Smart Casual ??

[AnnaB]

As much as I love thongs I can't stand people who wear them on a plane **shudders**

There is a place and time for everything. Thongs are for holidays and the beach, not for travelling.

 

[slinkyap]

Can't say that I spent much time in lounges but I have seen blokes with t-shirts and thongs loitering during my visits incl. BNE and ADL.

 

[mattkenny]

I'm going to have to go against the terms a little here and say that I don't feel the need to dress up to fly or visit the lounge. That said i believe everyone should look respectable whenever they leave the house.

I'm a traveling engineer and often have to go from a full day of work on site to the airport so i often arrive at the lounge a little grubby. But i do carry a change of clothes and clean up in the shower once i get there. In summer and on long haul i have changed into board shorts and a tshirt a couple of times but usually it's jeans and a neat tshirt or polo for me. But that's what i wear anyway.

 

[midian454]

I'm going to have to go against the terms a little here and say that I don't feel the need to dress up to fly or visit the lounge. That said i believe everyone should look respectable whenever they leave the house.

I'm a traveling engineer and often have to go from a full day of work on site to the airport so i often arrive at the lounge a little grubby. But i do carry a change of clothes and clean up in the shower once i get there. In summer and on long haul i have changed into board shorts and a tshirt a couple of times but usually it's jeans and a neat tshirt or polo for me. But that's what i wear anyway.

I'm with you on this, I work FIFO in middle management and frequent lounges in PER, ADL and MEL. I am usually wearing camo cargo shorts and a T-shirt. I board my plane from site in the peak of the day's heat, so in the warmer months (which can be anywhere from September to May) I usually wear thongs as it can be up to 50C at boarding.

I don't stick my feet up on tables, chairs and bulkheads, but I travel dressed for comfort to the conditions.

After three weeks wearing long longs and steelcap boots, I welcome the opportunity I am given as someone who flies frequently to relax and have a beer in, oh what is it called again? A frequent flyers lounge!

Just for reference, Perth is my point of Hire, so all flights taken to get home from there are paid for by myself.

 

[grubbidok]

I'm with you on this, I work FIFO in middle management and frequent lounges in PER, ADL and MEL. I am usually wearing camo cargo shorts and a T-shirt. I board my plane from site in the peak of the day's heat, so in the warmer months (which can be anywhere from September to May) I usually wear thongs as it can be up to 50C at boarding.

I don't stick my feet up on tables, chairs and bulkheads, but I travel dressed for comfort to the conditions.

After three weeks wearing long longs and steelcap boots, I welcome the opportunity I am given as someone who flies frequently to relax and have a beer in, oh what is it called again? A frequent flyers lounge!

+1

Okay, as one of these terrible riff-raff louts I'm going to call BS on this 'smart casual' myth that somehow not wearing a collared shirt, tailored pants or closed shoes makes you someone who shouldn't be in the lounge. I'm also going to caveat this by saying I am a displaced Territorian now in Sydney so have never seen the importance in 'dressing up' for day-to-day activities.

But what exactly is wrong with thongs? I can't stand shoes and if I want to get on an aeroplane in jeans/shorts, thongs and a t-shirt and they're clean and respectable what's the problem?

I don't wear anything in the lounge or on the plane that I wouldn't feel comfortable having my professional colleagues or client see me in - but it is not 'smart casual'. I also 'run hot' and don't feel comfortable wearing closed shoes if I don't have to so I often wear my Havaianas. Surely wearing thongs from the get go is far less offensive than people taking off their shoes n flight to share the aromas with everyone else?

FWIW I'm usually more concerned with the people's attitudes in the lounge than I am with their attire - and some of the nicest dressed people in there just happen to be the biggest a&^$holes (loud phone voices or too loud in general, drunk, disrespectful to other guests and staff etc). Some people in shirts and thongs do the same - but it has nothing to do with a person's dress style. It's also not only people in thongs putting their feet over everything - I've seen a lot of socks and expensive shoes scuffing up the walls and furniture both in the lounge and on the plane. The issue in the lounge is manners and respect, not attire.

