Am I the only one who doesn’t get the big deal about skirts? I have several, non-dressy skirts and sun-dresses (cotton eyelet, etc) that I’ll wear out, with a pair of flip-flop sandals, and nobody says “boo” or “Why are you all dressed up?” A skirt =! dressed up.
(Although I’m one of those weirdos who likes to dress up, if I can find something to wear. Unfortunately, everything that’s in style right now is ugly. If I see one more gathered, smock-dress…)
If some douche bag showed up to my wedding in a baseball cap, Metallica t-shirt, and cutoff jeans I’d be totally annoyed at him for dressing so poorly on my special day. Way to ruin my wedding pictures. You might as well wear a red and white stripe shirt and a hat with a little pom pom on it, because you’ll look like “Waldo”.
When you dress substantially above or below the level of formality everyone else understands to be appropriate you draw unnecessary attention to yourself. How inappropriate you look is entirely dependent on how far from “appropriate” your attire is in either direction. Not wearing a jacket to a wedding, for instance, is not at all the same as wearing denim cutoffs. Likewise, wearing black tie to a 2nd grade play is much worse than wearing a sports jacket. In any case though, you’re drawing unnecessary attention to yourself which isn’t polite.
It’s always seemed to me that women have a tremendously easier time dressing up than men. If I go to, say, an evening fundraiser attended by mainly mid-20 to mid-30 year olds, all the women will be in fun dresses. I’ve never heard anyone comment on how “dressy” they are. Compliments about how pretty they look abound, but no mention of being dressed up. At the same time, a tie or jacket on one of the guys would be out of place.
Tell me about it. To give you just one example from my personal experience, I went for an interview at a Well Known Chain bookstore in a collared shirt and tie. Every other applicant was… not wearing a collared shirt and tie.
A few days after the interview (for a position I was more than qualified for and had references who were basically saying “This guy is perfect for a bookstore! He knows books and he loves to read and he’s basically been running a similar sized electronics store for the past two years”) I got the “Sorry, but you didn’t get the job” call.
I asked for some feedback (ie, “Why the hell not?”, but in a more professional manner) and the answer was “We don’t think you’d fit well into our culture”; ie “You’re a square who wears a tie.”
I’ve had the same experience at other job interviews- I show up in a tie because That’s The Done Thing (or at least it was until I missed a memo somewhere) and get told “You’re obviously the sort of person who wears a tie and that’s not what we’re looking for…” :smack:
Now, I keep a tie in my pocket. If everyone else at an interview is wearing a tie, I can put it on. If not, it stays in my pocket and I don’t look like Overdressed Guy…
Hmmm…the Local Trader Joe’s is having a Job Fair tomorrow and I’m going to see if I can get a part-time job. Now I’m getting paranoid about how I should dress (as if I wasn’t nervous enough, since it’s been over thirty years since I’ve gone on a job interview).