anya4oz

Yeah, may be a silly question but my NZ girlie pal has just scared me to death by saying that women who wear trousers to job interviews for CBD-type jobs in NZ are *frowned on*!

Blimey. Given that NZ gave its women the vote quite early in the day, it seems a bit of a contradiction. But when in Rome....

Oh woe is me, though - my 'work gear' consists of several (well-tailored) black/dark-colored trouser suits (typically Jaeger, Planet etc so decent schmutter, no tat ) and I hardly ever wear skirts (lousy legs, and also because my feet are slightly crippled, so I can't wear the sort of high-heeled court shoes you have to wear with a skirt suit all day).

Is this is true for Oz, I wonder? All advice on this one welcome.....

Anya.

MikeStanton

If you're going for the professional image, what you wear is pretty much the same the world over. Just wear what you feel most comfortable in - this is more important.

My wife advises you go with your Jaeger suit - look professional and feminine. Once you know the rules of your particular workplace, you can become more casual.

Mike "straight eye for the straight girl" Stanton

mlbonner

I worked in Brisbane for Ergon Energy (Regional QLD Electricity), wore trousers and a shirt for the interview (too hot for the jacket) and didn't wear anything smarter after that apart from a couple of external client meetings.
Tend to get a lot of my work clothes from Next and bought things out there from equivalent sort of stores, nothing too fancy really.

As far as skirts go, certainly they're a lot cooler in the summer (so 51 weeks a year in Brisbane!) but there's no hard and fast rule to say you should! Its fairly relaxed over there!

Either/or is fine

wombat42

Your supposed to go naked.

mlbonner

Sssssssssssssshhhhhhhh, I was trying to make her look silly in a suit

dotty

Skirt, save the trousers for once you get the job. Its OZ, the bosses will probably be men and they are sexist. Just get back at them by never wearing a skirt once you get the job.

I had a really funny Cleo Mag article, for work dressing rules from memory were def no pants (OZ word for Trousers), no boots because they can make you look domineering V necklines OK but Cleevage might make you look unprofessional.

Amazingly OZ women are allowed to vote tho

ABCDiamond

anya4oz, don't believe everything you read, not all men are sexist.

anya4oz

Well as I'm over 40, I wouldn't know about that. As far as most blokes are concerned, I'm invisible!



Anya.

anya4oz

Know what you mean, Dotty - the worst bit for me is the way women are forced to wear uncomfortable shoes, that wreck thier feet, as part of standard Business Wear. Men, meanwhile, can wear nice comfortable ones, that they can even walk in! When I worked on Wall Steet, the women all - sensibly - wore sneakers for the journey to work, but then changed into their 4-inch heels & staggered round painfully on them all day...

There was a politician in NZ (I think her name was Christine Rankin) who got into fearful trouble, not for her policies, but because she wore dangly earrings to work!! Ye gods!

Anya.

Megalania

Keep 'em transfixed,
Then they can't check yer tits.

Badge

For me, one of the last bastions of sexism is the fact that business dress for men is suit and tie. Costs escalate, bespoke tailoring to get a decent suit, dry cleaning, trousers wear out long before the jacket, and you always feel like you're going to a poxy wedding.

Women: mix and match T-shirts, halter tops, machine washable trosuers, the skirt you went down out in last night, wear a cardigan if you haven't ironed your top...the list goes on and on.

My company is dress down and I can be overdressed the days I wear my ironed shirts, drill cotton trousers and paddock boots.

Don't want to wear out my singlets and footy shorts!

BM

anya4oz

There was a case in the UK last year in which a male employee at a JobCenter (I think) claimed sexual discrimmination because he'd been forced to wear a tie. ISTR he won the case...

Agree entirely about ties, suits etc, Badge. Ties are stupid & positively dangerous: one of my colleagues nearly got strangled by his the other day while trying to cable up some routers in racks!

Wearing these items does not necessarily mean the wearer is neat and hygenic, either as I know only too well from commuting on crowded UK trains, full of men in shiny, tatty-looking suits that had not been dry cleaned for abut 10 years, by the smell of them. Ugh. Whereas Mr Anya wears a T-shirt and casual trousers or shorts to work: clean every day, always freshly ironed, always looks very neat.

When I worked for a Big (nameless) Bank in Sydney, I was pleasantly surprised to see the guys in shorts & the women in strappy dresses. Hopefully, once you get past the interview stage, you can ease up a bit on the formal dress scene.

How about this as a new dress code for men at work:

Men under 40/those with fit bodies: pair of sleek black speedos
Men over 40/those with less fit bodies: dinner jacket

Wooohoooo! Feeling quite distracted now

Anya.

buglegirl

chill out....thats rubbish about the trousers.....ive only been here 5 weeks and got the first job I had an interview 4 in trousers and a blouse
BG

MrsDagboy

Or how about a sexy man in speedos & sexy man in a dinner jacket as well?

I have a couple of pics of both that I could post right now, but I am restraining myself .

Badge

You are correct Anya.

Wearing suits is actually bad - many have not been drycleaned, and many look shiny, ill-fitting, many men think they are dressed to kill in a suit when it looks like they have forgotten to take the hanger out.

If you're going to wear a suit, it has to be tailored in my opinion - but I would not like to wear mine at all. I've had mine 10 years and they are as new and still fit perfectly!!

BM