Do you feel the need to keep up with your friends/workmates in terms of style?

Since finishing university, and starting my job a year ago, I have spent a lot more on shoes and clothes, I feel I have to since my workmates often look like a fashion page spread, and I look like a tramp in comparison.

Needless to say, I have also had to invest in plenty of these



...because 4" heels are not at all practical for work.

I also have one particularly stylish friend, she looks amazingly well put together, it takes me about 5 hours to plan outfits to wear when I see her so I don't look like her poor unfortunate plain friend.

I appreciate that this is amazingly pathetic, but do you ever find yourself 'keeping up with the joneses"?

I don't feel like that with my proper friends
but with my work friends yes very much so
at work it's fine becasue we have a uniform, but when we go for works nights out and stuff I panic so much
y'see I'm very much an 'indie' girl and they aren't at all
so when we go out for drinks it's always to the town centre to the 'trendy' bars where everyone dresses a certain way and if I turned up in my normal clothes I would feel very out of place and I prefer to just blend in really...
I know I should just wear what I want to and not care what anyone else thinks blah blah
but reality just isn't like that, I DO care what people think
just like I know they would worry about what they wore of they came to one of my indie music clubs with me

no.

but then again i tend to be the most fasionable one of the group. (as sad as that is)

no
i've never considered being fashionable just to keep up with my friends or the people i work with
i dress for myself, i wear what i like and what makes me feel confortable. i wouldn't be able to spend 5 hours planning an outfit just to keep up with someone because i'd probably end up feeling unconfortable and wishing i had worn something else
sometimes i can't stand going out with my girlfriends because all they talk about is who's wearing the most beautiful pair of shoes or who has the better put together outfit or whose makeup is done better
i like my style and i don't need the approval of others

nope, jeans and tee are as exciting as my friends get

No.
Im not totally into the way my friends dress.
Plus I hate looking like everyone else.

When it comes to work, no I couldn't care less how "fashionable" I look at work. I wear the same plain work outfits all the time. And I work with mostly middle aged women who have no concept of fashion and who I have no need to impress. But when I go out to bars and things with friends, that's a different story. I definitely try to be fashionable then.

I think it's to do with being comfortable in your own style in different situations. And at work, I feel as if I have to make more of an effort. I could not wear my usual attire to work, at all.

nah me and my friends all have different styles. but i definitely have been purchasing more clothing recently because i see people more i dont want to look like i just wear the same clothes hehehe

no I've never felt the need to look like everybody else.I love to stand out from everyone. Sometimes some of my friends and I do look a bit the same but thats only because we all love the same things.I always stand out that bit more though,coz i have goth friends,emo friends,metalhead friends,normal friends,punk friends;all kinds,but I dont dress just one way like alot of them do. I mix it up.

I dress like a fool.
I dress like a 4 year old fool.
Everyone i've seen for months either dresses like an emo or a goth.
I'd rather be a fool than either of them.

no
my friends and i embody a type of casual chic at least this is what we like to think. but we clean up well i will give us that...

theres something very unnatractive about girls who get all tarted up just to go and get sloshed---its actually sad from an observing point of view. but for work getting dressed up is nice and often expected depending on your profession.

my advice to you--avoid spending money on trends (like prints ew) and settle for tailored TAILORED basics--if its not perfect spend the extra dough and get it taken in. and why should you wear 4 inch heels? sure its an instant slimmer but in a serious job where there are serious opportunities what you wear can effect how seriously you are taken.

i dont feel like i have to keep up because i have my own individual style. when you see your frien chances are what you are admiring is her style...don't compete with her its a waste of time and energy! develop your own!

^
Well, in general, I do have my own 'style', but I really cannot take this into the workplace. And the reason that I do worry what I look like at work is that you have to dress a certain way to be taken seriously - not nice, but true.

I wear tailored suits everyday - I think you misunderstood the 4" heels thing, they're hardly porn star platforms, they're fucking louboutins - what do you think I wear, mini skirts and perspex shoes??. It was just a bit of a rant really, that I have had to spend hundreds on looking okay for work - and was just wondering if I was the only one (which I am!)

What's yr style out of work like?
You could try & incorprate some of it into yr work clothes so you don't have to fork out for new stuff.

I dunno, I am a jeans, t shirt and ballet flat girl really. Girls at work are quite bitchy too, I once heard one say "I hate plastic cheap fashion jewellery".

And don't even get me started on casual friday, it's a fucking nightmare. I know I should be comfortable in my own style, and not want to look like everyone else but I am not, at all.

To be honest it sounds like you dress pretty normal .

I think i understand what yr getting at, you want to fit in with the work people & not feel like you look . . tacky in comparison?

You can't change peoples opinions but you can change the way you feel about their opinions, their not masters of the universe fuck them.

where do you work?

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dear clotty. i mean. dear kr user.
love, herekitty.

in business banking. it's customer facing & lots of meetings so the dress code is quite strict in the first place.

yeah. that would suck. i see what you are saying though. i appreciate your dilemma. i dont think there is anything you can do about it. because its not like school you cant just start wearing a deviatoin of your uniform to rebel.

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dear clotty. i mean. dear kr user.
love, herekitty.

No. To be honest, I don't know very many stylish people. My friends at home are mostly guys who could care less what they're wearing, unless it's a costume at an anime convention. Most people that I work with are close to twice my age, so I don't really compare my clothes with theirs anyways. And in college most people just wear jeans or pajama pants or a denim mini with a big UCI sweatshirt, which I don't care to emulate. Not that I think I have amazing style and dress better than everyone, just that I don't really see anyone on a regular basis who I feel a need to keep up with.