Dress Code - Bare Legs OK or Not?

[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.

[SadieKate]

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.

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

[sfa]

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 I heard last fall at some point that hose were considered hopelessly out of date.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

[Eden]

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.

[SheFly]

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.

CA

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

SheFly

[NoNo]

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.

[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.

[VeloVT]

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 . AND, she had a huge run in those hose!

SheFly

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.

[Blueberry]

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

SheFly

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

[maillotpois]

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

SNORT!

[GLC1968]

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.

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.

[msincredible]

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

[Jolt]

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.

[JH-NV]

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.

[Eden]

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?)