# Are you required to dress up at work? Pressured or encouraged to? Do you resent it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 13, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206 "2013-02-13T19:23:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/41 "2013-02-13T20:51:59Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Actually that’s an argument for dressing nicely every day. That is, if you always dress as if you’re going for an interview, then on the days you actually ARE going for an interview, no one will notice. 😉 🙂 Sound advice, and I have used it in the past (started “upping” my dress before I even started going on interviews). ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/42 "2013-02-13T20:52:33Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Which brings us to the thread questions. What’s your company dress code? Is it more or less formal than you like? If it’s business casual, but your immediate boss always wore suit & tie (or the feminine equivalents), would you feel pressured to dress to match? Pretty much identical situations. Ten years ago, we went business casual and I lasted about a month before I went back to a suit and tie. There was a brief period where it made everyone nervous - my bosses thought I was going on job inteviews, my co-workers thought my professional look would make the higher-ups reconsider the change - but everyone got over it. From then on, it was pretty much nothing but positive feedback. Truth is, people are more comfortable with me wearing a suit and tie - seeing me in jeans and sneakers gives people a sort of dissonance, like when you’re a kid and see a teacher outside of school. We added a gym to the office last year and once people learned I used it regularly, people were “casually” wandering by just for the spectacle of me in shorts and a t-shirt. (That kinda sucked - usually you have to date me to discover I’ve got great legs.) As for the whole “casual is much more comfortable” argument: man, I really wish guys would learn to buy clothes properly. If you’re not comfortable in a suit and tie, in dress slacks and leather shoes, you just plain don’t know what you’re doing - you should admit it and seek help. Swing by Styleforum or askandyaboutclothes or something. It’s silly how many young men think generations of men were uncomfortable for decades in suits, rather than realizing they knew something you didn’t - how to buy clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/43 "2013-02-13T20:53:56Z")
What i don’t understand is when I buy an equivalant outfit for women, i.e., a suitjacket and skirt/slacks, there is no one there to customize it for me. Men’s suits, they fix the length and adjust the suit, but we just have to suck it up or go to a tailor? Don’t comprehend. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/44 "2013-02-13T20:56:34Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > As for the whole “casual is much more comfortable” argument: man, I really wish guys would learn to buy clothes properly. If you’re not comfortable in a suit and tie, in dress slacks and leather shoes, you just plain don’t know what you’re doing - you should admit it and seek help. Swing by Styleforum or askandyaboutclothes or something. It’s silly how many young men think generations of men were uncomfortable for decades in suits, rather than realizing they knew something you didn’t - how to buy clothes. This is a really good point. At the very least I bet I would be more comfortable in nice clothes if I did a little studying. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/45 "2013-02-13T20:57:12Z")
We have no dress code. People show up in anything, including shorts in the summertime. We’re a public television station, and while we’re not old hippies, people can and do wear anything they’re comfortable in. Production folks often have to go on shoots in the hot summer sun, so that’s the justification for shorts, I suppose. Jeans are common. I’ve been here nearly 24 years and the only time I’ve been told what to wear is at events where we have a booth. We have some T-shirts or polos with our logo that we wear in those cases. But at the office, eh. I dress in what I like, which is mostly fairly dressy. But I’ve come to work in shorts and t-shirts in the past. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/46 "2013-02-13T20:58:33Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > What i don’t understand is when I buy an equivalant outfit for women, i.e., a suitjacket and skirt/slacks, there is no one there to customize it for me. Men’s suits, they fix the length and adjust the suit, but we just have to suck it up or go to a tailor? Don’t comprehend. Where are these mythical men’s stores of which you speak? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/47 "2013-02-13T20:59:52Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Where are these mythical men’s stores of which you speak? Men’s…Wearhouse…? I mean, I don’t know, I don’t shop there. I just know they are out there! ETA: And all men seem to know about them. I am mystified you don’t. Men always seem to know where to get a suit (or tell the next generation) when you need a suit for a funeral, etc. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/48 "2013-02-13T21:00:15Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > This is a really good point. At the very least I bet I would be more comfortable in nice clothes if I did a little studying. And you get used to it. I would now feel undressed in the office if I didn’t wear a tie. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/49 "2013-02-13T20:59:50Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Actually, it’s easy. We’re not a bunch of stuffed suits. We’re staffed with incredibly smart and competent people many of whom (not me) are world renowned in their fields. We are respected for our results, not how we dress. No one cares how we dress because our products kick ass over everyone else’s. This is the way I see it. I wear jeans to work usually. Many of my colleagues dress nicer, because they can’t impress people any other way. The suit is a mark of mediocrity – people who would blend into the crowd if they didn’t dress better than it. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/50 "2013-02-13T21:00:13Z")
> [@solosam](#): > > I’m not saying you have to show up with diamond cufflinks. I don’t. _My point_ is that I dress better than my competitors (aka my co-workers). I get more done and do it better than my competitors (he says after half an hour of fucking off on the internet) What if they all started dressing like you? Would you up it to diamond cufflinks? Then what? Maybe a tiara. Things could get serious pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/51 "2013-02-13T21:09:27Z")
