Capris are almost muffaletta, aren't they?

A lot of those cropped pants cut the calf in such a way as to make the wearer look stumpy and short and long-waisted. I'm not sure why anyone would sign up for that, but plenty of women do.

The more narrow-legged cropped pants, or ones that end at or just above the knee--as in, anything that says "leg midpoint right here!!!1!!" doesn't do that so much, and those look fine to me.

I only hate dress codes when they are unstated, or badly stated. If you tell me "dress professionally" or "just look at what everyone else is wearing, you'll figure it out", well, no, I won't. I would rather be told explicitly that skirts must be at least below the knee, pants down to the ankle and necklines above the collarbone than try to guess what's okay and what isn't.

Can we all agree than manpris are a no?

I own 2 pairs of capris and they are purely comfort, as opposed to fashion, items - they are elastic-waist, weekend-bumming-around, don't worry about sitting on the floor or the ground or whatever, no modesty issues pants. For hot weather. For cold weather, I call them "pants."

WRT manpris...

On the bus I ride there are a bunch of young men who wear the baggie, long, pants around crotch look. Some of them are short. When they wear the big athletic shorts, I always wonder if they know they look like they are wearing manpris. Seriously, the shorts go to the ankle!

Also, I don't see any shorts, even formal bermuda shorts, as work-appropriate in a business-casual environment.

Only in Bermuda, really.

To be frank, I think bare legs are more casual than hose.

I agree. Walking around bare-legged in a short skirt is a whole different vibe than one with hose. In a long skirt there is a bit more wiggle room.

If you tell me "dress professionally" or "just look at what everyone else is wearing, you'll figure it out", well, no, I won't.

Yeah, see, I'm a grown up and think that telling grown people EXACTLY what they can and can not wear is ridiculous. And why should I trust the fashion judgement of someone just because they were put in charge of deciding the dress code. They may think formal shorts are okay! Or dresses over pants!

Can we all agree than manpris are a no?

They've spread, have they?

For a long time I pretty much saw them in Chelsea. Then they seemed to filter in to the rest of the city. Now they've made it as far as the Carolinas... oh dear.

Only us fatties were asked to never leave our office or open the door without putting on a blazer when wearing a sleeveless shirt.

Jesus.

Although I do think that what's inappropriate varies by what there is to show. I can't think of a better example than Laura from Project Runway -- she always wears extremely plunging necklines, but is comepletely flat chested, so it's just showing more skin, not more boob. Not that that's right, but there you go.

I don't think shorts are business casual, and ESPECIALLY not with flip flops. Maybe with a jacket and decent shoes.

Also, I don't see any shorts, even formal bermuda shorts, as work-appropriate in a business-casual environment.

Thank god my company doesn't feel this way. I've been in shorts all week, AIFG!

The library director wears capris a lot, and I think to myself, I know we are in academia, but you should not look like you are at the beach!

When at the beach, I presume the library director wears the wetsuit.

(No, I will never let that go, for I am scarred.)

My sense of the twittiness of the business-casual marketing chick has nothing to do with the specific items of clothing -- it's that, Dude, part of being a grownup with a real job is that you learn to feel out the local customs for these things and don't squawk about how oppressed you are because your frakkin' generation is so much cooler than that!