ETA photo: Casual fridays at work in the summer?

shipskitty

Hi Team,

Casual Fridays are a pain in the summer. What do most of you wear to work in the hottest part of summer because I am constantly feeling like I struggle with this. If it is mild enough for jeans then it isn't too bad but otherwise I feel kind of lost for inspiration.

My work day outfit 'uniform' is usually a dress with pumps and a statement necklace. In winter I add cardis or jackets as extra layers and wear tights.

I've flirted a bit with capri pants, good quality ones,with tunics but they do feel a bit awkward in the workplace although ok. (Possibly the awkwardness is in my head LOL.) I could wear dresses but if they are the same dresses I normally wear during the week - it doesn't read 'casual friday' - particularly to the men in my workplace. Footwear doesn't seem to change that - flat shoes don't dress them down enough even with a more casual necklace.

Maxi dresses seem like they would be too casual...so...stuck in a rut of either wearing the capris or jeans which seems wrong.

What do you wear to the office at the hottest part of your summer for casual friday? Or for those of you with more casual offices - what do you wear on any day - to the office in summer?

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29/1/15 ETA: Photo. I stuck it with my comments below but then realised it might be hard to find so I'm repeating it with the photo here:

Hmmm...haven't bought anything new yet as still mulling over options but I've been having a play in my wardrobe tonight trying to figure out what I have that might work. Most of my pencil skirts are suit skirts and they look like suit skirts - I think it is the fabrication.

I do have a black ponte one though so I've tried to de-bombshell it with one of the more fluid of my fitted tops (most of my blouses are fitted) and flats, neoprene necklace and a colourful bracelet. I think this is better than what I have been wearing but I think a denim skirt, or slightly less structured pencil type skirt (maybe a tube skirt) would be better. (Sorry about the picture quality - lighting is a bit average for phone pics at night.)

Thoughts?

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11 years ago

Dressing

22 replies

Latest reply was from anne

Suz

(website)

Veteran

This is a great question. I am sure you will get a wide variety of answers depending on workplace, etc. Also, in the US, there is almost always frigid air conditioning in summer, so that affects what people wear. Sometimes the trick is staying warm, believe it or not!!

I work from home, so I am not a lot of use to you in that regard, but thinking about it, I expect I might wear outfits like the following:

A midi tube skirt (knit fabrication) with a longer fluid linen knit tunic top or a linen jacket of some kind.
Linen trousers with a fluid shirt.
Culottes (midi length).
A simple dress with a denim (or white denim) jacket over top.

11 years ago

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

My first thought was cotton skirts. Either in prints or solids they're dressier than capris but not as stolid as skirts or dresses in other fabrics. Looser styles would be cooler than pencil styles.

It sounds like denim might be too casual for your office even on Fridays? I used to wear denim skirts a lot in summer to work, with a woven shirt to keep it from being too casual. But a cotton print skirt with a nice top and flats would be tad dressier while still being reasonably cool.

11 years ago

Deborah

Veteran

Are you able to share what type of work you do? For me that would have an impact on what would be appropriate for Casual Fridays. I would generally suggest things like garments with less structure. Wide leg linen pants, ankle pants with fluid slightly oversized top. Also, how important is it to comply with casual Friday? I also struggle because my natural bent is dressy

11 years ago

shipskitty

Veteran

Suz I have wrestled with freezing aircon in the past. Where I am based now they seem to have adjusted the air conditioning pretty well, but it is a fairly new building, so you would expect they could get that right. I usually have a cropped cardi, a long sleeve cardi and a cashmere wrap that live in my locker for just such an emergency

Laura I'll have to investigate cotton skirts. Perhaps a denim skirt is my answer?

Deborah I'm a consultant engineer. So jeans are the norm in most workplaces I'm involved in on casual fridays. Most of the guys wear jeans and a tshirt, patterned short sleeve shirt or polo shirt even in the summer for a casual friday.

And you articulate my exact problem - my 'work persona' has a natural dressier bent and this makes me feel uncomfortable navigating the casual friday minefield.

Sadly compliance is mandatory if I want to be seen as a team player. Which is essential. So yep casual fridays it is.

11 years ago

Deborah

Veteran

Thanks Shipskitty! Ok so I love the idea of a slim ankle pant and a draped top, even a nice quality draped tshirt. Flat shoes and a long pendant. Casual and easy going but should still fulfil your personal preference for "dress". From what I have seen, you office look is quite tailored and structured, so i would go with less structure.

11 years ago

Dimity

Active Member

Angie's fabulous denim shirtwaist dress would work nicely. A white denim skirt or white boyfriend jeans with a navy tunic. Or, last week I wore a dressy blue denim skirt (not a faded, distressed one) with a blue cotton top that has a white collar and placket untucked over the skirt. It felt right.

I understand how difficult this can be because I naturally tend to gravitate to dressy too. Hope you can find some formulas that work.

11 years ago

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

Veteran

I like the idea of a cropped pant and nice but not too corporate top. To me, an ankle length pant seems dressier and more office appropriate than capris which are more weekendy a lot of the time.

I think it's all about fabrication too - anything too faded or casual and it won't feel right to you, and anything too structured or suit-y won't be Friday enough...

11 years ago

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

What Deborah said sounds great to me. Linen pants would also be an option if you can deal with the wrinkling. I buy a lot of light weight cotton "lawn" button downs for summer and silk/cotton blends that are light weight. I also like slim fit light weight jeans that are 98% cotton, 2% or less spandex.

