To allow capri pants or not

GLC

We have a business casual dress policy. In the past, we have not allowed capri pants (mid-calf or just below the knee pants). Many employees have asked again about wearing them. We use to allow them but employees would come in looking like they were on their way to a baseball game. Some employees could dress them up, but others look too casual. For those of you with business casual dress policies, do you allow capri pants? Do you have any stipulations on them? Thanks.

Parabeagle

Do a search on capri pants. This was discussed exhaustively not too long ago on the forum and I learned more about fashion than I ever WANTED to know as a result. There was some good feedback and I'm sure you'll be able to get some ideas. Good luck.

System

"A search of capri pants"? Puleeez;Beagle, ever the sly one. Last night I watched a bit of Shania Twain's hot new special. She's of course the 5 ft tall bombshell of beauty, energy and bellybutton fame on stage. She can only stand up with her feet exactly as far apart as she is tall. Even that tiny dynamite little centerfold looked oddly silly in capri pants. Then there's the magazine advertisement...."Capri pants, half off".

Other than a slight aversion to them, still I can't decide why a dress code would sanction them. When you think about it, they don't reveal as much skin as many other items, aren't tighter than lots of things and might be comfortable as far as I know. Do they conjure notions of clam-digs or gardening or Lily Tomlin working the switchboard? Is that why they should be prohibited in the workplace?

System

We don't have a dress code at all, and a lot of us girls wear capri pants. If you want to allow them, it would be difficult to set guidelines as there are so many kinds and lengths, and some are loose while others are low-riders and very tight. You'd be better off to not open that can of worms. The capris I'm wearing today are mid-calf length and loose-fitting, but another girl here today has knee length skin tight denim capris that I find inappropriate, and I'm really not uptight! If you modify the dress code over this, you may find requests popping up over other things, like shorter skirts, sandals, and the like, so I'd keep things as they are.

rad

We are corporate casual in my office and we are more casual in the summer. Cropped pants, ok. Capri pants, not ok. They are too casual and border on beach wear which we are specifically not allowed to wear (yes, some people need to be told this). I agree that they can dressed up and could look very nice but not everyone is savvy enough to pull that off and the real short 'clam-digger' length is just too short for work. This is for management only of course, our union folks get to wear pretty much what they want as long as they are not Plant.

scottorr

We do not allow capri pants, not even on casual Fridays. However we do allow body jewelry. It's not a policy I agree with but its here to stay.

Crout

Man, it was like "Capri Pants Day" around here just last week. And that brings up a good point. It seems like the females in our office can push the envelope 18 different ways when it comes to fashion, but if I deviate so much as one click from the accepted norm I hear about it. I know that in general HR offices are rather dominated by women, but it's just not fair I tell ya. WHY CAN'T I WEAR CAPRI PANTS?!?! Wow, I feel so much better now. Thanks for letting me vent.

rad

When I was in highschool the boys used to have mini-skirt day on June 21. We girls could wear them to stay cool but they boys could not wear shorts. But you wouldn't want to wear capris anyway, then you'd have to groom your legs x;-)

Hatchetman

Just thinking about Don wearing capri pants should result everyone wanting to ban people wearing them. Even Shania Twain wearing them does NOT counter an image of Don wearing them.

And if an image of Don wearing capris doesn't do it....then consider me wearing them! Point made!

scottorr

They now make capris for men. And I have seen many men here in Albany wear them. I was surprised at how popular with the guys they have become. At my last job women could wear capris but men could not wear shorts or anything but dress pants. I asked my boss about this policy and she said it wasn't discrimination because women were considered minorities. I'm still trying to ponder her logic but it didn't make sense to me.

psrcello

I guess I'm really out of it - I keep reading these posts on capri pants and remembering how much I hated them when my mom used to make me wear them when I was a child - some 45 years ago! As far as I'm concerned, pants either need to come down to your ankles, or stop somewhere around the mid-thigh. Anything in between looks silly.8-}

rad

Have you seen the Bob's Store commercial for man capris? Its hysterical.

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-20-03 AT 09:36AM (CST)[/font][p]To belabor the point, I don't know why Beagle is talking about ME in capris. It's Crout who was moaning about that. I used to have a pair of red/white thick cotton, striped pants with a rope belt and they came to mid thigh (EDIT: PARDON ME, MID-CALF). This was way back in another decade when little boys wore them with sandals. I should have kept them. And, that comment about grooming one's legs...In the interest of diversity, don't forget that not all cultures practice what might be called 'leg grooming', or underarms for that matter.

