Okay, before I read everybody's comments, let me just say that once I clicked through to the Jezebel site, I spent 20 minutes without even knowing it, totally absorbed reading about Brangelina, Bieber, and some guy with a pearl embedded in his body. I was entertained, but I believe I am also scarred for life. (mostly kidding)

Julie, you crack me up!

I deal with members of the public in my work, and at this point I am pretty much immune to sloppy dress, although I do notice and appreciate when somebody has made an effort to dress nicely and (in my view) appropriately.

I do think it is absolutely an employer's prerogative to institute a dress code and expect employees to abide by it. Rightly or wrongly, I believe people are generally more likely to be focused on the work at hand if they are dressed in something other than workout wear or loungewear.

I just try to dress as nicely and appropriately as I can, and I really do try not to worry about what anybody else is wearing. I have no idea what anybody's story is so I'm reluctant to judge based on appearances.

I enjoy dressing nicely for work, and I would like to think that if you are clean and otherwise tidy, you should be able to be a good doc (think of surgeons in their scrubs vs. the dressed up family doc).

I remember when I was a kid, I used to LOVE going to this one lady doc because she would have beautiful outfits and I'd go and just stare at her fabulous clothes. That's the doc I've always wanted to be.

My work place has gotten very casual. Cargo shorts. Flip flops. Sandals. Capris. Short summer dresses. Spaghetti straps. NO BRA (I almost fainted). Leggings as pants. Camel toe.

Ugh.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when I take the time to dress for work (these days, a dress or a skirt and a blazer, with some pumps), and someone else shows up in a Lululemon track suit, and says they are "equally as dressed" as me, I want to throw a punch in their face.

That is not a style choice. You are obviously more casually dressed than me (right?) - They are obviously not too economically strained to buy clothes (I can't afford lululemon), and THOSE are the choices that they made.

I think it's fine if patients come to the hospital wearing jammies or old t-shirts; they are ill or are visiting family members and other priorities are on their list.

I live in NYC and see both ends of the spectrum - well dressed women and slobs. I also work p/t in a store catering to mature women and am totally amazed at how sloppy many women are who come into the store. I see skimpy undershirts with major flesh coming out, dirty sweat pants, bulging backpacks and huge sneakers. I always wonder where the women who buy these clothes wear them.

I haven't read all the comments, but I will definitely go back and do so. I did see Liz's comment, though.

Liz, from my point of view, there is nothing inherently better about "dressing up" than "dressing down". However, I definitely can appreciate an outfit that looks pulled together, or unexpectedly cool or chic or interesting, even if that outfit is very casual and based on jeans or yoga pants or whatever. I would rather see interesting, or at least well thought out, casual outfits than boring dressy ones, regardless of how dressy the occasion may be.

I have a feeling I'm going to comment a few more times to this thread. I have thoughts on the subject, but I'm having trouble connecting them into a coherent point of view. So...here is the next chunk...unconnected to what I just said above.

I've been to many funerals where the men all wore jeans or overalls. Even some of the women may have been in jeans, or at least dressed very casually. I've had to just relax and accept this without judgement, although it bothered me when I was a younger woman. It's just a different world view from the one I have, from people who are even related to me and who grew up in the same area. For many of them, what they wear to a funeral has nothing to do with respect or lack of it. Just being there is what is important to them. That said, I've seen less of this as I've grown older. I think maybe the overall and blue jean wearers were my older relatives, who worked on farms or logging or in textile mills, and who just didn't have the time, energy, or inclination to shop for clothes that weren't completely utilitarian. Lately, I'm far more likely to see my relatives dressed "appropriately" for somber occasions. I imagine that's a result of many things, including having more financial security, less physically demanding jobs, more education, and in general a greate knowledge of the world outside our little part of the rural southern U.S.

OK, one more comment for now.

I think that the extent to which people care about fashion may be on some natural continuum. So some people are going to care no matter what. Others aren't going to care, no matter what. But the people in the middle may develop an eye for fashion to varying degrees based on their influences growing up. Having a particularly fashionable older relative, or living in an artsy area, or developing an associated interest in art, culture, photography, etc., may cause a person to develop a greater interest in fashion than they otherwise would. A person with some interest may likewise never develop it if they have other interests or needs that come first.

It also helps greatly if you have someone knowledgable to help you develop such an interest. I remember my aunt telling me that a particular dress or top didn't fit me because the shoulder seams were hanging off my shoulders, when they should have been sitting right on top. Another aunt refused to buy a particular item of clothing that I wanted because the pattern on the seams didn't match up. She considered this to be a sign of low quality. She was also a very good seamstress herself. These are things my mother never mentioned to me. In addition to these little lessons in quality, the first aunt mentioned above had tastes in clothing that were a bit more fashionable and cosmopolitan than anything I saw on people in my home town. If not for her, I may have still ventured outside the fashion comfort zone of those around me, but maybe not as soon or as much.

