Dress Code Problems

[Ray]

I have worn kilts to work functions before (including non tartan ones) and openly wear black opaque tights under my trousers in the cold months (openly as in no socks, no excuses, no comments). While the kilt gets remarks (positive), nobody mentions the tights. I'm not surprised - how often do you say to a colleague, "interesting socks"...?

I also wore shorts once when the aircon broke. There were a few comments but as I'm one of the bosses, any comments were minor!

I get very annoyed about dress codes. All I want is equality - both sexes having a similar choice in depth and breadth. I'm continually amazed at the hidebound thinking on display at times.

[Charlie]

Here's someone else trying to limit even further men's clothing choices.
This article about men's shorts was in last week's Sunday Telegraph (on-line version).
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-fea ... qus_thread
Most of the comments are scathing

Alex Bilmes, the editor of Esquire, said the key rule was "not below the knee".
"Clam-diggers, as we refer to three-quarter-length shorts, should only be worn in Australia by Australians. No self-respecting Englishman should ever wear them," he said. "There's little excuse for shorts shorter than three or four inches above the knee."
The true gentleman should remember that trousers can be just as cool as shorts, he added. [Obviously he hasn't ever tried a skirt!]
"A man should consider his legs before stepping out in shorts as most Englishmen have pale, skinny, chicken legs which are not a pleasant thing to force on other people," he said.
"I'm inclined to say men should never wear shorts out of the house. "

Charlie

[Grok]

This thing against shorts-is sheer stupidity

[partlyscot]

I am glad we don't have much of a dress code where I work. You will see everything from trousers and jeans to almost full on running shorts. I personally hate the look, and feel, of anything below the knee. Also, I often have to get on one knee to reach, or look at stuff, and I get ticked off when I have longer stuff on and they get dusty or dirty. Just to be clear, it's my own look that I'm concerned about, while I think some of the longer styles ( they usually call them "knicker" around here, I presume from "knickerbocker" ) look silly, I have no objection to others wearing them. Occasionally, I see someone wearing a pair and it just "works" for them. I realize I'm in a minority, but somewhere along the line, I picked up a thing for certain ways that clothing "fits" and It just doesn't sit well with me when I go away from that. It used to make me uncomfortable when I stood out because of this, but now I say heck with it. I tried going to the pool in baggy shorts, yuck! Sorry, swim briefs AKA speedos for me. And now I've discovered skirts, I like the look, I love the feel, the practicality is growng on me, hope I'm going to be able to wear them when I want.

[Ray]

Alex Blimes sounds like a moron.

Anyway, I'm not English (although I am British) so it seems I am exempt from his stupid ruling!

[renesm1]

Having met people who work on Men's fashion magazines, I can confirm that most, if not all, of them are morons.

My only wish is that they would disappear up their own fundament and leave the rest of us be!

[pleated]

Here's someone else trying to limit even further men's clothing choices.
This article about men's shorts was in last week's Sunday Telegraph (on-line version).
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-fea ... qus_thread
Most of the comments are scathing

Alex Bilmes, the editor of Esquire, said the key rule was "not below the knee".
"Clam-diggers, as we refer to three-quarter-length shorts, should only be worn in Australia by Australians. No self-respecting Englishman should ever wear them," he said. "There's little excuse for shorts shorter than three or four inches above the knee."
The true gentleman should remember that trousers can be just as cool as shorts, he added. [Obviously he hasn't ever tried a skirt!]
"A man should consider his legs before stepping out in shorts as most Englishmen have pale, skinny, chicken legs which are not a pleasant thing to force on other people," he said.
"I'm inclined to say men should never wear shorts out of the house. "

Charlie

This Summer I have seen more men here of all age groups wearing shorts than in previous years, despite the fact that in May we had another of these airheads denouncing middle-aged men who wear shorts.
Must be terrible to be ignored!
http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-styl ... -1.1387889

[Sinned]

A totally appalling article and point of view. Wonder what century she is stuck in. The ideal answer to her diatribe against shorts - wear skirts! Wonder what she would say about them?

