Wearing a tie at work when no one else does

Not a fan of the tie without a jacket look, myself.

Originally Posted by lee_44106

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so impressing internet strangers is much more important than fitting in a work huh?


Huh? It has nothing to do with impressing anyone, whenever I've had to dress up, I've always had to wear a tie and I feel awkward without out so I continue to wear one. My co-worker came here from another company where he worked in the same department and they were required to wear ties every day of the week.

Originally Posted by MrG

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+1

It's not always a good idea to stand out.

Yea this is why I asked, but like you also said, I was also told the same quote "dress for success, bla bla bla etc etc etc..."




I get a long with my co-workers just fine, we all joke around, everyone goes to lunch together, its always a good time. It's funny, they all have a "emergency" tie hanging in their cubes, one of them threw it on when he was going for an interview for a higher position, now it's just hanging there again.



I don't want to piss the director off, but at the same time for some lovely reason, all the higher ups for the departments on the floors below us are on my floor including one of the VP's of the company who's always wearing a suit/tie. When I started there they told me they don't wear jeans on Fridays because the "VP is always around" so I thought why don't they dress up more the rest of the week. No one teases me about it, they've all gotten use to it, I'm sure if I stop wearing a tie now, I'll get teased about that lol.

I work for a REIT and our office is business casual with the option to wear denim on Friday.....This usually means that a polo and chinos will do the job for most, but I started wearing a tie almost everyday right after I got the job. Sometimes I wear a suit, other times just a sweater and a tie, or more casually a sport coat/blazer and no tie. I just got promoted and I think that looking the part helped me gain a position that deals with the public a lot, my bosses know that if I have to meet with a anyone outside the office staff or lease holders that I look the part.

My bosses joke with me every now and then about the fact that I dress better than they do, but again I say "dress for the job you want, not the one you have" and if I stay working with this group through law and business school (I don't want to hear the reasons not to go from the lawyers on here) I plan on running the place one day. Since I started upping the style factor in the office more people that work above me, with me, and, now for me are trying to dress better also.

Originally Posted by MrG

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I received this advice many years ago, and I agree completely. I'm not sure if you intended it to be pro or anti-tie, but OP explicitly states that even his director doesn't wear a tie. To me, this says "no tie for OP."
I meant it to be pro tie. Unless there is a rule against wearing ties at work, I think its wonderful to raise the bar on dress code, no matter what the field is. Most people are trying to show up to work in their pajamas nowadays anyhow. Always angling to dress more casually. As a boss, I would find it wonderfully refreshing if one of my employees took enough pride to take it the different direction.

And, I often dress better than my superiors.

I get a few comments from time to time, but never anything negative, and with decreasing frequency over time. I'll still wear an odd jacket and/or no tie when I feel like it, and dress down on Fridays like everyone else. But honestly, I don't plan to be an analyst forever, and whether they realize it or not, people treat you differently based on your appearance. I want to appear professional, so I strive for the business end of business casual. I know I can get away with "anything but jeans, anything but a t-shirt", but I want people to understand, if only subconsciously, that I'm not the type of person to do the bare minimum. I believe my work says that loud and clear, and I want my appearance to do the same. I'll say this: I did notice that when I first started my boss almost never wore a jacket though, and now he's wearing a jacket more often than not.

Originally Posted by Edgar Allan Pwn

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I'll say this: I did notice that when I first started my boss almost never wore a jacket though, and now he's wearing a jacket more often than not.

I had a similar experience. When I started where I work now, I raised the bar in the dress code around my office. It has now become standard to wear a tie and/or jacket with nicer pants and shirt (and a suit is pretty much required when meeting with outsiders). Now I'm working on the shoes (if you're gonna wear cheap-ass shoes, at least keep them polished and use shoe trees)!

Conform. Just look better...

Dress the same just spend more $$$

I think the average guy is much more style conscious than anyone gives him credit for (I conferred with my closet and we determined I no longer qualify as an average guy when it comes to style, hence 'him' not 'us'). He might not know how to put clothes together to be stylish, but he's aware when others are, and he senses when the class bar is being raised. I've had a lot of clients who have expressed this to me over time (eg. everyone started wearing these shirts, I need to wear them too). I think this is because most people never make it pass the inclusiveness aspect of style that they learn in high school, as I previously expressed in my article here. So if you start raising the bar, not only is it slightly intimidating, but others will begin to follow as the peer pressure is put on them. This works for both dressing up and dressing down (ie. you feel pressure to dress down because they all are, but if you hold your stance they all feel pressure to dress up so they aren't being outdone). It's simply part of our competitive nature. This is not commentary on whether you should continue to dress up a rank or not (I've expressed my thoughts already above), but a simple observation and something you should be aware of.

Don't wear a tie without a jacket unless you work at Blockbuster. Source

Originally Posted by Kenneth Cole Haan

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Don't wear a tie without a jacket unless you work at Blockbuster.

Source

You don't put on your suit jacket every time you get out of your chair at the office do you?

Interesting thread, particularly because I just started a new job in the creative/agency field and work with a bunch of schlubs. It is nice to bring a little decorum to the joint.

Originally Posted by Kenneth Cole Haan

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Don't wear a tie without a jacket unless you work at Blockbuster.

Source

Okay, this has been mindlessly repeated enough times that I have to go after it.

Why would there ever be a recommendation against wearing a shirt and tie without a jacket? Think this one through guys. What would be so objectionable to this?

Here are my thoughts. Those who recommend against this are thinking of guys that wear table cloth sized mega shirts that look like sacks on them. Fact of the matter is a lot of guys still wear shirts that fit like this. Agree? Sure. So moving on, a lot of guys also simply don't know how to tie a tie to the correct length. I see this day in and day out. Everyone else agree on this? Sure, why not. Not only that, but these ties swing back and forth like a pendulum all day because most guys don't fasten them down with a clip or a pin. So I think it would make sense, this being the case, to recommend guys don't go around without their jackets on. The jacket is going to clean up those lines, hide the length of the tie, keep it in place, and up the game of this sort of guy (although chances are his suit is too big as well).

Anyhow, rather than just quoting from style manuals condemning this look, how about we really think about it and then find ways to solve the problem. Things change, after all.

My recommendation: If you wear a shirt that looks likes rubbish and you don't know how to tie a tie, throw the jacket on over top. You'll do yourself a favour.

On the other hand, if you invest in a slim fit shirt (better yet, MTM) that fits close to the body, and have a thoughtfully tied necktie held fast with a tie clip, hey, go for it. Maybe, just maybe, it'll catch on.

Originally Posted by HarleyBob

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Try only wearing a tie a couple of days a week and relax your style a little bit on the other days. That way, co-workers will know you are normal and not trying to show them up.

This is good advice. It does sound to me that you risk ruffling your bosses feathers by wearing a tie to work each day, which is unlikely to be a career enhancing move.

Originally Posted by blahman

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You don't put on your suit jacket every time you get out of your chair at the office do you?

I usually wear my suit jacket throughout the day at work, because I otherwise feel the cold sitting at my desk with the air-con on. Some of my colleagues thought this was a little odd to begin with, but now accept this quirk!

I am in that situation myself where I'm the only one that wears a tie at my office
i get comments on a regular basis about it, but i just shrug them off
at the end of the day, I like wearing a tie

Also - the shirt + tie without a jacket is a regular thing for me this time of year. Mainly because it's boiling in my office and i take the jacket off the second i walk in