You can't go wrong with a good suit and shirt.

Jacket off you are smart yet casual. Jacket on, a bit more serious. Keep a tie in your desk or briefcase/bag and in seconds you can be fit to go and meet the most important of people.

Its worked for me for years. The day I came in dressed like crap (On a weekend) was the day I was invited by the MD over the phone to a directors box sporting event. Cue a panic rush home to change. Had I been doing the suit thing, there would not have been a problem.

Running our own company now, and we tend to do the smart jeans, suit jacket nice shirt thing. Our company, our rules. Myself and my business partner do dress down Fridays pretty well. Unshaven, old rugby shirts, old jeans, knock off at 3 and off to the pub. We both know, one day this will bite us on the bum!

"Business casual" two words that make my heart sink.

I own suits, shoes, shirts and ties for work.
I own jeans, t-shirts and trainers etc for not work.

So, thanks to some stupid "relaxed" dress code, I have to buy some third set of clothes.
Possibly worse still is the "casual Friday" after suit / shirt for the rest of the week which means buying this crap for one day per week.

Brilliant.

Good suggestion.

My first day would always be suit, with a tie ready in the pocket.
Looking back at my first day photo (security pass), this is what I wore. Now I'll get away with jeans and a polo shirt.

We're not r-tards, we all know they're suede boots, I still don't think they're appropriate work wear though, they'd do for dress-down though.

This is my take on business casual, however, I'd rather be safe than look like an idiot on the first day, nobody will comment if you wear smart shoes while they're all wearing desert boots, they will if you wear desert boots and everyone else is wearing smart shoes...

Agreed; they're nowhere near formal but I'd argue they're pretty versatile In terms of dressing up or down...you wouldn't wear them with a suit but depending on how casual the smart/casual is, then I think they'd be ok.

I enjoyed the posters who have basically said smart/casual is the same suit you wear for 'smart' but without a tie. Rock and roll.

That's them

Totally agree. They are, IMO, completely inappropriate for office wear at any time.

I worked for an Australian bank for a few years and the dress code was none existent in the office.
"Aussie culture" apparently.

I went in on my first day (in a suit + tie) and was meeting the directors, when straight away one of them told me there was no need at all to dress how I was.

It would seem that sports casual was indeed the order of the day for most people.
In all honesty it took me ages to get used to. I always felt somehow really scruffy when walking into the office.

Got used to it after a while though

This was the Mark Zuckerberg argument wasn't it? He caused cuff link wearers all over the world to spit their tea out when he attended a board meeting in a hoodie.

I don't honestly think dress is relevant for work, unless of course a uniform is required for, well, making everyone 'look uniform' for business branding reasons.

Why not just wear what you want?

I had better be careful what I say though because a poster took huge offence at casual dress and told me in another thread a while ago, that they wouldn't take me at all seriously at all 'in business' if I didn't attend a meeting in a suit, with cuff links and a 'nice watch'...

They went on to say they would base their business dealing with me on what I wore.

Makes you wonder doesn't it...