It would be nice if what women wear to work didn’t matter much. But is that the case? We go inside the Kiwi woman’s work wardrobe
On Budget Day, Finance Minister Nicola Willis wore a blue dress – blue for obvious reasons. It was believed to be the Nouvelle Sculpt Stretch Crepe Dress, from The Fold London. Willis was criticised for not wearing a dress by a New Zealand designer.
However I doubt anyone commented on what Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour or their male colleagues were wearing on Budget Day.
Going broke
In some companies there’s a stated dress code, and at others, it’s unstated. However if it’s the latter, newbies quickly work out what it is by observing others.
That was true for Katie*. “When I started my first big job, as a legal analyst, I wasn’t sure what to wear. I went as basic as I could the first day – black trousers, black top, black cardigan. I figured I couldn’t go wrong. But I felt underdressed.” Many women were wearing pencil skirts and peplum tops; some even designer dresses.
“I racked up credit-card debt trying to get the right clothes and enough of them, because I felt like you had to rotate them, not wear the same thing two days in a row! I was always broke.”
Katie thinks there’s a double standard with expectations for how women should dress at work, compared to men. “The men at my workplace often wore black jeans and shirts – and not always nice shirts.”
Ali noticed something similar. “What always gets me is men literally showing up in the same outfit all the time and us as women having to feel like we need something new each time – or is that just me?!”
Nope!
Andi* did a financial audit recently. “I couldn’t believe the amount I’d spent on work clothes and makeup, as there’s this expectation for how women should look at work. My partner was shocked. He’d spent only a small fraction of that.”
A study found that women in business spend almost 20 percent of their salary on clothing, and that excluded the amount spent on beauty items such as Botox, make-up, hair and other grooming.
So not only are women being paid less, we’re also expected to spend more than men to look a certain way (call it ‘the pink tax’), and then we still may be judged for our appearance.
Oh and we’re probably also doing most of the housework and carrying the mental load.
Post-pandemic
Working from home during and/or after Lockdowns, we dressed more casually. But many of us were still trying to look somewhat professional over Zooms! Sales of trousers decreased, while sales of tops increased (we see what you were doing there, fair play!). An article referred to an item of clothing “titled ‘the Zoom shirt’, it was a slightly more formal top [that] those working from home could quickly button ahead of on-camera meetings to present a more respectful, professional image.
Most of us added back ‘nicer’ trousers or skirts as we returned to the office, although some workplaces were cool with slightly more casual clothes, for a while at least.
How you dress might… get you promoted?
I did an extremely unscientific poll in a New Zealand women’s Facebook group about expectations of what women wear to work (this group contains many strong-minded women). The question being: how much does how you dress matter in your workplace?
A little (I need to look tidy): 51%
A lot (I’m expected to dress a certain way): 13%
Not a jot: 18%
Someone added ‘depends on the occasion’ to the poll: 16%
So that’s… good news?
Yes and no. Several women say how you dress can open up more opportunities at work.
Kyla says, at her workplace, the dress code is “casual tidy. You can dress how you like as long as it’s appropriate, and even edgy casual is totally fine. But the higher-ups and the boss will notice if you’re dressing professionally – and dressing professionally and looking attractive will definitely get you further in terms of opportunities, face time on presentations etc.”
Chloe says the stated and formal dress code at her workplace is summarised as ‘tidy casual’. “So long as we can’t see up it, down it, or through it, it’s probably ok. Jeans are fine for women here. If you’re wanting to be promoted, you probably want to pair them with a blazer more often than a scruffy faded hoodie, but that’s not necessarily a given, either.”
Dressing up might get you promoted? “I think you’re more likely to be promoted if you’re perceived as competent – and understanding that there are unwritten dress codes that communicate ‘competence’ is part of that.”
My friend Michelle thinks clothes may be a factor in her not getting opportunities at work. “What I wear conforms to the stated dress code. But I don’t dress up, I wear cardigans, I don’t wear makeup. I look different from the women that I see get promoted. My co-worker told me it was probably ‘in my interests’ to dress differently.”
Why is this shit still happening?
In a story called ‘Here’s How Your Clothing Affects Your Success’, Jacquelyn Smith – co-author of Find and Keep Your Dream Job: The Definitive Careers Guide From Forbes – says “research shows that your appearance strongly influences other people’s perception of your financial success, authority, trustworthiness, intelligence, and suitability for hire or promotion. And, because perception is often reality, what you wear not only communicates who you are in the minds of others, but also influences your level of career advancement.”
Go, Sophie!
Sophie tells me about her experience. “I was an award-winning manager at a large corporate, when they asked me to be part of a new brand of theirs. I set the whole thing up. Then the GM turned up. He was an average white 45-year-old corporate guy.”
“He had ‘the talk’ about six weeks after opening, [saying] that he’d like me to dress in skirts or dresses, heels and wear makeup. I said ‘not happening’. He said he’d need to look at disciplinary procedures. I told him I was following the stated dress code: black, beige or white tops, with sleeves, no emblems, black or khaki trousers, shorts or skirt with length rules. I told him that, for practical reasons, a skirt and heels would be a health-and-safety risk at our workplace, not to mention slightly sexist. I also told him that, if he wore that outfit for an eight-hour shift, I’d consider it.” He didn’t take her up on that. “He must have taken HR advice because he didn’t go to a warning stage.”
WTF? How is women’s clothing still being policed by men? I guess it’s our fault if they can see the shape of our bodies, and also our fault if they can’t?
Julia Clukey, a former Olympian (in luge), has written a story called ‘What Is She Wearing? The Policing of Women’s Wear by Men’. “Ladies, how many times has this happened to you: throughout your professional career you wear sweaters or blazers – you take them off during meetings in hot conference rooms and you get raised eyebrows. Or maybe you just bought yourself a new suit: the cut of the skirt is a little shorter than you’ve worn before and your boss gives you grief for it. Why? You’re doing your job, addressing the needs of your own comfort, and conforming to dress codes and yet still you’re judged, not by ‘the content of your character’ or the skills or talents you so clearly possess, but by your appearance.”
Our pals The Girls Uninterrupted podcast recently posted a TikTok video. Brodie Kane (also a Capsule columnist) said “I propose a new name for a dress code. That is business slutty. It’s like pushing the boundary, isn’t it? You could wear it to the conference, but if you took the jacket off, you could go from the conference to the club.”
As per, Brodie is using humour to push back against expectations for how women should dress at work. But why should women have to conform to expectations in the first place?
