I worked with a woman who had 3 pairs of the same style black pants and 3 pairs of the same style grey pants. That is virtually all she wore to work year round.

You also know one well. Ok, 2 pair black pants, slightly different styles, one grey and one...tan.ish.

I'll occasionally wear one of my skirts. But I really don't `put much thought into my clothes when I am putting them on. It's morning. I can't. Virtually all my tops are ones that will go with at least one or two of the 3 different colors.

And then there are my shoes. Not as many as some, but I love my shoes. Those I do tend to think about, a little. Less than my earrings, more than my makeup.

In the advertising firm where I used to work it would be considered "not trying" and "dull." Not that that's right. But, this is the same place where while interviewing accountants, boss lady asked me "Does he/she look like one of us?"

I'm very lucky I've never worked anywhere that I had to take style points into consideration. It's always been "She shows up to work every day, she's got a brain, God bless her."

Speaking only for myself (since I am essentially that woman) - huh? What statement? Nobody's ever pointed or laughed at me either.

I guess I should qualify that with as a woman in the office and retail jobs I have worked -- i people would definitely think you were not trying or unprofessional or didn't care about the appearance you presented, and either talk about a person behind your back or talk to your supervisor

At the theatre, people have not really noticed when I have worn the same pair of Hello Kitty pj bottoms for 3 days.

I wore the same black pants every Thursday for a couple of years in the early 90s. They were my Thursday Pants. I did it to see if anyone would notice (nobody ever did) and, also, cuz I can be a leeetle OCD. (I shudder to think of the pants now. They were super 90s--high waisted, pleated. But I loved them at the time.)

my problem is that my blacks don't match.

This is when the awesomeness of my drycleaner/seamstress comes in, 'cause she'll do the lot for me at a very reasonable rate. I love her.

I think it was a combination of the industry, and also the region. A woman in Dallas not put effort into looking just so?

SCANDAL!

I definitely think my coworkers would've noticed and been disapproving (among themselves, not to my face probably) if I'd gotten a bunch of black and grey pants and worn them exclusively.

The expectations of women are different, and the styles more short-lived. I guess it's possible that men have "Oh, man, today's a grey suit sort of a day" but it's not that expected.

I could not tell you what colour shirt any of my male coworkers were wearing yesterday if they didn't stand out (one guy was wearing a deep red, another one's in ochre today). The blues and whites just disappear. I can tell you the colour of most of the clothes either of my female coworkers wore, as well as the styles of shoes. Some days even jewelry, and how much makeup they normally wear.

Dallas is very ....shiny. I think of it as the plastic of Texas.

The same way I think of El Paso as the concrete armpit of Texas.

I'm very lucky I've never worked anywhere that I had to take style points into consideration. It's always been "She shows up to work every day, she's got a brain, God bless her."

Also, "She hasn't tried to shiv any of her co-workers — well, no one important — so we'll keep her around."