Dressing like a pauper

[legobikes]

Four, when I have dressed up in the past i have gotten comments about my appearance from older male patients that I find creepy and annoying. You can say that’s my perception and they are just trying to be nice but I still don’t like it and find if I dress very plainly those comments are much less frequent.

He probably means this, no?

Agree with all your criteria for clothes I wear at work.

[Anne]

I agree but it is also on the women. My wife doesn't wear make up and hardly ever puts on jewelry. and she thinks fashion is a joke. So i think if more women stood up and didnt play into the “must look like barbie doll” mentality maybe things would change?

I don’t really understand what you are saying. Is your point that women dressing too femininely causes them to not be taken seriously?

I see 0 women physicians who i think try to dress like a Barbie doll. Makeup/jewelry is a personal preference. At work safety (e.g. potential for patients to grab necklaces /earrings) needs to be taken into account depending on your work setting/specialty but aside from that wear what makes you happy. Men tend to think women make their choices about what to wear with men in mind, but in reality every woman I know, regardless of sexual orientation, dresses the way they do because they like it +/- to impress other women.

I like to dress professionally but not too nicely at work. One, I like to be approachable to patients and wearing an expensive suit would feel out of place IMO in my setting. Two, I want the clothes I see patients in to be washable (not dry clean only). And I don’t want to care if I have to throw something out if an item of clothing gets messed up at work. Three, I need to be able to move very freely to assist patients. Four, when I have dressed up in the past i have gotten comments about my appearance from older male patients that I find creepy and annoying. You can say that’s my perception and they are just trying to be nice but I still don’t like it and find if I dress very plainly those comments are much less frequent.

It can be difficult to find clothes that meet these criteria and that I don’t hate to wear. So when I find some I stock up.

[Kamban]

I bought blundstone boots. I think they were $200, but they will probably last 20 years. I have a pair of Frye dress shoes that were 150-200, but they’re very nice and I’ve had them for years.

Those shoes are not expensive. They are on the upper end of what regular shoes would cost. I was impressed by blundestone since this has been made in Hobart Tasmania since the 1800's, a place I had a chance to visit. Absolutely charming town that very few people who go to Australia visit.

Anyway, one of the problems is that I have no idea what each style means and how it will fit in the appropriate work / leisure environment. What is classic vs Chelsea. By buying online you run into the problem of the costs of returning it and have to make do keeping something you quite don't love but don't want to go through the hassle/ cost of returning it. Do those blundestone waterproof do well with short hiking trails with a bit of streams / puddles.

Which Frye dress shoes look good to use in a doctor office. $200 at sale is not bad if these shoes / boots last 5+ years.

[eyecandy]

I agree but it is also on the women. My wife doesn't wear make up and hardly ever puts on jewelry. and she thinks fashion is a joke. So i think if more women stood up and didnt play into the “must look like barbie doll” mentality maybe things would change?

Well there's a quite a range between Barbie and wearing tasteful makeup and jewelry. (Don't even get me started on the baby-doll false lashes Gen-Zers all wear. And they wonder why they're getting dry eyes and recurrent styes --Gross!!)

Women (and men for that matter) should be able to dress up or down as much as they like at work. Prior to the pandemic I never wore scrubs outside the OR and wore nice dresses 1/2 the week. Pandemic hit - scrubs daily so I could wash them. Within the last 6 months I've started re-introducing dresses at work and it feels good. It's nice feeling like a normal person again, with a waistband that reminds me to not eat the donut, instead of a slob. I feel good when I look good. Now, I'm not fancy at all, but I do miss the days of looking nice for dinner parties, nights on the town, a play/musical, etc. Make-up is a complete no-go since the pandemic, not worth ruining my N95 masks which I still wear on the daily.

[Eye3md]

Going to be a little controversial here, but I think men get away with dressing like a schlub more than women do. People (patients, C-suite types, etc) typically assume men are the doctor, regardless of how they look or what they wear. I think women often use nicer clothing to add to their first-impression credibility.

I agree.

[Eye3md]

i think if you could fairly easily intuit what other surgeons would wear to a national meeting, if you were truly unable to do so that's kind of strange. most surgeons i know dress up for clinic.

i go to them all the time and can't remember ever seeing anyone dressed so casually except on their way in and out of hotel etc.

to me there are situations when insisting on being dressed for your own maximal comfort verges on being unprofessional. if one of my residents insisted on dressing this way at a meeting i wouldn't do anything to stop them, i would also hope they would understand that if they were going to network and learn about career opportunities this would greatly harm their chances of success.

I agree with you about a resident, or new private practice doc. When you are establishing yourself, it is important to look professional to your patients and referring doc’s. For me, a well established doc, why does it matter how I dress for a national meeting? I want to enjoy, and learn, from the meeting so I am not concerned about dressing uncomfortably (to me).

Once I attended my first national meeting, I saw how everyone dressed, and it still did not make sense to me. To this day, I continue to wear a shirt, tie, and white lab coat in my office or the hospital. Dressing professionally around patients, or at the hospital when conducting medical/business rounds, is worthwhile to show a certain level of professionalism for these particular people. At national meetings, I know very few people, and have no desire to know any more than I already do. If they think I look professional or not, it doesn’t really matter to me. I’ve been in my current practice for over 20 years, I’m very very busy with no desire to get any busier, none of my referrals depend on the people at these meetings, and I’m old enough now to not really give a hoot what people think that don’t know me personally

[STATscans]

Going to be a little controversial here, but I think men get away with dressing like a schlub more than women do. People (patients, C-suite types, etc) typically assume men are the doctor, regardless of how they look or what they wear. I think women often use nicer clothing to add to their first-impression credibility.

