Dress Code - Bare Legs OK or Not?

I work at a doctors' office and we've been having some discussion about our dress code. One of the big topics is staff wearing/not wearing panty hose.

When I finished school 25 years ago, wearing panty hose was a must when wearing a dress or skirt to work or to an interview. Bare legs were considered unprofessional - too casual. I still prefer to wear hose but the staff I supervise is split - some would prefer not to and say hose is too hot, but others say bare legs don't look good so hose is necessary.

We're leaning towards not making panty hose a requirement in our dress code, but I'm curious what you all think. Do you think hose should be worn to the office or to an interview, or is it o.k. to wear a dress or skirt without hose? When you go into your doctor's office, does it make an impression one way or the other if the female doctors and staff are wearing dresses/skirts without panty hose?

By the way, I'm on the business side of the practice, not clinical. The rest of the office except the doctors & receptionists wear scrubs.--

Personally, I HATE hose. I am sitting at work today (and was on Tuesday) in a skirt with bare legs. I think it is ok and still professional.

For an interview, however, I always wear hose (whether I like it or not) - mostly because that's how I was brought up (I can't wear slacks to church either...), and because often we don't know the dress code where we are interviewing.

No impression either way for me if I go to the doctor's office and see someone without hose.

SheFly

IMHO panty hose are no more sanitary and in fact, perhaps LESS sanitary than bare legs.
I probably have never noticed what the people working at the doctor's office have worn under their shoes. As long as they are clean and neat, I cannot imagine why anyone would want to force pantyhose on someone who lives in a warm climate.

DEFINITELY to an interview but in you work environment patients won't be too focused on your legs if they can see them at all.
If an employee is comfortable in her clothing she would be a more efficient worker.

Would I wear hose to a job interview, yes, just to not offend others. I also wear hose if going to a professional event in a country where it is customary (i.e. Japan). But, I do not wear hose myself to work, or even to national professional meetings or events.

Would I be offended in any way to visit a doctors office and see the staff in bare legs? Not at all. Sure, I would want folks to look neat, clean, and well groomed, but I could care less if their legs are covered, and in fact I would probably not even notice this. In San Antonio it is very hot and folks rarely wear hose, which I think just encourages yeast infections and UTIs.

I love these threads because they highlight regional differences. I tried out a new primary care doctor a few months ago. She didn't pass the test due to her lack of knowledge but she also had on a top that barely met the top of her pants. Walking down the street, no one would have thought a thing, but in your doctor? I didn't need her to be distracted tugging down her top.

The dress code for male professionals around here is dockers and a polo shirt. The women are equally casual. Clean, neat, and all the important parts covered. On the left coast, pantyhose seems to be reserved for interviews and court dates. Maybe executives in the high powered financial district still wear them.

They're also not much healthier than wearing your bikes shorts around all the time.

It really depends on the suit for me. If the skirt is shortish, I will probably wear them. If I am in court, probably also. If the skirt is longer, then I might not. Or I might wear boots and wouldn't wear them under those (unless it is COLD in which case I'd wear thicker tights anyway).

I used to wear them ALL the time. I'm enjoying not having to spend all that $ on them these days. :rolleyes:

I would not expect hose at my doctors office. I would also expect the dress code in general at a doctor's office to be much more casual than my attorney attire, court or otherwise.

I used to manage a retail clothing store where dress code was paramount. We had an 'image' to uphold. It was a pain.

Anyway, I used to allow my employees to have bare legs in the summer under two conditions....1) their skirts were to the tops of their knees (no minis) and 2) their legs were in good condition. If they had a thousand mosquito bites - wear hose. If they took a spill on their bike and had road rash - wear pants. No bare leg 'ickyness' was allowed. Everyone seemed happy with it. Oh, and this ONLY applied between Memorial Day and Labor Day (we were in the north). The rest of the year, hosiery was a requirement.

I think that for your office it partly depends on your location. If you live somewhere warm and casual (like FL) then no one will care if everyone has bare legs. If your office is down the street from the fincial district in some major city, pantyhose might be a good idea. Perosnally, I think it's pretty relative and it's hard for us to judge as 'outsiders', you know?

