[arel]

In New York, people lie casually, cheat, backbite and engage in office nastiness. But no one cares, as long as you dress well and aren't too fat.

In Vermont, the priorities are pretty much reversed.

These are generalizations, of course, but I do prefer it here because I feel more in sync with Vermont values.

In fairness, though, I am not privy to Vermont's underside. At least not yet.

And I have met a few New Yorkers who are honest, truthful and decent.

..........

FWIW, today I, the new Vermonter from Brooklyn, put on blue jeans, black Bass suede, Ugg-like boots from the local Bass outlet store, a black LL Bean turtleneck and a bright green Columbia fleece vest. And black socks with a white cat print. And earrings I bought at the Dress Barn Outlet. And my dark purple prescription glasses, which I bought at a local optometrist's. And a watch and rings I brought with me from Brooklyn.

I smell fine, I think. I went swimming this morning and took my shower at the pool. I used Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap. No smelly activities since, except for some cooking. I cooked turkey chili, with ground turkey, black beans, onion, garlic, a small Yukon Gold potato (least amount of sugar for a potato, BTW), leftover tomato, two carrots and some Swiss Chard. I seasoned it with chili powder, a tiny bit of cumin, some commercial tomato pasta sauce and some Asian hot chili oil. It wasn't bad, but it didn't taste much like chili. Next time I'll leave out the carrots and Swiss chard!! I considered cooking the chard alone, but I didn't want an extra pot to wash. That was a mistake. The chili would have tasted better without the chard. Or the carrots.

Live and learn.

But I digress...

[RunawayJim]

Since this topic has been brought back from the dead, I'm curious what men wear to work. Are there a lot of suits in VT? How about men being required to wear ties?

I have worked in a college environment for several years now. I was hoping to avoid the tie, but my current position requires that I wear a tie during the school year (break excepted) and I can "relax" my dress code by wearing a polo shirt with khakis. As a student, I worked in a similar field at a different college and the full timers that I worked for were able to wear jeans and they even wore shorts in the summer.

Are work dress codes more relaxed in VT than they tend to be in southern New England?

[GypsySoul22]

Shorts all year long. (it's a bad look, seriously).
I have NOT seen a man in a suit anywhere in 2.5 years...

It's very lax here but I suppose if you work in court or in somewhere very professional you'd wear a suit.

**Grey hair...well, free to be you and me...coloring your hair is NOT healthy...! (just my opinion).

[RunawayJim]

Originally Posted by RunawayJim

and I can "relax" my dress code by wearing a polo shirt with khakis.

Whoops! I left out an important detail. I can relax it in the summer. So I get 3 months of polo shirts instead of a dress shirt and tie.

The thing that sucks about our whole dress code thing is that I live barely within walking distance of work and well within biking distance. I get too hot in pants to do that in the middle of summer and there's not much for places to change or shower at work. I had really hoped that working in a college would allow me a very relaxed dress code, but not at this college.

[Sherylcatmom]

Originally Posted by RunawayJim

Are work dress codes more relaxed in VT than they tend to be in southern New England?

It depends on the workplace. I haven't seen VT colleges where faculty or staff have to wear suits or ties. In my own work, the "dress code" ranges from whatever I want (I usually work from home) to casual or "dressy-casual" (volunteer events, meetings) to a very few formal/black-tie events.

I agree with Gypsy about hair color: I don't want those chemicals near me. Of course, I'm only entering my late 40s. Ask me in 10 years. I was using a nice Aubrey henna product but even that was like, meh, too much hassle. I don't wear makeup either. Well, maybe about 4 times a year on very formal occasions.

[arel]

Originally Posted by arel

In New York, people lie casually, cheat, backbite and engage in office nastiness. But no one cares, as long as you dress well and aren't too fat.

In Vermont, the priorities are pretty much reversed.

These are generalizations, of course, but I do prefer it here because I feel more in sync with Vermont values.

In fairness, though, I am not privy to Vermont's underside. At least not yet.