We’re business casual with casual Fridays that still require a collar. I hate it. I’ve spent more money on my wardrobe in the last year and a half since taking this job then I had in the previous 5 years doing the same job combined. I don’t have anyone to impress with my clothing and it’s only in effect because I work downtown. I don’t understand it at all. My work product doesn’t change and I spent $1,500 last year between dry cleaning and replacing clothes as they wore out which I would gladly take as a pay cut to get out of the dress code. As far as a boss who dressed up above the dress code and tended to promote the better dressed people in the office (since they are the ones with ambition and drive). I’d ignore it until I could find a job somewhere else since I don’t meet his standards and I think I’d be better served putting the effort from dressing to his standards into finding a better boss. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/52 "2013-02-13T21:11:38Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > ETA: And all men seem to know about them. I am mystified you don’t. Men always seem to know where to get a suit (or tell the next generation) when you need a suit for a funeral, etc. I turn to women for help with that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/53 "2013-02-13T21:12:53Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Where are these mythical men’s stores of which you speak? There’s almost nowhere you can buy a men’s suit where they don’t offer alterations. Low-end department stores like Target, maybe, but you shouldn’t be there for suits anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ReticulatingSplines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@ReticulatingSplines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReticulatingSplines)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/54 "2013-02-13T21:15:30Z")
Do I have the strictest workplace? We are full suits every day, Friday included. I like looking professional as much as the next guy, but when it’s 100 degrees in the summer I think the suits actually hamper productivity. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/55 "2013-02-13T21:16:30Z")
I just kind of want to see my friend **hajario** in a tiara now. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/56 "2013-02-13T21:17:14Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > About your forecast of the suit’s obsolescence, though: what about people who actually like them? **Mika** ’s already commented that she liked the way men look in them, and I am not alone in preferring the way they feel. I don’t think any of us are advocating the removal and burning of your suits by force. If they suit (NPI) your personal style, more power to you. Unlike your departing employee, I certainly won’t be bothered if you continue to wear them. My objection is to the entrenched idea that the suit is somehow intrinsically superior, and that those of us who _don’t_ like them and don’t look good in them should be forced to wear them or be relegated to the status of second-class citizens. I respect your sartorial choices (and will even admit to being a tiny bit jealous that you can pull off the look so easily). Will you extend me the same courtesy? > [@](#): > > Among the eleventy-jillion things I’ve sold is men’s suits (for a few months in college), and I firmly believe that men who find shirts & ties unduly constrictive are simply wearing the wrong size shirt. This is particularly true of guys my own age, who mistakenly assume that, just because they wore a size 16 collar and 30 sleeve in high school, the same is true a quarter of a century later. True, a suit that actually fits well would not be terribly constrictive, although it will inevitably be more restrictive than the styles I favor. However, after considerable searching, I’ve determined that the only way for me to get a suit that fits in a minimally restrictive fashion is to get one tailored. (I have a rather weird build.) Why should I shell out extra money for a tailored jacket I will inevitably hate wearing, if only because I live where the temperature ranges from “tolerable” to “imminent spontaneous combustion”? > [@epbrown01](#): > > As for the whole “casual is much more comfortable” argument: man, I really wish guys would learn to buy clothes properly. If you’re not comfortable in a suit and tie, in dress slacks and leather shoes, you just plain don’t know what you’re doing - you should admit it and seek help. Way to judge people you’ve never met. I should “seek help” because my tastes don’t align with yours? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/57 "2013-02-13T21:21:49Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I just kind of want to see my friend **hajario** in a tiara now. Which beats the hell out of **Skald** in a suit any day. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/58 "2013-02-13T21:22:02Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > There’s almost nowhere you can buy a men’s suit where they don’t offer alterations. Low-end department stores like Target, maybe, but you shouldn’t be there for suits anyway. I don’t spend a lot of time in men’s suit stores. I have one suit, it was off-the-rack in some discount store, and it was a pretty amazing find. Last year I did buy some slacks in a pretty foo-foo men’s clothing store. They were very expensive and were taylored on the spot. Worst buy I ever made. I’m ready to turn them into rags. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/59 "2013-02-13T21:23:58Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > As for the whole “casual is much more comfortable” argument: man, I really wish guys would learn to buy clothes properly. If you’re not comfortable in a suit and tie, in dress slacks and leather shoes, you just plain don’t know what you’re doing - you should admit it and seek help. Swing by Styleforum or askandyaboutclothes or something. It’s silly how many young men think generations of men were uncomfortable for decades in suits, rather than realizing they knew something you didn’t - how to buy clothes. When I was, oh, possibly 20, I had a girlfriend who said, “Know something, Rhymer? You have no idea what you’re doing when you’re buying clothes. I will make the fashion decisions, you will write the checks. Observe closely as I will eventually dump you for being a jackass and I will not be willing to assist you at that point.” It did me good. > [@Oredigger77](#): > > As far as a boss who dressed up above the dress code and tended to promote the better dressed people in the office (since they are the ones with ambition and drive). I’d ignore it until I could find a job somewhere else since I don’t meet his standards and I think I’d be better served putting the effort from dressing to his standards into finding a better boss. I’m assuming that’s directed specifically at me, so I feel the need to expand. It’s not that I tend to promote people who dress better. It that certain jobs (field sales, which many IS reps who want promotions graduate towards) require a business formal wear, so dressing like that as an IS person creates a good impression. But for people who want to go into training or operations or customer service, it’s not necessary. It’s not unlike, say, the people who go out of their way to learn about new products & services, including those we handle in this department. I said to dress for the job you want, not the one you have. Those can coincide, of course, and often do. If you want to be field sales rep, a regional sales director, or any other job which, in this corporate culture, requires the wearing of a suit, then you dress like those people and learn how to do what they do _without being asked_. If you want to be a customer service manager, a trainer, or any of the jillion operations jobs, you can dress casually. Also, I wear the shirt & tie because I LIKE wearing shirts & ties. They make me feel good. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206/60 "2013-02-13T21:24:27Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Which beats the hell out of **Skald** in a suit any day. I have this image of you in jeans and a button down flannel with a tiara and an angry look on your face. “What?!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-required-to-dress-up-at-work-pressured-or-encouraged-to-do-you-resent-it/650206.md?page=4)