Casual Day, my one true love (sorry, Joel!)

From time to time, my office has Casual Day.  Casual Day used to be every Friday between Memorial Day and Labor Day.  Then it changed to being on random Fridays throughout the year.  Now it's no longer on Fridays exclusively.  Any day of the week can be Casual Day.  Today is Casual Day, for instance.  Last Monday was Casual Day.  Some months, there is a Casual Day every week.  Some months, there are no Casual Days.  If there is a method behind the Casual Day schedule, I have yet to discover it.  And trust me, I've spent a lot of time analyzing this. 

I LOVE Casual Day.  In fact, I don't think that ALL CAPS LOVE is a strong enough term.  I live for Casual Day?  Casual Day is the center of my life?  I want to marry Casual Day and have lots of Casual Babies with it?  Yes, I think that adequately sums up my feelings about Casual Day.  I just feel more comfortable in jeans than I do in biznass pants.  I honestly feel like I do my job better when it's Casual Day.  I am a better, happier person on Casual Day.

RA and I have had many a GChat discussion about my love for Casual Day, and our sadness that jeans are so discriminated against in the workplace.  We both think that a nice pair of jeans paired with a cute top and decent shoes looks better than the polyester jogging suits that half of my office wears on a daily basis.  But polyester jogging suits fit within our dress code, just because they're not jeans.   And so, most days, I must suffer through the working hours in pants I bought at Target while my Seven for All Mankind Jeans sit at home in the drawer, wondering why I don't love them.  It's a cruel, cruel world.

But, such is life.  And refusing to brush my hair or wear matching clothes in protest on non-Casual Days really isn't hurting anyone but me.  I want to look like a responsible, attractive adult.  But I don't want to spend a lot of money on clothes that I'm only going to wear 9-5, Monday-Friday.  What to do?

Well, RA and I got to talking (cue Sex and the City theme song).  I always take note of people whose style I admire.  We've determined that it's not necessarily expensive or designer clothes that make a look work, but how all the pieces form a polished, cohesive unit.  The people I admire in the grocery store or in the elevator don't look like they rolled out of bed four minutes before they need to leave the house, threw on a shirt from the clean laundry basket their ferret-cat had been using as a bed, paired it with a pair of wrinkled khakis from the floor, and rushed out of the house.  Ahem.  They look like they spent a few minutes picking out a basic outfit, and then adding accessories and shoes that really pulled it all together.

I want to be more like these people.  I want to look half-decent, at least most of the time.  I'm not looking for a complete wardrobe overhaul or a visit from the What Not To Wear crew.  I just want to put a little bit more effort into my appearance.  And I want someone to give me credit for trying, damnit.

And that's where the Mission: Put Together photo pool that RA and I have created comes in(translation: RA did all the work, I provided encouragement via GChat).  For the month of May, we will be posting our efforts at creating put-together, cohesive looks for the world to see.

I know what you're thinking!  But what about me?  Can I play too?

Yes!  Please join our group and post your own photos! (Translation: DON'T LEAVE US HANGIN', INTERWEB FRIENDS)! 

But how do I know if my outfit is good enough to post?   

Mission: Put Together is for any outfit you are proud of.  It doesn't have to be a new outfit, an expensive outfit, or an outfit you've never worn before.  You just have to think you rocked it.

But what if I look put-together and fabulous every day?

Then I hate you.  That's great!  Post a picture every day and teach us all your secrets!

What if I can hardly muster the energy to change out of my pajamas most days?

Post a picture whenever you feel inspired.  I am going to aim for two post-worthy outfits a week during May. 

What if I wear the same three pairs of pants every week?  Are you all going to laugh at me?

Welcome to my world, my friend.   I will DEFINITELY  be repeating items.  I often wear the same pants two days in a row.  Or three days in a row.  I tell myself no notices.

But I work from home/my office has a casual dress code!  I wear jeans and flip flops every day!

Mission: Put Together is an equal opportunity Flickr Group.  We do not practice jeans discrimination.  In fact, we love jeans.  And also, I want your job.  Please send me an application.

What if I have a crappy camera?  Or I have a nice camera that I don't know how to operate?  WHAT THEN, I ASK?

Dude, we don't care.  I plan on taking pictures with my cell phone half the time.  And it's not even a fancy iPhone.

What if I don't have a Flickr account? 

Just email your picture to me or RA and we will post it for you.

But what if I don't even have my own blog?

That's fine!  Just email one of us your pictures and we'll post them in the group for you.

OK, I'll send that over as soon as I clean up the laundry piles in the background.  And paint the walls.  And buy new furniture.  And lose 10 pounds.

Don't stress about any of that stuff.  This is just for fun.  And I can promise you that my laundry pile is bigger than yours.

Oh, no!  I couldn't possibly let anyone see this horrific laundry pile.

OK, then I suggest that you just stand squarely in front of your giant laundry pile when you take the picture, thereby blocking it from the interwebs view. Like this, for example:

Um, why are you holding your shoes up like that?

Because I don't have a full-length, mirror.  I KNOW!  The horror!