I agree but it is also on the women. My wife doesn't wear make up and hardly ever puts on jewelry. and she thinks fashion is a joke. So i think if more women stood up and didnt play into the “must look like barbie doll” mentality maybe things would change?

[STATscans]

Any of you guys normally dress with holes in your clothes, clothes from high school, stuff you'd get from thrift stores?

I still giggle when people think im poor.

Arent you poor?

[mkintx]

Going to be a little controversial here, but I think men get away with dressing like a schlub more than women do. People (patients, C-suite types, etc) typically assume men are the doctor, regardless of how they look or what they wear. I think women often use nicer clothing to add to their first-impression credibility.

[MPMD]

I think I’m somewhere down the middle. Used to be on the dressier side of the spectrum. Not anything super expensive, I would buy everything on sale, but used to dress up in clinic with button downs and slacks, occasionally ties. Now I am 99% scrubs in clinic, and generally casual joggers/shorts and T-shirts outside. I will however dress up for nice occasions. Suits for meetings, sports coat with dressier jeans for dinners out, etc. definitely not clothes with holes in them. some of this is specialty specific, for derm I think I dress more casually than the average person.

derm and plastics for sure.

i don't think they let you in a plastics meeting unless your suit is legit from italy or london.

rather than checking badges they peep the watch.

[Tim]

My thoughts on boots that expensive that you get for the craftsmanship can be summed up in the song 'Air Force Ones': "once you scuff 'em you eff'd up your whole night".

https://www.republicbootcompany.com

There is nothing wrong with dressing for the occasion. It is basically the same as a house.
You can buy a brand new house from a builder.
Low end the floor plan, amenities and colors are fixed. High end it is built to your specs and plan, a complete custom build. Big price difference for the same square footage.

For $400 you get a custom fit and an off the shelf design. Better material adds cost. Custom design adds cost. I think it’s also a regional thing. Dress boots aren’t work boots for the stable. I doubt you will see a female surgeon wearing dress boots to clinic. I doubt you will see a female surgeon dressed casual in clinic.
Business casual but not overdressed.
How do people dress for residency interviews?
Suit or sport coat or business casual or casual?
Fashion statements are individual. Don’t wear boots with running shorts! Regardless of the cost. Or dress shoes for that matter.
MPMD said it best, dress appropriately for the occasion.
My wife actually changes if we need to run out to a store.What is with that? I get told to change if we go out to eat. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes we don’t go out then. That’s the downside, unless I didn’t want to go out.
Dress for success is more about appropriate dress than cost.

[Fugue]

I think I’m somewhere down the middle. Used to be on the dressier side of the spectrum. Not anything super expensive, I would buy everything on sale, but used to dress up in clinic with button downs and slacks, occasionally ties. Now I am 99% scrubs in clinic, and generally casual joggers/shorts and T-shirts outside. I will however dress up for nice occasions. Suits for meetings, sports coat with dressier jeans for dinners out, etc. definitely not clothes with holes in them. some of this is specialty specific, for derm I think I dress more casually than the average person.

[VentAlarm]

i love how these threads (like car threads) turn into a "who can be the cheapest" contest really quickly.

Yea. I’m frugal, but I don’t think I’m cheap. I bought blundstone boots. I think they were $200, but they will probably last 20 years. I have a pair of Frye dress shoes that were 150-200, but they’re very nice and I’ve had them for years. I cheap out on gym shorts. I buy Patagonia everything - not cheap, but not expensive - I just always try to buy it on sale. Incidentally, I bought 2 shirts today - they were both $90, but a company that makes good stuff, lasts and fits me well. Neither were on sale.

[nomindforfinance]

You guys are making me feel better about our dismal clothing situation. Partner and I have been discussing how ratty our clothes are - we both wear a lot of gym clothes - to the gym and around the house, plus he wears them under his scrubs. A lot of it is lululemon, but that stuff is worth it, it lasts forever, never fades, etc. When we suddenly get invited to go out to a nice dinner or a party thats where we have trouble. I feel like we have maybe 2-3 outfits that are acceptable, most of which are clothes we have had for 4-5 years or more, and if they are dirty, we are screwed. we have friends that wear blazers and nice clothes to events and rarely seem to wear the same thing twice. I just don't have the mental capacity for it, though when I was in high school and college this stuff was much more important to me. I don't think spending a little more on clothing would even be noticeable to us, it's more about the time and energy.

I actually ordered him 4 pairs of dressier/casual shoes in various colors yesterday as an unexpected treat (it helps that we are both men and wear the same size, so I can wear them too), plus had his cowboy boots and winter boots polished and cleaned up since it's getting to be winter and he will find reasons to wear them now. He goes through at least 2-3 pairs of athletic shoes a year - he has one pair specifically for clinic/hospital and another for gym.

[GlassPusher]

He makes good music, too. I'm a big fan of his song 'Play A Train Song'.

i've only ever heard 'beer run'.