Luckily, I'm now an engineer and having any 'style' at all is clearly optional for my profession so I never have to worry about it again. :p

This is an interesting thread... I was wondering about the pantyhose thing recently. 5-10 years ago, I would have definitely worn hose if I had chosen a skirt suit for an interview (although not for working necessarily). But people just don't really wear hose anymore -- it now looks dowdy and matronly. It would look strange to me to see someone under 50 wearing hose. So should I wear hose if I wear a skirt suit to an interview?

For those who need to wear hose but hate them, thigh highs (with silicone grippers, not the kind that require garter belts) are much more comfortable than pantyhose IMO.

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Originally Posted by liza

This is an interesting thread... I was wondering about the pantyhose thing recently. 5-10 years ago, I would have definitely worn hose if I had chosen a skirt suit for an interview (although not for working necessarily). But people just don't really wear hose anymore -- it now looks dowdy and matronly. It would look strange to me to see someone under 50 wearing hose. So should I wear hose if I wear a skirt suit to an interview?

For those who need to wear hose but hate them, thigh highs (with silicone grippers, not the kind that require garter belts) are much more comfortable than pantyhose IMO.

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First - as I mentioned, I would wear hose with a skirt suit to an interview.

Second - a couple weeks ago , at a bike race no less, I saw a woman with the thigh highs on. How do I know? The tops of her thigh highs just barely met the BOTTOM of her skirt :eek:. AND, she had a huge run in those hose!

SheFly

I was one of the last hold out as far as wearing hose. I noticed that in AZ, everyone wore hose, no matter how hot it was. When I moved back here, as soon as one warmish day came, the hose came off. Now people go bare-legged when it's 45-50.
I can't do that, so I pretty much go from tights, which I do wear with dresses and skirts to bare legs. But, there is a time, mostly in the spring and a bit in the fall, that hose meet my warmth requirements. It's only a few weeks. Mostly, I try and wear the tights.
Since I am not working now, I haven't worn skirts to class since the end of the winter, unless it was a warm enough day to go bare-legged. Wearing hose at a university would get me laughed outta there.
I also wear hose at more formal things in the evening, in the winter. For example, a wedding where I am really dressed up= no tights, but hose.

I saw a woman in town not long ago that was wearing a dress down to about her knees with knee highs - that didn't work either!

One thing I forgot to mention originally - One of the big reasons the panty hose issue is so touchy is that I have an employee that is petite and a very good dresser who never wears hose. She always looks nice and stylish and gets lots of compliments. Then last week I had another employee go hoseless. She's very pale skinned, etc. and turned a lot of heads as well (but not in the same way--). The other supervisors were complaining that I should "do something about it" - ? These supervisors and their staff (except their receptionists) wear uniforms or scrubs, yet they were quite vocal about this issue.

+1 on bare legs.

I abhor hose. Won't wear them. I think I might be allergic to them (seriously). My ob/gyn banned me from wearing them. Generally, I just go bare legged (I do live in the South). If I have to go to court, I wear pants.

I would actually be offended if a place of business required their female employees to wear hose. I would wear a pantsuit to an interview. I've hired people who came in skirt suits with bare legs - I don't care one way or the other.

CA

I agree this is interesting. I remember the days where the debate was requiring hose - meaning whether or not a woman had the right to wear pants! :D (And I'm not that old, actually - only 44).

I agree with most of the posters who say no hose is fine as long as the skirt is a respectable length.

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Originally Posted by andtckrtoo

I agree this is interesting. I remember the days where the debate was requiring hose - meaning whether or not a woman had the right to wear pants! :D (And I'm not that old, actually - only 44).

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I'm actually more than a couple of years younger than you are, and when we did on campus interviewing at my law school, they tried to ban us from wearing pant suits. My attitude was I'd rather wear the pants and not get hired, than work for a firm that had certain opinions of women. One of the professors tried (and failed) to require women to wear skirts to our mock oral arguments.

I've also been asked during the last year in job interviews: 1) whether I have children; 2) whether I want children; and 3) whether my husband would quit his job to take care of kids if we had them. :rolleyes::rolleyes::mad:

CA

I agree that the salient point - and the most touchy one - is "legs in good condition". So how do you tell someone that their legs aren't up for public viewing? Or arms, for that matter? Whether it's hair, or skin tone, or bruises or acne or mosquito bites, I wouldn't want to be the one to decide. Here I happily wear sleeveless tops and above the knee skirts with no hose, but I work in a unformal environment and for any more formal setting I'd dress up.

