Socal vs Norcal dress code

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by ccm123

SoCal Beach Communities/San Diego: flip flops and shorts for 10 months out of the year (due to the weather)

SoCal: casual, trendy, business casual for work, bit more glitzy than in NorCal

NorCal (San Francisco): black colored outerwear is more prevalent, trendy dress also

NorCal (East Bay / South Bay): generally more casual than "the city". Silicon Valley has the tech folks sometimes wearing company shirts (Cisco, for example).

When did black invade the Bay Area fashion scene? It's like everyone wants to pretend they're in New York. I ignore it, and wear colors. I love to work with color! Black is depressing when worn en masse. An aunt of mine had a major birthday years ago--I don't remember which milestone it was: maybe 90th b-day. My cousin hosted a party for the whole extended family. Much to my shock, everyone showed up wearing black! I said, it's a birthday party, not a funeral! She's not dead yet, jeez! It was the middle of summer, & everyone (but me) is in black!

[ccm123]

I see black outerwear, mainly in the city. The cooler foggy, weather is probably the driver of people wearing black in SF. Not as frequent in the East Bay, Peninsula or South Bay, from what I've seen. I think too much black is depressing also!

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

When did black invade the Bay Area fashion scene? It's like everyone wants to pretend they're in New York. I ignore it, and wear colors. I love to work with color! Black is depressing when worn en masse. An aunt of mine had a major birthday years ago--I don't remember which milestone it was: maybe 90th b-day. My cousin hosted a party for the whole extended family. Much to my shock, everyone showed up wearing black! I said, it's a birthday party, not a funeral! She's not dead yet, jeez! It was the middle of summer, & everyone (but me) is in black!

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by adr3naline

I could be wrong here, but, is the OP asking about Business dress code? Because "business casual" can be a very nebulous term across the country and is often questioned.

This is exactly what I was thinking but you know how City-Data can be LOL

Having recently worked in San Diego and the Bay Area, in my experience it seems San Diego is definitely more on the casual side.

[spoonman1]

As someone from SoCal, NorCal seems very granola or Pacific Northwest in comparison. Much more "sensible" clothing, North Face jackets, walking shoes, birks, etc. Coming from SD or OC it seems a bit frumpy. Even though people in SoCal dress casual, they appear much more fashion oriented (with the exception of DT SF).

[adr3naline]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

This is exactly what I was thinking but you know how City-Data can be LOL

Having recently worked in San Diego and the Bay Area, in my experience it seems San Diego is definitely more on the casual side.

I haven't spent significant time in SF or SD to comment on their business casual dress, but WI > LA was quite amusing. The folk from WI (including myself, pre-move) would pop into the DTLA office with sport coats and oxfords...whereas everyone local wore un-tucked collar shirts and shoes made for hoof'ing it to the subway.

Now I'm glad to be part of the latter group.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by spoonman1

As someone from SoCal, NorCal seems very granola or Pacific Northwest in comparison. Much more "sensible" clothing, North Face jackets, walking shoes, birks, etc. Coming from SD or OC it seems a bit frumpy. Even though people in SoCal dress casual, they appear much more fashion oriented (with the exception of DT SF).

It really depends on the nature of the office. I haven't seen people wearing birks and North Face at the office; it must be a techie thing. People in law offices, banks & financial services, accountant offices, and that kind of thing still wear more traditional office wear. Outside of the work hours, at least in the East Bay, I agree that the style is closer to the Pac NW.

But from an East Coast perspective, these differences probably appear subtle; birks in instead of flip-flops to go with shorts or jeans isn't a major "dress code" difference. And there are still people like jade408 and me who wear skirts or dresses some of the time. It's not quite Seattle. Yet.

[payutenyodagimas]

Originally Posted by RosieSD

I always take "business casual" to mean "neat, clean and presentable"

and not wearing rubber shoes/sneaker