Poll: Can Fishnets Be Worn at a Conservative Job?

can you wear fishnets to workA while back, someone commented that instead of nude hose they wore nude fishnets in the summer. This piqued our curiosity — we used to do this also, back in the days after college, but not in a long while — we stopped because it felt inappropriate. So we thought we’d take a poll… (Pictured: I Bought Fishnets! originally uploaded to Flickr by badlyricpolice.)

For our $.02, fishnet tights are generally inappropriate for the office environment. Let’s face it, they conjure up images of dancers (both professional and otherwise) and hookers — and that association is a little too much for bosses of either sex. Besides, the goal of a working wardrobe should be to avoid what we’ll call “the second look” — you don’t want any of your coworkers to look at you once casually in the hallway and then be forced to look a second time in order to answer the question, “Were my eyes deceiving me or is she really wearing that?” Even if they answer the question with a blase “ok, well, I guess that’s acceptable,” the second look in and of itself is something to be avoided. We would argue, though, that fishnet trouser socks could be appropriate as long as they’re in a neutral color. (Our reasoning here is that only perverts are staring at your ankles; otherwise, what you wear there is unlikely to elicit the dreaded second look.) [Read more...]

Reader Mail: How to Wear Stockings

how-to-wear-stockingsMore reader mail to catch up on… we thought this one was particularly relevant given some of yesterday’s questions in comments about when/how to wear nylons. Pictured: Calvin Klein Hosiery Perfectly Sheer Invisible Control Top Pantyhose, available at Amazon.com for $12.

First, while you’ve discussed whether or not to wear stockings, I could really use some advice on HOW to wear them once one decides that they’re appropriate. I rip stockings to shreds whenever I wear them, so I would really appreciate tips on finding a durable brand, as well as how to properly care for them.

We would agree with most of the commenters in yesterday’s post that stockings/nylons aren’t necessary for most day-to-day activities. If you’re interviewing? Nylons for you. If you’re going to court or to a big meeting? Ditto.

As for which brand, we got a ton of great suggestions when we ran a poll on whether black hose or nude hose was better (the readers overwhelmingly contradicted us, saying nude hose was the way to go); check those out in comments. [Read more...]

Poll: When Do Miniskirts Become a Don’t, Even Outside the Office?

Juicy Couture Basic Cashmere Sweater DressHopefully, no one thinks that miniskirts are a DO for the office. (See our prior poll on this here and here.) But a reader posed this question in comments, and we think it’s a good one: does a time come in a woman’s life — a serious, professional woman’s life — at which it is no longer acceptable to wear miniskirts at ALL? We thought we’d run a poll and see.

For our $.02: As long as we’re not wearing it to the office, we think a woman should be able to wear whatever she wants. We recognize that a woman may feel too “old” for certain things — we’re almost starting to feel that way about our beloved Converse sneakers on the weekends, and we haven’t had our hair in pigtails in at least five years — but we’re not sure that’s a good feeling to give in to. Still, what are other people’s thoughts?

Photo credit: Juicy Couture Basic Cashmere Sweater Dress, available at ShopBop on sale for $230 (was $328).

As for our reader’s question on how short a miniskirt is — our answer would be that it changes with age. We remember at our first job out of college, a colleague suggested we not wear skirts that were shorter than our fingertips. But look at the model, above! She’s wearing a skirt that short! Honestly, we look at the picture and wonder what sort of pants she’ll put on when she finishes getting dressed. (Jeans and cute boots, we hope.) At this point (we’re in our early 30s), to us a mini-dress is anything we wouldn’t wear to the office because it’s too short. Readers, please weigh in — how short does a skirt have to be to qualify as a “mini”?

Poll Results: Patterned Tights and You

Falke Micro Stripe TightsLast week we asked whether or not patterned tights were appropriate for professional women. As always, the poll is still open, but the initial results are interesting — the voters were pretty split in terms of what could or couldn’t work.
- 36% of you said that men’s patterns (pinstriped, windowpane) in dark, neutral colors would work
- 33% of you said ANY pattern would work, but only in dark, neutral colors
- 23% said solidly colored tights in neutral colors would work, but to avoid patterns
- 5% of you said any pattern, any color, any day. [Read more...]

Poll: Patterned tights for professional women?

are-patterned-tights-ok-for-workInspired by last week’s Wolford sale at Rue La La, we thought we’d ask — do you wear patterned tights in cold weather?  There are a ton of options out there.  Our rule of thumb has always been to stick with the kinds of patterns men wear on shirts — pinstriped, windowpane, et cetera.  What are your thoughts?

patterned-tights-for-work

Photo credit: legs eleven, originally uploaded to Flickr by tractorpirate.

Shop more patterned tights, below…

Poll results: Nude pantyhose for interviews, but no real requirements on buttoning

Erin Callan wore nude pantyhose with her suit... so should you!

Erin Callan wore nude pantyhose with her suit... so should you!

Last week we asked two poll questions, so we thought we’d take give you guys a break from all the onerous button-pushing and give you updates on how the polls went.

It turns out we were 100% wrong about wearing off-black pantyhose to interviews — which just goes to show, you can make a major fashion faux pas and still end up with a good gig. In fact, in our poll on pantyhose colors, 66% of you said nude pantyhose was the way to go, 20% of you said no pantyhose at all was needed for an interview (!!! we’re trying to figure out if this is the pants-wearing contingent? the California contingent? the Gen Y contingent?) and a mere 12% said anything in the black family was appropriate. Looking back, we should have seen the writing on the wall when the WSJ had its big story on Erin Callan, “Lehman’s Straight Shooter” (which then morphed into big debates about her choice of shoesyes, seriously (props to Ms. JD for calling it a “hoary conversation“). (And, if you weren’t following along, she got demoted soon after, although we’ve heard no connection between her footwear or pantyhose choices.) Commenters gave shout-outs to higher-end brands (Spanx, Victoria’s Secret’s thigh-highs, DKNY sheers, Calvin Klein sheers, Donna Karan nudes, Ann Taylor pantyhose) as well as drugstore brands (L’eggs Sheer Elegance Control Top, Hanes pantyhose, Jockey pantyhose, and “Berkshires in bulk” for interviewing).

Regarding our poll regarding whether women should button their coats to stand and unbutton them to sit — you guys are pretty evenly divided. Which, really, means it’s anyone’s call regarding whether to unbutton your suit or not. 53% of you said that yes, sometimes, suits should be buttoned (that includes the 8% of you who said this should absolutely be done); another 45% of you said that women didn’t have to do that. (Which, we’ve realized, does not add up to 100% — perhaps it’s time to find a new polling widget?)

Missed an earlier poll? Take ‘em here…