11 years ago

unfrumped

Veteran

Some kind of non- jean woven pant. It doesn't have to be ankle, but there's likely a good selection in those. "Linen" to me would require linen- blend or linen- like texture as 100% linen is too wrinkly.

11 years ago

Transcona Shannon

Veteran

What comes to mind for me is: tube skirt with long tee and sandals; cropped pants with flat sandals; casual dress with sneakers. These are some of the things I wear on casual Friday in the heat. You'll notice that each of these outfits has a topper though - my office is freezing in the summer A/C so the topper is on in the office and then off when I go outside.

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11 years ago

christieanne

Veteran

My first thought was pencil skirt or midi skirt with a fluid knit top. You could always do a cardi over it if the a/c is on.
How about some loose knit dresses? Something you could pair with a flat sandal?
Pants seem "hot" but an ankle pant in a breathable fabric would be a good option.

11 years ago

Elizabeth P

Veteran

FWIW, here are a few of my casual Friday outfits. I'm also an engineer, so get the boys in jeans and plaid shirt thing :). Our casual Friday isn't really enforced, our whole office goes pretty casual during the summer, so I don't tend to distinguish that day a whole lot differently. During the other days I'm typically in a dress, skirt or linen pants. LOL, like #2 and 3 here.

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11 years ago

rizamei

Active Member

I tend to find skirts and dresses most comfortable in the hottest part of the summer. If it's too warm for jeans, maybe you could wear a chambray shirt as your top with a skirt? (Bonus: if it's long sleeved, you could roll it up when you're outside and roll it down for the frigid a/c indoors.)

11 years ago

shipskitty

Veteran

dimity - I'm not sure I've seen Angie's denim shirtwaist dress. Off to the archives to check it out...

laura - Yes the fabrication is going to be very important I think. You and Deborah are on to something.

texstyle & unfrumped - Yes too linen-y (is that a word LOL) would defeat the purpose and be too fussy looking I think because it wrinkles so easily.

transcona shannon - Tube skirts are a good idea. Much less structured.

christieanne - I will have to explore that option. I have a couple of pencil skirts I could 'casualize'. The trick will be de-bombshelling them enough to make them the equivalent of the guy's jeans and top look.

elizabeth p - Thanks for those examples. You know exactly where I am coming from!

rizamei - I agree - dresses are my goto in summer as well. So perhaps a skirt or dress in a less structured format is worth exploring.

11 years ago

shipskitty

Veteran

Thoughts?

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10 years ago

anne

Veteran

I'm glad you added to this thread because I had meant to contribute to it earlier and forgot.
Casual Friday IS difficult!! At my new job, I started in the office here on Firday and as I was waiting in reception, wearing my charcoal suit, I saw all these people arriving for work in jeans etc and realised "they do casual Friday here!".
I felt rather overdressed!
They in my induction there was a long list of things that were forbidden to be worn on casual Fridays!
Tomorrow I'm planning to wear a lovely outfit that Lyn D handed down to me in Melbourne, but I must confess that as it includes full length trousers I am worrying about the heat aspect of it - not for in the office, but for when I am walking to the bus.
So I don't really have any advice on what to wear in summer as I am still thinking it through myself.
As to the outfit you just posted - it looks nice, but to me it does look very similar to a Mon-Thurs look. Only you know how suitable it is in your office though

10 years ago

christieanne

Veteran

I like your skirt look. It's still probably dressier than the guys will be as nothing says Casual Friday like a golf/polo shirt. But it's casual for you and that is what is important.
Keep an eye out for denim skirt (I have a lightweight pull on denim from Lands End - very comfortable and wrinkle free) and a few breathable fabrics for hot weather and you will be sorted by summer.

10 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Classic, feminine and lovely.

10 years ago

lyn67

Veteran

What about casualising your beloved pencils, instead? I have some denim skirts (and a denim dress) exacty for achieving exactly that vibe. A graphic tee and flats to that? A wellmade shopping tote, or boho bag instead of a doc's structured one?
Oh, and linen dresses!

10 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

That's a sweet outfit.

I'm laughing, because of what Suz said about U.S. summer a/c. On the hottest days in summer, I wear my down puffer to work and bring a blanket to cover my legs!

Last summer, tho, underneath all that - I did a sleeveless fit-and-flare dress with cutouts, covered by a thin cardi. That worked super great for me. I mean, as soon as I got outside for lunch and out from under all my snow gear.

10 years ago

shipskitty

Veteran

Anne - if I could do jeans all year round for casual friday I would but as for you the heat is my problem.

Christieanne - I agree this is probably a bit too dressy still. It is a stopgap until I fix my wardrobe hole here. A denim skirt (or two) would be ideal I think.
Angie - Thanks

Lyn67 - Yes denim skirts are what I'm thinking I will need to fill this hole. Looking at the photo again this morning I'm also wondering if I had belt loops and wore a chunky belt as you would with jeans and did the faux tuck thing over the buckle whether that would also drop it down a notch.

Rachylou - Our aircon last year was like that and we needed about 3 layers and I had a cashmere wrap stashed in my locker to use as a lap rug but this year they seem to have adjusted the air conditioning better.

10 years ago

anne

Veteran

I've been keeping an eye out for casual Friday looks that are cooler and one impressed me yesterday = a sleeveless white linen dress with a bit of flare at the hem and a sort of asymmetrical layer worn with a wooden necklace.

10 years ago

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