I’m lucky to work in a true business casual environment. This pretty much means no jeans, gym clothes, t-shirts or tennis shoes. Basically what you would wear to church is ok. The exact outfits I am most comfortable in.
How each person defines business casual seems to keep our Office Manager pretty busy. We have an outdated description in the handbook, but it refers to panty hose and beard length, two items no one seems to care that much about anymore. Some people push the limits and wear skirts of an inappropriate length or shorts that are not work appropriate. Me, I try to err on the side of caution. I love twin sets and wear them regularly with dress pants.
Unlike in elementary school when it was super cool to wear the exact same thing as your best friend, it is not super cool to do that at the office. Even unintentional, I’ve found it makes for a bit of an awkward day.
My work bestie and I have a way around this. Since we tend to wear the same outfits, we let each other know when we plan to wear a particular paring (this week it is because I still have not caught up on laundry from our vacation). For instance, I mentioned I was planning on wearing grey pants and a black shirt on Thursday. At first everyone around us laughed, but now they know our discussions are to ensure we don’t wear the exact same thing on the exact same day.
Dress codes vary by office. What goes as business casual in one environment can be too dressy in another. My suggestion is to overdress for the first week or so until you have a good read on what is acceptable. No one ever got sent home to change because they were too formal!
p.s. Ladies, my favorite site for getting new ideas for work outfits is Work Chic. I highly recommend it!
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