I work in a large corporate setting in a organization that’s considered “prestigious” in the industry. I used to really care about how I was perceived, such as by the clothes I wear. The dress code is business casual, and for women, the term can be extremely ambiguous. I used to stress so much about what I was wearing and whether it’s considered business casual or not. I used to be self conscious because other women were wearing their blouses tucked in and honestly I just hated doing so. It’s a little thing, I know, but the concept of tucking a shirt in to make it professional is just ridiculous to me. It used to bother me that I didn’t have certain blouses like other women do in my office and they look so put together. But now I just don’t care anymore. I find it ridiculous that we work remotely and the few times we go in the office all of a sudden we can’t do our work if we aren’t dressed “appropriately”. I think dress codes are extremely antiquated and yes, if we are meeting stakeholders then yeah let’s dress up a bit. But if we are just sitting there, talking to coworkers, what’s the point of wearing slacks and dress shoes? To create a professional environment? Today I showed up to work in a top that just looks like a t shirt with longer sleeves with a fancy knit fabric and slacks. Untucked shirt cause I feel more comfortable that way. My coworker made a comment about dressing appropriately and I asked her tell me exactly what about my outfit isn’t professional. Usually I’d say oh I’m so sorry I’ll keep that in mind next time. But now I don’t care. I’m just there to sit in a room and talk with coworkers. My coworker told me I’d look bad in front of supervisors and that I need to dress to impress. I’m just tired of this mentality that dress codes are what makes a workplace professional, rather than the people.