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Going to work in vintage apparal

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
I wear a vintage tie to work every day, and usually get compliments. I work in a government office, where everything is pretty casual, but certainly nobody gets uptight about anyone dressing TOO nicely, which can also happen in some places. I have some other vintage garments that I'll mix in, and they always get favorable reactions.
 
Messages
15,276
Location
Somewhere south of crazy
I'm much the same as dhermman. My tie is frequently vintage, and I wear a hat, usually vintage or vintage style as well. For shirts, slacks and shoes I prefer modern, although I like older style shoes like wingtips, saddle shoes and spectators. In the cooler months I will frequently wear a vest at work also. I too get nice comments on the vintage ties.
 

Undertow

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,126
Location
Des Moines, IA, US
My physical size and limited wallet tend to keep me away from actual vintage. But if you mean vintage and vintage style, then yes, I have the option.

I DO NOT work in a job where I A.) enjoy my surroundings/duties and B.) enjoy the daily questions about why I would dare wear a suit and tie.

I wear a pair of cotton twill slacks, a cotton button-up shirt and a tweed cap. It's business casual and it's the best they're going to get from me. Besides, I ride my bike to work now and I don't want to trash a nice suit.

At my last employer, I wore lots of vintage style; hats, shoes, suits, etc. The director of HR once called me a jerk for "upstaging" everyone. I told him I did it for myself and not for everyone else. He sneered. At the same employer, my manager once sent an email to the entire department asking us to pay less attention to our "suits and hats" and more attention to our work. I confronted him, he told me I was distracting people. [huh]

Is it any wonder fart jokes are so popular?
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
My current job is a volunteer one at a local thrift-shop. I generally tend to wear vintage-style clothing there all the time. The boss likes it because most of the stuff is clothes that I bought AT the shop. He considers it free advertising: How to dress sharp on a shoestring budget.
 

fortworthgal

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,646
Location
Panther City
I'm a mix & match.

I work in a fairly conservative office with a well-defined business dress code: no jeans, no polo shirts, no tee-shirts, no tennis shoes... you get the picture. Most everyone wears dresses, suits,or dress slacks. I dress "modern" most of the time, but probably 25-30% of the time I'll wear vintage - a 1950s cotton day dress with a cardigan & heels, or a 1940s suit. Nobody seems to care, as I'm not breaking the dress code. When I do wear vintage, I always get lots of compliments on my "Donna Reed" outfits. :laugh:
 

skyvue

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,221
Location
New York City
I dress vintage every day. My ties are all vintage, and the vast majority of my suits, jackets and trousers (my hats are vintage-style, given my giant 21st-century head). I work in a pretty casual office, so I'm usually the most "dressed up" on any given day, but my co-workers just view my as my quick, I think, and are pretty accepting. (Whether they giggle at me behind my back, I have no idea, but I don't think they do -- and I don't much care.)
 

St. Louis

Practically Family
Messages
618
Location
St. Louis, MO
I teach history, so I get away with it. I wear vintage or vintage-inspired (what I call vintage lite) every day. I'm not comfortable in modern styles, and they're not comfortable being worn by me. At this point my coworkers are used to my get-ups. I've never had a single negative comment, which in my department, believe me, is a miracle.

My students also get a giggle out of my outfits, or at least that's what I tell myself when they're giggling.
 

Flicka

One Too Many
Messages
1,165
Location
Sweden
I rarely wear vintage, except for accessories (hats, collars, jewellry etc) but almost always vintage-inspired and remakes of old patterns. I work in a pretty relaxed government office, but yes, I wear it to external meetings too, and I never had anything but positive responses. My co-workers tell me I'm cool, our director general tells me I'm elegant, external people have told me they love it and that I look 'right out of a 50s fashion mag' and 'like a 20s movie star' etc. I find it a bit of an icebreaker or conversation piece actually. It puts people at ease and gives them something to small talk about.
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
I wish I could, but at the plant we wear a uniform. I do 'vintage' mine up by ironing creases and starching, to give a more 'old-school' appearance.

I'm trying to move my way from blue collar to white collar, so if I am able to do so, I'll be stepping up my vintage wardrobe!

Do you have the option to dress in a vintage way, when you go off to work each day?Either full vintage dress or mix and match....
 

kamikat

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,794
Location
Maryland
I just started a new part time job at a fabric shop. While not a requirement, wearing handmade garments is encouraged. My whole wardrobe consists of handmade garments from vintage patterns. I also work as a hairstylist. Because of handling chemicals, I prefer to wear a full smock over my clothes and not wear my best under it.
 

Miss Golightly

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,312
Location
Dublin, Ireland
I used to wear vintage clothing into the office (before I gave up work) and got nothing but positive comments - even the guys noticed what I wore! I really miss wearing my vintage clothing every day and getting dressed up but it just wouldn't be practical for me at the moment. Still I hope to wear my vintage again when I resume work.
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
25,082
Location
London, UK
Most of my wardrobe is either direct repro or modern garments cut to a vintage pattern, but if you mean "vintage" more broadly than simply actual period clothes, then yes, I wear "vintage" to work - as well as everywhere else.
 

Godfrey

One of the Regulars
Messages
243
Location
Melbourne, Australia
I'm pretty much in 'vintage styled' clothes everyday. At 6'3" very little vintage fits. So I wear a suit with fishtail pants, waistcoat, jacket, tie, hat, and the odd interesting accessory (pocket watch, button hole poppy for November, etc). I do stand out and I think it's great. My work does casual friday - I do formal Friday. I always regret my lack of spats on a Friday.

It's very much something that marks me as a bit different and generally everyone at work is very complementary. There is always someone who thinks its odd - to which I reply that if I'm going to wear a suit every day then I might at least have some fun! The more I wear it the more normal I feel. The more normal I feel the more confident I appear when out and about.
 

Warden

One Too Many
Messages
1,336
Location
UK
~It is my ambition to wear vintage style every day, but the wallet and my hatred of not throwing out clothes until they are worn out, mean I am still have a large proportion of 1990’s clothing in my wardrobe.
 

Gin&Tonics

Practically Family
Messages
899
Location
The outer frontier
I have to wear a uniform to work in my job, so I might be able to wear vintage style to and from work, but never actually on the job. Now, if I got a 9-5 office position with the agency, then that would probably be another story. If I became say, an investigator, hearings officer, or perhaps even an inland enforcement officer, then I probably could dress in vintage style.

For now it's horrid polyester uniforms...the style of the uniform I like just fine, but the material quality and production is garbage made in Vietnam. I've written to Ottawa about it before, but their response wasn't especially re-assuring. I've actually played with the idea of buying uniforms made by 5.11 tactical gear (many officers have). The brass frowns on it in a big way, but the 5.11 uniforms are almost indistinguishable in appearance from ours, they just happen to be of vastly superior quality.

I'm just loathe to spend any money providing something my employer should be providing, namely quality uniforms.
 

Pompidou

One Too Many
Messages
1,242
Location
Plainfield, CT
Owning a Steampunk Café gives me broad leeway in both answering to noone and having cause for creativity to wear any sort of outfit I want, and my sister was kind enough to grab me a handful or two of old suit jackets and vests. I've had an old 1895-1920 range pocket watch for ages, and it fit right in- then my Art Fawcett hat, of course.
 

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