Last Saturday, I was walking along the beach in Malibu, admiring the pristine sand (this was before I realized that the soles of my feet were getting covered in disgusting blobs of tar--thanks, oil tankers!) and talking with some friends about what we all wear to work. I work at a clothing designer, another girl is in TV and the third works in a lab doing unimaginable and brilliant things with nuclear power or something; naturally, our dress codes are totally different. That's a no-brainer, but what was interesting was how our work-wear affected our not-work-wear.
Miss Chemistry Pro works with mostly guys, and the dress code is more jeans-and-sweatshirts than suits. Walking along the beach in her jeans, she lamented not being able to wear nicer clothes to work because they'd get all, I don't know, chemical-y; usually work-wear stretches into weekend-wear without needing much of a change, but she likes getting the rare chance to prettify for going out at night. Miss Entertainment Industry, looking beachy in a little cotton empire dress, said that she barely owns jeans because her workplace is dresses, dresses, dresses. Her main concession to weekends is taking footwear down a notch, after five straight days of nonstop high heels (how does she do it? I'm impressed!). Meanwhile, my job's dress code is dressy-casual, with lots of dresses and boots or belted tunics and high heels for the brave. It's definitely contemporary, though, and no one's fashion statements stray beyond the vaguely hip or fashion-conscious feminine. So come weekends and nights out, I leap at the chance to trot out my vintage frocks (like the less-than-practical 40s number I was wearing to the beach) or my quirkier, more rag-tag combinations (like, oh, Cheap Monday jeans and strings of necklaces and a silly white fur vest...not exactly for the 9-to-5).
Not to get too fashion-geeky, but it's interesting how what we wear once we've escaped the office can be either an extension of the dress code or a reaction to it (or maybe both). What do YOU fashiony folk wear when it's a-loungin' time?
Miss Chemistry Pro works with mostly guys, and the dress code is more jeans-and-sweatshirts than suits. Walking along the beach in her jeans, she lamented not being able to wear nicer clothes to work because they'd get all, I don't know, chemical-y; usually work-wear stretches into weekend-wear without needing much of a change, but she likes getting the rare chance to prettify for going out at night. Miss Entertainment Industry, looking beachy in a little cotton empire dress, said that she barely owns jeans because her workplace is dresses, dresses, dresses. Her main concession to weekends is taking footwear down a notch, after five straight days of nonstop high heels (how does she do it? I'm impressed!). Meanwhile, my job's dress code is dressy-casual, with lots of dresses and boots or belted tunics and high heels for the brave. It's definitely contemporary, though, and no one's fashion statements stray beyond the vaguely hip or fashion-conscious feminine. So come weekends and nights out, I leap at the chance to trot out my vintage frocks (like the less-than-practical 40s number I was wearing to the beach) or my quirkier, more rag-tag combinations (like, oh, Cheap Monday jeans and strings of necklaces and a silly white fur vest...not exactly for the 9-to-5).
Not to get too fashion-geeky, but it's interesting how what we wear once we've escaped the office can be either an extension of the dress code or a reaction to it (or maybe both). What do YOU fashiony folk wear when it's a-loungin' time?
1 comments:
I cannot figure out who these people are.
Post a Comment