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Originally Posted by Crankin

I was one of the last hold out as far as wearing hose. I noticed that in AZ, everyone wore hose, no matter how hot it was.

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Until last year, I frequently traveled to Scottsdale for business. No one wore pantyhose.

I don't think hose should ever be included as a requirement in a dress code. It's easy enough to write a dress code that focues on looking professional without micromanaging the actual articles of clothing. This also will help deal with people like the one SheFly mentioned who probably was following the letter of the law for an office dress code (hey, she had on a skirt and hose, right?) but not the spirit of the law. And what is considered professionally acceptable these days has changed dramatically. When you have the future first lady of the United States getting on t.v. and admitting that she stopped wearing hose ages ago, you have to figure that the rules have changed.

Me personally? I heard last fall at some point that hose were considered hopelessly out of date. They were the dividing line between young professionals and old fuddy duddy professionals. I'm an old fuddy duddy professional myself and still wear them, at least when I'm wearing dress shoes. Tights look weird and are uncomfortable on me, and bare legs are only comfortable if I have on shoes that leave my heels and toes uncovered. If a shoe covers my heels or toes, I'll get blisters in about five minutes if I don't have on hose. So it's not about the legs for me--it's the feet.

Sarah

I don't consider myself particularly old or fuddy... but I actually like pantyhose... For one I tend to be cold all of the time and hose are oddly enough pretty warm and also I hate, really hate wearing shoes with bare feet. It bothers me a great deal and those silly little foot hose things don't help at all. They have to be small enough to be tight though. Nothing is worse than hose that feel like they are always falling down. I tend to not go bare legged with a skirt unless its very hot and I'm wearing sandals.

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Originally Posted by CA_in_NC

I've also been asked during the last year in job interviews: 1) whether I have children; 2) whether I want children; and 3) whether my husband would quit his job to take care of kids if we had them. :rolleyes::rolleyes::mad:

CA

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Um - all illegal interview questions.... These interviewers surely did not consult with their HR reps.

SheFly

This must be a generational difference, because I can't tell you the last time I've owned pantyhose. Just over Easter my mom was giving me a strange look because I had bare legs with my dress. I explained to her that no one wears stockings anymore, and everyone in my age group (I'll be 28 next week) agreed. Personally, I think dictating whether a person has to wear stockings or not is going a little too far. My company just updated their dress code, and there were quite a few complaints, I can't imagine if they told us we had to wear pantyhose too. There might have been an outright revolt.

I disagree on generational, I am only 28 and I like wearing hose and think they look better. My legs are very pale, when cold they get purply I think it looks hideous on myself and others. Otherwise I think I have nice looking legs. For me hose are a more polished look, I wear bare legs to go to out to dinner in which I wear a skirt. I have a skirt suit and I would NEVER go to an interview without hose. I am in hot Texas but I love hose the right kind support your legs and reduce fatigue while still not looking like support hose. I used to sell panties, bras and hosiery and learned why a good pair of hose it worth the tag.

I have seen plenty of companies that require hose, it does not seem weird at all to me. Of course at my work they are not required but I will not being wearing skirts because we can't have visible tattoos and I have one on my ankle. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by SheFly

First - as I mentioned, I would wear hose with a skirt suit to an interview.

Second - a couple weeks ago , at a bike race no less, I saw a woman with the thigh highs on. How do I know? The tops of her thigh highs just barely met the BOTTOM of her skirt :eek:. AND, she had a huge run in those hose!

SheFly

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Eek. That is tacky. Thigh highs should definitely go high enough (or the skirt should be long enough) that you can't tell they are thigh highs. I suppose one should try them on with the planned outfit and make sure the skirt's slit doesn't reveal them either.

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Originally Posted by SheFly

Um - all illegal interview questions.... These interviewers surely did not consult with their HR reps.