[skirtingtoday]

I have worn my kilt a few times to the office but generally on "special" occasions such as Xmas lunch. I've also worn shorts a few times but not much in the last 6 or 7 years since that last good spell of warm/hot weather. The last time was a few weeks back when the temperature reached the mid 20's C and there was no comments at all from the other staff members).

Quite a few years ago in 1995, when I worked in Dubai, I wore knee length beige shorts to work every day (I was there for a short spell of 6 weeks as holiday relief for the resident staff there). The temperature was 45deg C outside and 27deg C inside with the tinny air-conditioning running full blast. No comments there either (That was well before I ever considered or tried out skirts and probably would have been OTT)

[Silhouette Legs]

I had an argument with a lady in work recently who considers men who wear Speedos as being "disgusting the way they flaunt their bulges in front of young children." Whilst failing to acknowledge the double standard that a woman who shows her cleavage (actually in the flesh) is conversely praised by society. Or that myself and any young children in her vacinity might be equally disgusted by the way she constantly flaunts her fat middle aged arse in skin tight spandex pants every day. But what choice do we have to avoid that?

A few years ago the Alton Towers theme park in England took the audacious step of banning male Speedos at their water park. Claiming that the "small brief" was unsuitable for such a family venue and that other customers may feel embarrassed seeing men dressed in such a way. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle ... speedo-ban

In France they have a totally reverse philosophy. The French, for hygene purposes, won't let you in the pool without Speedos on. The idea being that the vast majority of shorts men use to swim in can also be used for other activities such as playing sports on muddy fields which can contaminate the water if not washed throughly before wearing. At least with Speedos they can pretty much guarantee that their only use will be in the swimming pool.

I personally detest swimming shorts. They're extremely impracticable to swim in the way they fill with huge air bubbles every time you so much as change direction in then. I prefer cycling shorts personally. Skin tight so no bubbles and arguably a bit more trendy than Speedos so best of both worlds.

[partlyscot]

I personally detest swimming shorts. They're extremely impracticable to swim in the way they fill with huge air bubbles every time you so much as change direction in then. I prefer cycling shorts personally. Skin tight so no bubbles and arguably a bit more trendy than Speedos so best of both worlds.

If you refer to "jammers" they are supposed to provide slightly less drag than bare leg, but actual cycling shorts are not suitable because the pad takes to long to dry out, and feel extremely weird when you get out of the water. There are versions meant for triathlons that are better for this.

[Silhouette Legs]

The cycling shorts I own aren't padded they're a similar material to Speedos / leggings. They're probably more suited to gym work than bike riding in all honesty.

[Silhouette Legs]

I'm starting to get the impression that's it's mainly women, ie. the group who are generally more proactive about fashion, who are setting most of these 'rules' and expect the rest of us to blindly fall in line. I seldom hear men complain about the way women dress. It's the other bitchy insecure women again who do that.

But it's a case of do as I say not as I do. They expect to have all their little perks and freedoms. Wear and act whatever and however they want but will be the first to complain when a man acts or dresses in a way which doesn't fit their archaic image of stereotypical masculinity.

There's a girl where I work. I otherwise get on with her very well but she acts like the above. She met an apparently good looking bloke in a bar a while back and initially accepted his offer of a drink. But before he managed to pay for it she noticed him pull a leather wallet from his pocket and fled. Reason being that her and several other women in my office are all strangely repulsed by the thought of men carrying wallets. They bizarrely see it as an effeminate trait and instead think we should carry our cash and cards loosely risking losing them. Then last month the same wallet hating girl treated herself to a nice manly bowler hat. Unfortunately the irony was lost on her though!

[Grok]

Wallets are effeminate????????????

[Milfmog]

Wallets are effeminate????????????

Yup; that's got to be one of the strangest things I've read here for a while.

As a kid I was taught (by example rather than specific lesson) that women carry purses in their handbags and men carry wallets in their jackets. Wallets being effeminate makes as much sense to me as bras being masculine.

Have fun,


Ian.