Also...
I do think it is possible for people with very little income to dress well, and even fashionably. But it takes more time and effort when you don't have the cash. I have a greater respect and appreciation for those people who manage to thrift, upscale, and repurpose a terrific wardrobe for practically nothing, than I do for those who can buy a terrific wardrobe. Both of these take effort, of course, because you can't just buy a sense of style. You have to develop it. But doing it on a tight budget takes *more* effort. So I'm inclined to give a pass to those who may look "sloppy" by my standards, but who are too busy with jobs or kids or sick relatives or whatever to give what they look like much thought.

And...
I wonder if people who dress very casually, but who are label conscious (as someone previously mentioned) are using the labels as some kind of shortcut to fashionable or appropriate dress. Maybe they believe that wearing the "right" brand makes up for not giving any thought to whether or not what they are wearing looks good or is appropriate for the situation. Maybe they have that inclination to care about fashion, but it has been completely and totally undeveloped? Or maybe they really don't care, but the labels matter because they are status conscious. Maybe it's the influence of fast fashion, to an extent. Back when clothing cost a lot more to manufacture, people had fewer clothes and they tended to keep them longer, wear them more often, and take better care of them. So quality mattered more, because you wanted the few clothes that you had to last a long time. And even if you made your own clothing, the quality of the fabric and the notions used, as well as the fit, still mattered. Now that clothing can be made so cheaply in developing countries, the branding and image associated with a clothing label matters more than it used to. I can't even say it's style over substance, because there is often so little style...

My rambling thoughts have now reached a dead end.

T-rex, I love reading your thoughts and all the amazing comments here. I have been pondering this subject over the last week or so in general, and have so many thoughts I don't have time to write out! But I know just the awareness of my own thoughts is enlightening, and even more so all the incredible viewpoints here.

I agree that the comments have been terrific and well thought out. Excellent thread.

Now, after at least skimming all the comments, I feel I have to come to the defense of the woman who walked her dog to the coffee shop in her PJ bottoms. I can totally see myself doing this, if I could manage to get up early enough in the morning to walk my dog or go to a coffee shop. I just manage to barely get to work on time, because my body clock is set several hours later than most people.

So, when I imagine myself early some morning, in PJ bottoms, leash in hand, heading to the coffee shop...I'm still half asleep. Maybe more than half. Walking without bumping into things would be an accomplishment for me, depending on the hour, so I'm inclined to say "OK" to wearing PJ bottoms in public for dog walking and coffee consumption. PJ bottoms worn to work (or to the opera!) - no.

PJ bottoms worn to class? That depends. When I was in college, I avoided early classes as much as I was able. I remember taking an aerobics class at 8am my freshman year, and found that doable only because I could roll out of bed in sweatpants and t-shirt, walk a few yards to the cafeteria for coffee, and then a few more yards to the gym where the class was held. I could get up at 7:45 and be on time. I made sure to put at least an hour between that class and my next so I could shower, dress, put on a little makeup, etc. That was almost thirty years ago. Today, if I were in college surrounded by other students in PJ pants, you can bet I would do the same if I had an early class. I would feel very weird wearing them all day, though. At some point, I would have to go back to my dorm or apartment, and prepare to join the living once again.

Thank you all for some very thought-provoking comments about the difference between "sloppy" and "fashionable."

I find the older I get, the more I bat for team "put together." I'm not heading out daily in Chanel and pearls, but I do tend to pay more attention. I'm not sure if that's due to some kind of actual philosophical shift, though, or just trying to find ways to coexist with gravity and the march of time.

There was something I heard on What Not to Wear the other day that may kindda go along with this thread. One girl that they brought on had just finished a post-doc and you could tell just by listening to her that she was smart. But she dressed rather sloppy because to her smart didn't equal pretty. It was sad to hear her say she couldn't see herself as pretty or dressing pretty because she felt that that would mean she was shallow and she had a hard time reconciling that the two could go together.

Maybe being in academia I see that mindset more. While I have seen professors/postdocs that have dressed beautifully (my food chemistry prof came to class in 3 inches heels and dressed to the nines everyday), I've also seen just as many who don't.

I am shocked to read that some college students go to class in their pajamas. One thing is being casual and another going to the university in pajamas. Shocking! I am from Spain and as far as I know that trend has not (yet) reached our shores.