SheFly

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Yep. They are illegal. The interviewers were employment lawyers.:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by CA_in_NC

Yep. They are illegal. The interviewers were employment lawyers.:rolleyes:

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SNORT! :p

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Originally Posted by lph

I agree that the salient point - and the most touchy one - is "legs in good condition". So how do you tell someone that their legs aren't up for public viewing? Or arms, for that matter? Whether it's hair, or skin tone, or bruises or acne or mosquito bites, I wouldn't want to be the one to decide. Here I happily wear sleeveless tops and above the knee skirts with no hose, but I work in a unformal environment and for any more formal setting I'd dress up.

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Ah yeah...it wasn't fun. My requirement was that if it was 'gross' looking, it had to go. But I don't care where you work, a visible oozing road rash is NOT professional and I'm happy to tell someone that (if it's my place to do so, of course). We certainly had the ability to wear pants or longer skirts, so it's not like they had no other options and would have to stay home. I was only asking that they THINK about what image they presented and then dressed accordingly (bare arms faced the same scrutiny but were allowed).

I did not distinguish between pale skin or tan skin - that's a matter of personal preference not style. I also didn't differentiate between someone with skinny legs and someone with big ones (like me). The bottom line was image (it was HUGELY important) and every singe employee was made aware of this constraint during the interview process. Basically, if you don't like it, don't work for me. It was definitely one of the hardest parts of my job because by nature, I'm very accepting of all types. Luckily, I understood (and saw first hand) why those constraints were in place, so all I had to do was to make sure that my employees had the same understanding.

I even had to keep a bottle of nail polish remover in my office in case an employee wearing dark nail polish chipped or broke a nail. Even chipped polish was not acceptable. :rolleyes:

I prefer hose for professional situations as well, but I'm also one of those "always cold" people.

Bare legs are definitely OK! Please, for the love of all that is good, do NOT require hose--they are unhealthy and uncomfortable and just end up looking crummy if they happen to get a run during the course of the day (thus defeating the supposed purpose). Very impractical. Yuck. I really don't see why there should be a problem with bare legs in the absence of so-called "ickiness" like road rash etc. and as long as the skirt isn't too short (which would be an issue regardless of hose). And why do people have such an issue with someone having pale legs? If that's their natural skin color, they shouldn't be made to feel like it's ugly and has to be covered up with hose (or fake tan for that matter). I've really become disgusted with how fake everything is in our society. The point of a dress code is to establish a basic standard of professional appearance, not make people conform to some stupid idea of what looks good.

I work in a large medical group >100 employees. Last year our dress code was relaxed, and we can now go stockingless. I work in clinical and sometimes I will not wear stockings with slacks. A couple of MD's (female) will go bare while wearing skirts. In the summer, our temps are quite warm, and we are excited to have an option.

with pants I generally wear.... socks.... I will agree that pantyhose under pants are not usually comfortable (but isn't that what knee high ones are for?)

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Originally Posted by GLC1968

Ah yeah...it wasn't fun. My requirement was that if it was 'gross' looking, it had to go. But I don't care where you work, a visible oozing road rash is NOT professional and I'm happy to tell someone that (if it's my place to do so, of course).

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Were there any age-related problems with this policy? I'm thinking of spider veins (there's probably a better term for that, but I don't know it). I'm not arguing with anyone; just curious.

This whole discussion reminds me that in some ways, conservative dress codes are easier, with fewer decisions to make.

Pam

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Originally Posted by PamNY

Were there any age-related problems with this policy? I'm thinking of spider veins (there's probably a better term for that, but I don't know it). I'm not arguing with anyone; just curious.

This whole discussion reminds me that in some ways, conservative dress codes are easier, with fewer decisions to make.

Pam

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Thankfully, it never came up. Most of my employees were in their 20's but the age range covered 16 to 62. Most of my older employees were pretty conservative to begin with and probably wouldn't even think of wearing bare legs with skirts. My biggest issue with dress code were the college-age girls, actually.

Honestly though - when the pressure is on to look good (and not just to be decently covered up as is the case in some workplaces), most people with flaws tend to want to cover them up anyway. I know that my first year there when I was quite overweight, I didn't wear sleeveless. My mother had awful varicose veins and would NEVER wear skirts without hosiery in a professional environment until she got it fixed. One of my employees came to work early one day in order to purchase the pants that went with a suit she had bought. When I asked why she wasn't wearing the skirt she already owned, she said that she'd fallen asleep in the sun and had neon red legs...on one side. She felt it looked too ugly to go bare and it hurt to much to wear hosiery. *ouch!* A vast majority of my employees understood what 'professional' meant and it was certainly rare that anyone had to be corrected twice.

