What's with all the skirts and dresses?

[pinkytoe]

It appears that fashion has changed in the past year and many of my co-workers are now wearing skirts and dresses. I gladly gave up skirts in high school when we were finally given permission to wear pants, circa 1969. Are you noticing this trend where you work too? Now I am wondering if I will need to buy a skirt for any future job interviews?

[treehugger]

I hadn't noticed skirts and dresses ever going away, although skirts seem to be more work friendly than dresses. I'm wearing a skirt (and tights and boots) today, actually.

I am certainly glad to not to be required to wear a skirt to work. That would rankle my feminist soul, and that's before my time anyway. But I do like having a few skirts in my office wardrobe (bare legs in spring and summer; tights in fall and winter).

I think skirts as well as pants can certainly be appropriate interview attire, assuming that the colors and fabrics and styles are conservative enough for the industry being interviewed for.

Kara

edited to add: I should mention that I haven't bought any new work clothes in 4 years, so I am definitely not a trendy sort of person. :)

[Zoe Girl]

hmm, well in my job area skirts are pretty rare, but I would in after-school programming with public schools. I see lots of pants in teacherr job fairs, some are dressy and others more casual. Potential teachers don't have a lot of cash I guess. So there are 2 reasons you don't see me in many skirts, one is that I am often on the floor so only longer skirts would work, and two that I have a tattoo that is fine in my job (tinkerbell) but visible with shorter skirts and shorts.

What business area are you in? I honestly love a skirt or dress now and then but it should be when someone is available to pick up things I drop so it is not embarrassing or awkward, LOL

[ApatheticNoMore]

I think it's ok to interview in pants. I've heard otherwise in one book but ignored it. It doesn't seem anyone cares or even notices (especially around here in SoCal where non-interview dress tends to be casual, and I'm not afterall interviewing for a postion at the front desk). What I interview in is a woman's suit (with pants - not a skirt!) and jacket and I always have :)

[goldensmom]

It's been a while since I was employed out of the home but skirts/dresses were common place in my place of employment. My job included court appearances and skirts/dresses for women were required as were suits/sports coats and ties for men. I always wore a skirt for a job interview but I think it depends on the position, dress for the interview however you'd dress on the job. Opposite from the OP is what I have noticed recently and that is dressing down in Sunday morning church services, i.e., pants on ladies, jeans and things that look like pajamas. I can't do pants for Sunday morning church yet but maybe someday.

[Float On]

I love skirts in the summer but don't own a dress. There has been a whole 'movement' on the blogging sites about wearing skirts, making a skirt a day, refashioning something into a skirt, etc. I did find a cool old tablecloth and made a skirt out of it. Just yesterday I packed away 20 skirts into my 'summer box'. I love moving into fall and jeans and jackets and scarfs. But I'm also glad its still warm enough I can wear my crop jeans with cardigan and sandles (even though my toes are a little cold in the mornings)!

I haven't figured out the tights with skirts thing. Is it full tights or just to the ankles and what kind of shoes or boots to wear? Haven't owned a pair of pantyhose since I quit being a bank manager/loan officer in the mid-90's. I do miss the little boots, layered socks, with long skirts/dresses that we wore in the late 80's.

[catherine]

My daughter (26) always wears dresses. As for me, I really feel that at "my age" skirts and dresses are much more flattering. I saw a picture of me with my back turned toward the camera, and let me say that I wasn't thrilled with the view. So, I'm planning on transitioning to more skirts and dresses.

[jennipurrr]

I wear mostly pants to work (business casual) but also have a few skirts. I love the light, airy feeling of a skirt in the middle of summer. I mostly own sundresses so those don't make it to the office. I have one womens suit with a skirt that I saved from working in a more professional environment. There, mid 2000s, I wore a mix of pantsuits and skirt suits. I hate those kind of skirts...they are not flattering to my shape at all. I have two jumpers (which despite my mother and sister's howling laughter at me wearing a jumper...they were envisioning something circa 1987) are really cute with a turtleneck and tights. I wear full footed tights and an easy shoe like ballet flats. Me = comfortable!

[madgeylou]

i love skirts and dresses and always have.

until they started making super stretchy jeans a few years ago, i had never found a pair that fit me properly and didn't dig into my gut ... so now i do wear jeans and pants sometimes, but still, i like skirts and dresses much better. they are easier to fit and, on my body type anyway, way more flattering.

[herbgeek]

I only wear pants to work (and to interviews). I'm usually in a mostly male environment, and often in a place with a computer lab, where I might have to go restring some cable or pull some cards out of the back of a computer - a skirt would be way out of place when climbing ladders and the like (which I've had to do a few times). Most of the people around me (male and female) wear jeans, I usually wear something a little nicer (in management, albeit often hands on as well) like dressier pants and a sweater set.

I do love skirts and skorts in the summer, but not to work.

[rosarugosa]

I wear pants pretty exclusively to work, usually as part of a suit. I used to wear a suit or dress occasionally in the summer, but since the bare-legged look became the rage, I haven't worn a skirt to work. The world will not be seeing my pale and skinny legs without benefit of hosiery!
Both pants and skirts are worn at my office; it seems as though they are equally acceptable.

[lmerullo]

I hadn't noticed a fashion shift, but I have always mixed dresses / skirts into my work wardrobe. I am probably wearing a skirts about half the time, pants the other half. In the summer, we are also allowed to wear shorts if we are not customer-facing. I rarely see a customer, so I do shorts once or twice a week.

Do any of you feel more feminine in a skirt? I do...

[pinkytoe]

Some of us weren't blessed with attractive legs, so pants feel more "comfortable" I guess. There are definitely more staff and students wearing skirts than pants these days at the university where I work.

[kitten]

It's a TV series called Mad Men! It's had a huge impact on fashion. Women are getting away from the California-girl au-naturel thing, and going for a more polished east-coast look circa 1960. Grace Kelly, not Loni Anderson (wow, I'm dating myself there, lol)

I'd say it's mostly that, and we're also apparently enmeshed in a more-or-less permanent rockabilly trend, where women are wearing skirts and dresses and false eyelashes and dyed black hair with vibrant red lipstick. Oh yeah, and lots of eyebrow pencil!

[KayLR]

I've noticed many more young women, mostly young moms, wearing skirts and tights, what I would call "easy-wear." Cotton knits. At least up here in the Pac NW. There seems to be a trend toward nesting, cooking more at home, sewing your own clothing, growing a garden, knitting, even backyard chicken raising. I see quite a few young moms here at my workplace...there is a preschool very close by.

Of course, it's kinda hippy-dippy here in the Portland metro area...YMMV.

[Mer05]

I've been wearing more skirts in the last couple years. Skirts are less fidgety to fit - no potential length problems like pants - so they're much easier to shop for in thrift stores. Bright colors and patterns are much harder to do with pants, too. And a few years ago a skirt style that flatters my figure got more popular (possibly thanks to Mad Men).

But it occasionally gets cold, and I don't always want to bother shaving, so I also appreciate my pants!