Scott's female boss' logic is laughable. And who says HR is predominately female? I can recall when there were NO (as in ZERO) women in HR functions when all the personnel managers were men. Over time there was a realization that women could be trusted to learn the function (I have my hard hat on) and all of the larger meetings of HR managers I attend now have about a 50-50 split. But I realize some of the men are busy working and could not attend the meeting and sent a woman in their place, just to take notes you see. So the split is probably 55men-45women. Am I setting myself up or what? I am learning from Ray.

ritaanz

Don, did you fall of your motorcycle recently? Have they put something in the drinking water? Were you brain washed? There MUST be a reasonable explanation for the gibberish you just posted. Sent there to take notes???? Bah!

From the way I see it, the male species abdicated the HR throne because he (they) realized they couldn't cut the mustard. (I think that's a NJ term.) x:*

sonny

Rita, I think by the time of his posts, Don may not be getting enough sleep.

rad

Gasp! What was I thinking ?!?! Point taken on the leg grooming comment x:-8

Don D

RAD: Post your profile and we'll have a better feel for your stance on leg grooming. No pun intended.

rad

I don't know how.

scottorr

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-20-03 AT 12:51PM (CST)[/font][p]I'm not sure either, I have a digital camera so all I need know is how or who to send the picture too. And maybe just maybe I'll find a pair of male capri pants to wear.

Don D

You don't need a digital camera for a profile. x:-) Your profile is something you post about yourself, which might include initials or name, city, state, hobbies, other neat stuff. James S. who diligently runs this whole ferris wheel will jump in and tell you how.

rad

Did it, that was easy.

Leslie

Men's capris pants new?? Anybody else have a child who watched hip-hop video dances over the past five to eight years? Those aren't shorts - they aren't pants. They may have called them something else - probably because their underwear is hanging out of the top - but between ankle and knee is capris to me.

And yes, we allow them at work.

scottorr

I was at the mall over the weekend and saw a young man (18-20) with his shorts so low that not one inch of his butt was covered by the shorts and he had to hold them up in the front wit one of his hands. At least he was wearing boxers to cover the skin. I think the whole hanging low shorts thing was in retaliation for not being able to wear capris to work. (if I knew how to wink I would).

Cinderella

Our dress code is "business casual". We allow things like shorts (no shorter than 4 inches above the knee for women AND men), capri's, and jeans but not tank tops or anything with spaghetti straps. Oh, and we have a "no beach-ware" type sentence in our policy as well. Guess we don't consider capri's and shorts beach-ware but plastic thongs/flip flops are a big no-no around here.
Cinderella

Leslie

scottorr, put a small x, semicolon ;, hyphen -, then right parens ), all in a row. It works...x;-)

Parabeagle

Don, I think your cheese has finally slipped off your cracker. I didn't say a word about you in capri pants. All I did is point the inquirer to the previous thread about capri pants from awhile back. You're imagining things. x:-)

Whirlwind2

I don’t get the reasoning behind disallowing capris, but that’s beside the point. The point is, we're playing a losing game on many (if not most) dress code issues for the simple reason that people who lack the gene for good taste will never get it. I don’t care how detailed your rules are, someone will deliberately or unwittingly find a way to look inappropriate at work. Case in point: I once observed in my workplace an older professional woman of somewhat robust (read: slightly overweight) physique who met the letter of the dress code in every way – long pants, tailored blouse – however, her pants were of a stretchy material and I believe a few years or sizes had come and gone since they were purchased. The result was that you could see her cellulite through the rear end of her pants. (Sorry if the mental picture is a bit too vivid.) So, was I going to go up to a revered elder stateswoman of our organization and tell her pants were too tight? Uh, I don’t think so.

Some days I’d just like to post a new dress code that says, “Please don’t come to work looking like crap,” and be done with it.

Don D

Thanks for the visual. Was this the same lady who so abundantly filled out her button up blouse that to sit at a table in front of her was to put yourself in immediate danger of having a button pierce your eye at 100 miles per hour? I know her.

Whirlwind2

No, this was a different person (now retired and creating visuals in other venues, presumably).

In fact, the projectile button offender was a man, but I won't bust you for trying to pin the crime on a woman. Please remember my kindness in the future when other Forumites of my gender are heating up the tar and getting out the feathers.

System

Touche', Whirlwind2 x:-). Got me there! I see you have a new screen name too.

Whirlwind

Yes, I lost my original identity in the virus epidemic. I'm trying to get the old one back; if not, months of therapy and the addition of a 2 to my forum handle should do the trick.