I confess: about this time of year my brain gets full. Not that it doesn’t at other times; so why am I bringing it up now? Just because I notice that I’m kinda off my train of blog. However, since back-to-school is about jeans and recently we’ve been talking about office dress codes, how about the question: Do you wear jeans to work?
Personally, in my previous career, we had a fairly rigid dress code; the only time I was allowed to wear jeans was if I were involved in a spend-the-night type move or similar project. Now, if I were to go to work in a business casual office, I would probably do like Fabulously Broke and wear only trouser jeans.
Would trouser jeans be considered professional in your line of work?
In my opinion, the problems with jeans are normally what’s worn with them. Oh, and I suppose I could imagine someone thinking that because they spent good money for those jeans with the specially placed holes in them, they should be able to wear them to work. Sorry!
Nope, that has been against the dress code since I got into the ol’ counseling business. I did work at a pharmacy for 6 years in high school and college and wore jeans every day. 😀 Nowadays, though, I do wear dark denim pencil skirts!
Thanks Rebecca!!
My trouser jeans are a pretty dark wash. It’s hard to tell from a distance if they are a true jean material or not, but I’d rank them up there with chinos or khakis.
I’d never pair them with a casual top (if I did, a structured sweater goes over it), and I will ALWAYS wear heels with the outfit (it elevates it to being business casual rather than just “casual”)…
Only if there are casual Fridays, then I break out my actual, comfy, worn in, faded jeans… But I still dress them up with a nice top, and my low dark chocolate brown patent leather wedge heels… I think I may discontinue this though, it makes me feel less professional… Plus, I like dressing up a bit.
What I find is in certain cities and companies, the dress code for business casual varies. In some, a CSR (Customer Service Rep) can come in jeans and UGGs and be just fine (I guess), but in other companies, every woman seems to only wear skirts and heels… 😐
Nope. No jeans to work. I confess–despite the fact that jeans would fit into my work environment just fine–the little girl in me simply loves to dress up for work. 🙂 So I keep my “business casual” leaning rather heavily on the business side.
Ha! Didn’t answer the question. Yes, the trouser jeans would be appropriate in my line of work. 99.9999% of our interaction with our clients/customers is electronic or over the phone, so comfort is the general motto at my office.
Only on casual Friday’s for me. Any other time they would be in-appropriate.
I do wear jeans on Fridays, always with a dressier shoe (no flats, no plain loafers and NO tennies – ooh. I lied. I think I wore those eyelet driving moc style tennies a couple of times this summer). I try to pair them with a jacket and DEFINITELY do so if I have meetings scheduled. My jeans are very dark wash and typically I wear extra long ones with a dressy sandal or peep toe.
I find I am more in danger of being underdressed on non-fridays, when I can throw on chinos and a top and forget that just b/c they aren’t jeans doesn’t mean I don’t need to put on a jacket to kick it up to the level of “business” casual…. I have been checkin’ myself on that lately. I find the end of each season is a danger zone. I am tired of my current clothes, the next season isn’t really here yet and I can get really complacent and lazy.
At my last job, jeans were the norm, as I was working in a dusty office above a shop and only rarely interacted with customers.
Before that I worked in a business-casual office with three other women. We wore jeans on casual fridays, but never beat up and always in a darker wash and dressed up with dressy blouses or jackets and heels.
I used to work at a university, as an academic advisor. We could wear jeans on Fridays. Usually with something green, for spirit, but the green was not required. I did wear jeans on some Fridays, but I almost always still wore a button-down shirt or something that looked professional. Some people would wear university t-shirts, but I just felt a t-shirt was too casual. But I also like dressing up. And I’m not a huge t-shirt fan unless I am at a game or something.
I think trouser jeans that can be worn with heels are nice-looking and appropriate for a business-casual office, if paired with a dressy top.