I wish there were rules about what to wear to the gym. :eek:

Veronica

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Originally Posted by CA_in_NC

]I've also been asked during the last year in job interviews: 1) whether I have children; 2) whether I want children; and 3) whether my husband would quit his job to take care of kids if we had them. :rolleyes::rolleyes::mad:

CA

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That's illegal!

It was illegal when I got my first job out of college, and it's illegal now.

Oooooh, that makes me so MAYYYAD!

It was bad enough when they were asking stupid questions like that back in the bad old days. To find out they're still up to their evil tricks just makes me BURN!

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

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Originally Posted by msincredible

I prefer hose for professional situations as well, but I'm also one of those "always cold" people.

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Me too.

Which is why I wear PANTS. With knee socks. Usually my ski socks in fact.

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Originally Posted by ZenSojourner

Me too.

Which is why I wear PANTS. With knee socks. Usually my ski socks in fact.

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Well, true, I actually wear pants > 95% of the time with long knee socks underneath.

The other reason for pants is that I commute to work by motorcycle and it's easiest just to wear the gear over the business clothes. Can't really do that with a skirt.

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Originally Posted by JH-NV

A couple of MD's (female) will go bare while wearing skirts. In the summer, our temps are quite warm, and we are excited to have an option.

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This whole thread would become more interesting if it was male MDs who went bare while wearing skirts. :) Or any male, for that matter.

This being said, my husband - a MD - wear tights all the time! :D

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Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

I disagree on generational, I am only 28 and I like wearing hose and think they look better. My legs are very pale, when cold they get purply I think it looks hideous on myself and others. Otherwise I think I have nice looking legs. For me hose are a more polished look, I wear bare legs to go to out to dinner in which I wear a skirt. I have a skirt suit and I would NEVER go to an interview without hose. I am in hot Texas but I love hose the right kind support your legs and reduce fatigue while still not looking like support hose. I used to sell panties, bras and hosiery and learned why a good pair of hose it worth the tag.

I have seen plenty of companies that require hose, it does not seem weird at all to me. Of course at my work they are not required but I will not being wearing skirts because we can't have visible tattoos and I have one on my ankle. :rolleyes:

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Like several others here, I wear pantyhose to any interview for any job that particularily if you expect to be paid well/decently or negotiating a good salary. Particularily jobs that require you to meet clients who themselves are professionals also or you are expected in pull at least $$$$ revenue for the company.

And I notice myself...the interviewers are wearing pantyhose themselves.

Sure, many of us have nicely shaped/toned cycling legs, but my legs bruise easily and I also have leg skin that tends to be dry even if I've put on lots of body lotion several hrs. before. Pantyhose gives my legs an overall smooth look for a dressier outfit/skirt. I don't own any casual skirts at this time in life, only dress skirts.

After the job interview and if you get the job, if the work culture permits it, sure bare legs under a skirt that hits just above the knee for work or longer, looks ok.

A concession to wearing pantyhose even in hot climates, is incredibly small, folks. It's not like being asked to wear a head covering in an fundamentalist Islamic country.

Or being a firefighter wearing rubberized turnout gear jackets in hot climates, fighting a fire... many other situations where people in certain jobs work in FAR more difficult environmental conditions.

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Originally Posted by Grog

This whole thread would become more interesting if it was male MDs who went bare while wearing skirts. :) Or any male, for that matter.

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Ooooh, I'd love to suggest that to my docs. We have 4 men and 3 women. The men (the owners/partners) are pretty smart-a$$ about the whole dress code issue. They swear they don't care what the staff wears, and why do we have a dress code if it causes discontent amongst the staff? Then a few beats later, I'm told they've made a comment about an employee not even dressing like she should be taken seriously. Yeah, it DOES matter what we wear. And the male docs I work for - they wouldn't be caught DEAD wearing skirts - kilts - I don't want to picture it, either --

[QUOTE=Grog;424536]This whole thread would become more interesting if it was male MDs who went bare while wearing skirts. :)/QUOTE]

There is a definite reason women are so interested in the Scottish lads who wear kilts. *sighs happily*