me to dress more casually!

 

[thinman]

Originally Posted by merkur

Are any SF members actual ministers of religion? If so, what do you wear?

I believe AlanC is a minister; check out the WAYWT thread.

As a university professor, I'm pretty much free to dress however I choose. I choose to go business casual and almost always wear a jacket (without tie) and always wear a jacket when I teach. I'm working on the tweedy professor look. Initially my pocket squares flew under the radar, but my freshman students have been subtly teasing me about them this semester. I'm OK with it.

 

[eg1]

Originally Posted by merkur

PS's are for senior citizens or for "poseurs".

fixed.

Seriously, with respect to the OP, I am not forced to dress conservatively, but choose to do so for pragmatic, business related reasons. I could go business casual, but prefer coat and tie (not exclusively suits -- sportcoats and tie with slacks often). I do adjust dress according to audience.

 

[dirtysouth]

Hey. I'm a banker. Most of my colleagues are a few years older and have been in the financial industry for a rather long time. I might add that they are pretty conservative. So I have to keep it toned down and look "old money" most of the time.

I'd love to get away with a slim suit and a skinny tie. But I doubt that will happen any time soon.

 

[Frrrank]

No, I CHOOSE to wear suits, very starched shirts, and bow ties daily. I don't care what the rest of the crowd is doing. I've noticed, however, that the dress code has unofficially improved since I've been there. Most of the guys wear at least a shirt and tie. The women, who make up the majority, have taken to dressing more conservatively. Mostly suits, skirt suits no less, with some pants suits and some nice dresses. There's even one girl who regularly wears like these skirt and vest combos with pressed, buttoned up blouses, and occasionally with a kind of poofy version of a woman's bow tie. Very sharp.

 

[v0rtex]

I work with software developers and graphic designers, so if anything there's peer pressure to dress down in that environment. Any collared shirt or pants without holes are viewed with suspicion in a lot of "creative industry" firms

As a business owner/consultant, I dress up for pitches - as the other consultant mentioned, slightly nicer than the client but not too nice. Being in Florida, this means I very rarely have to wear anything more conservative than a sport coat.

 

[TheFoo]

Yes, but I find that my own preferences tend toward the conservative anyway.

 

[TC (Houston)]

Being a lawyer at a large firm, I'm supposed to dress conservatively, but I don't really worry about it too much these days. Since we went business casual many years ago, people wear a large variety of things. Anything that fits very well and is pressed puts you in the elite class of business casual dressers around here, so I tend to be more adventurous knowing that I will at least look neater and more presentable than most other lawyers here even if they don't approve of my style. With clients I almost always wear suits and tend to avoid brighter colors/patterns. Even wearing a well tailored, high quality slimmer suit will draw plenty of comments, so no need to attract more attention.

 

[XdryMartini]

I CHOOSE to wear suits every day, where some peers wear Polos and Chinos.

 

[imatlas]

I'm a pre-sales engineer for an IT business. I have the typical "dress nicer than the customer but not too much so", but our customers are software companies so I'm outdressing the CEO who is in t-shirt and jeans, or at most a dress shirt and khakis. It limits my options, so no pocket squares, and conservative shoes.

It shapes my choices in interesting ways: from all the hype around here I wanted my own pair of Vass shoes, but most of their designs are rather too dressy or outre for my work environment. A pair of pebble-grain norwegians flies under the radar while still satisfying my craving for quality.