And I have met a few New Yorkers who are honest, truthful and decent.

..........

FWIW, today I, the new Vermonter from Brooklyn, put on blue jeans, black Bass suede, Ugg-like boots from the local Bass outlet store, a black LL Bean turtleneck and a bright green Columbia fleece vest. And black socks with a white cat print. And earrings I bought at the Dress Barn Outlet. And my dark purple prescription glasses, which I bought at a local optometrist's. And a watch and rings I brought with me from Brooklyn.

I smell fine, I think. I went swimming this morning and took my shower at the pool. I used Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap. No smelly activities since, except for some cooking. I cooked turkey chili, with ground turkey, black beans, onion, garlic, a small Yukon Gold potato (least amount of sugar for a potato, BTW), leftover tomato, two carrots and some Swiss Chard. I seasoned it with chili powder, a tiny bit of cumin, some commercial tomato pasta sauce and some Asian hot chili oil. It wasn't bad, but it didn't taste much like chili. Next time I'll leave out the carrots and Swiss chard!! I considered cooking the chard alone, but I didn't want an extra pot to wash. That was a mistake. The chili would have tasted better without the chard. Or the carrots.
Live and learn.

But I digress...

Just made the same dish again, this time without the carrots or the chard.

Much better.

And, so I don't go off topic on this thread, which is about clothes, I will inform you that I did not spill anything on my clothes. Today, those clothes are jeans, a mulburry turtle neck, a black fleece vest, and those same black suede boots.

With variations on the color of turtleneck (or sometimes crew neck) and on the fleece vest, this seems to be what I've worn for most of the winter.

OK. Digression over.

[mustmove]

Note on college dress codes, the fancier the college the worse/more casual the professors dress. It's pretty funny to watch.

[GypsySoul22]

Originally Posted by mustmove

Note on college dress codes, the fancier the college the worse/more casual the professors dress. It's pretty funny to watch.

Yeah, come hang around Dartmouth on "South Street."

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by arel

OMG, in Brattleboro I pay $75 for a cut and color (I guess now I've given away that I'm female), but the person does a great job and she is known for her skill with my kind of hair (curly). I believe a haircut alone in this salon is $30.

I go every few months, though, not every few weeks.

Now that I'm up here, I find myself dressing in jeans, a turtleneck and a fleece vest. Most of my turtlenecks are from LL Bean. The new jeans I have bought at Peebles. And the fleeces I buy at Labels for Less, where they have Columbia sportswear. I also have some Baxter and Wells fleece vests from Peebles, but they are not as nice as the Columbia ones.

Peebles is a pretty good store. You have to look carefully, but you can get some nice things there. They like to give "discounts", and you can get a coupon for an even greater discount. The undiscounted prices are quite high, though.

I have gotten away from wearing a lot of black, which I did in New York. I have the desire to be more colorful. But I usually wear black shoes and bags, and I like to wear dark, or at least saturated colored tops.

I like being free of the New York fashion police!

There is one thing in particular I have noticed here in Vermont that you rarely see in New York. Many women here have gray hair and youthful hair styles. Sometimes relatively young women have gray hair! I don't know if someone is prematurely gray (and likes it) or if she actually colors her hair gray. But the hair looks healthy and youthful.

I also see older women with long hair. Really long hair, down the back, even down to the waist.

I have been impressed with the vibrant older women here. This is a good place to grow old.

If you can afford it.

My hair is very long; it is by choice, not economics as some people might believe. With the exception of the big hair 80's, it has been long and straight falling to the small of my back. It really irks me to pay $45 to a junior stylist just to have my ends trimmed and I will usually wait and head into a franchise like Lemon Tree with a coupon.

That is one thing I have not noticed in my area in Vermont; also, the local stylist operates in a fancy 'salon' and charges NYC prices. If she had her employees all had fine looking heads of hair the prices might be somewhat justified, but alas, they look like they get the BoGo deal from the local sheep shearer.

[mustmove]

Mediocrity thrives in VT and it is usually expensive.