OK.  This sounds like fun!  I can't wait to pick out my outfit for tomorrow and wow the whole office with my great look!

See, now that's the idea!

Can we stop pretending that this is an actual conversation between two people and just end this entry now?

Oh, fine.  Party pooper.

Comments

[RA]

I long for a Casual Day, but it's just not happening. I don't get how I have to dress in business casual all the time (i.e. NO JEANS), but the researchers get to wear jeans and sneakers every stinkin' day. Dark jeans and flats are way more professional than that! Clearly, I am not over this.

And for the record, no track suit of any kind is dressier than nice jeans. I don't care if JLo wore them, but those matchy sweatsuits do not an outfit make.

Let the being put-together begin!

[janet]

Me too! Re: the top half of your post, at least. Except we NEVER have casual day. We are 100% all the time jean haters. It makes me want to quit my job. I hate, no, I LOATHE, the no jeans rule. And so I flaunt it to the max: I wear jean jackets all the time, and what I call "navy blue cotton pants" which are really like jean trousers.

[abbersnail]

This is going to be a fun project! I'm going to join, though I can't promise pictures. I suck at remembering to do things like this!

For the record, I work at a non-profit where jeans are the norm. Sometimes I get a little sad, because whenever I dress nicely people think I'm a freak.

[Operation Pink Herring]

Janet: A few weeks ago I was pissed that there was no Casual Friday, so I wore my Ann Taylor Loft trouser jeans out of spite. I totally got called out when someone complimented my pants and then followed up with "Are they... jeans?" I told them emphatically NO, they are NOT jeans, they are trousers that just happen to be blue. And comfy. SO THERE.

[Audrey]

I'm going to go over to flickr and join right now!

I lived without a full-length mirror for a long time. Then I decided nobody should have to live that way and went and bought a $5 one at Wal-Mart and stuck it to the back of my bathroom door.And the world suddenly became a better place. (This also means that any photos I post will likely be taken in my bathroom. The horrors!)

I once heard a statistic (and statistics [which I am having a REALLY hard time typing!] and always be trusted, you know) that people are X% (I don't remember the exact percent, but it was definitely a positive number!) more efficient workers when dressed casually. You should relate this info to your company.

[Operation Pink Herring]

My not having a full-length mirror is not that big of a deal. I don't really use the mirror that much (this is part of my problem), and when I really need a full-length mirror, I just stand on the bed.

[-R-]

My company has a "nice jeans are ok on Friday" policy. BUT my floor is not allowed to follow that policy! There is no reason for us not being allowed to follow the policy!

[Wickedly Scarlett]

Every day was casual day in my old office--people would ask me endlessly if I had special plans if I ever wore anything fancier than a pair of dark jeans!

Also, please tell me where you got that necklace! It's beautiful!

[Laurie]

No casual day for me ever at work! I've got some major jealousy going on:)

I love this idea - I will do my best to take pictures in the morning!

[Charise]

Is it sad that part of the reason I don't plan on leaving my mind numbingly boring job anytime soon is the lack of dress code? Yesterday, for instance, I was a bit hungover from the 2 bottles of wine at my birthday dinner, so I strolled in wearingjeans, a hooded sweatshirt, and flip flops and fit right in.

The flip side of that, though, is that I DO like lookng cute and pulled together a few days a week, but I feel out of place in my cute wrap dresses and skirts and heels. I am the youngest person in my department, so while I feel the need to look professional and pulled together, I also don't like how my sort of trendyish looks (I mean, it's just like, the Limited and H&M and Target) draw attention from the middle aged people who wear said polyester pants when they want to "dress up".

Ahh, the real world. Can't we just go back to college? Shoot.

[Laurel]

I am going to attempt this as well! I have two loyal pairs of biznass pants that I wear EVERY SINGLE WEEK! So much repeating.

[Isabel]

I stand on the toilet to make sure my pants and shoes look good. I've asked for a full length mirror for every birthday/christmas/easter for the last FIVE YEARS. I still don't have one.

Anyway, I always look hott for work. But I'll still play along.

(I don't alway look hott. You caught the sarcasm, right?)

(and you're gonna remind us to do this, right?)

[elise]

I wear jeans to work every day, nyah nyah. However, I don't always look put together, so I will try and join your pool and post on the days that I might.

How's that for cooperation?

[Marriage-101]

Just checked out the flickr group and woh! It rocks!!

[heidikins]

Will be joining, may or may not actually have fabulous outfits, but will benefit from fabulousness of others. So let it be written, so let it be done.

xox

[alyndabear]

Oh oh, I want to join. But I've never been a put together kind of person. :(

[Brad C]

I remembered when I worked at MCI in Colorado Springs in the 1990's. We had a dress code - the pants had to be slacks or khakis but you didn't dare to wear blue jeans. I showed up on Friday in jeans and got chewed out but yet, there was another gentleman that wore polyester pants - the color of brown like dog crap and a yellowed white polyester shirt.

the gentleman wearing the ployester was appluaded for his outfit even though it looked like crap but yet, me wearing a decent pair of jeans with a decent shirt gets taken to task.

One thing, why the harsh prejudice against blue jeans ?