I'm a BIS WP from Y and I fly way too much to give a rat's a$%e about what other people think I should be wearing. I'm respectful in the lounge, but I do dress for comfort and quite frankly I fly way too much to dress to do otherwise - especially for some arbitrary standard because other people have a stick up their bum about how 'lounge-people' should look. It's not the 1960s anymore.

</end rant>

 

[24601]

+1

I've seen a lot of socks and expensive shoes scuffing up the walls and furniture both in the lounge and on the plane. The issue in the lounge is manners and respect, not attire.

I'm a BIS WP from Y and I fly way too much to give a rat's a$%e about what other people think I should be wearing. I'm respectful in the lounge, but I do dress for comfort and quite frankly I fly way too much to dress to do otherwise - especially for some arbitrary standard because other people have a stick up their bum about how 'lounge-people' should look. It's not the 1960s anymore.

</end rant>

The point is that wearing, for example, things and singlet, can make other people feel uncomfortable. It is not all about what feels comfortable for us personally: when we re sharing a public space with other people, as members of a society we need to take into some account other people too. The expensive shoes up on tables brigade also suffer from a lack of consideration for others. They are also focused only on their own comfort and their own needs. It is selfishness.

I dress (or don't dress!) one way when I am at home because it is a private space for me and my family. I can do as i please, make myself as comfortable as I like. But outside, other people exist too and I have to consider them when I am sharing the world with them. As an adult I understand this and try to have the maturity and decency to moderate my own immediate needs out of respect for other people. Things like 'smart casual' provide a middle ground, a compromise that can work for everybody, even if it isn't our first preference.

It seems very common in Australia right now to forget that we share the world with others. But we do. No one has the right to make me or anyone else feel less comfortable in the selfish pursuit of their own self-gratification.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

I'm going to call BS on this 'smart casual' myth

Your rant about well dressed pigs, I support unreservedly.....I trust that rant is also directed to the poorly dressed pigs you mentioned as well?

I'm regularly bemused by scruffy looking people who bemoan society not taking them seriously. Like it or not, that old real estate catch cry about 1st appearances being everything is not a myth. They often claim not to care about what others think, but then whine forever about how poorly done by they are. People can disagree, but it's true. You are judged by your appearance. If you don't believe it, take two people into a department store. One with a tattoo of a skull over their full face wearing jeans and a black hoodie and the other looking and dressing "normally" and see the reaction.

 

[clipped_wings]

I think we may all have to agree to disagree on this thread. There are way too many variables that have come into play and obviously, we can’t all appreciate the same point of view if it counters our own argument. It really has nothing to do with civil courtesy or manners and that argument is best saved for another thread. This raging debate is what constitutes acceptable Lounge attire.
The OP asked about clothing and they received a plethora of responses – all from different perspectives and all offered with some pretty decent logic and passion.

Now some people may have confused my fashion style as some vain attempt to resurrect a 60’s comeback.

Wrong. I hated the 60’s. I just loved that people looked the part for an occasion and I still maintain that thongs have never, are never, and will never – be considered appropriate footwear in a Lounge or on a plane. I wear the hard hat and steelcaps myself (yes, I am a female tradie!), but come 3pm I ditch my work gear for the shorts and thongs. At home I can be as casual as I like. However, getting dressed up to fly isn’t suddenly pretending to be someone I’m not. Dressing smart casual isn’t a compromise of comfort or health. Dressing smart casual doesn’t give me any more rights than the person in thongs and last time I looked, there was no stick up my Kyber, so all I can assume is, I like to look nice.

In a Lounge. And on a plane.

 

[grubbidok]

Your rant about well dressed pigs, I support unreservedly.....I trust that rant is also directed to the poorly dressed pigs you mentioned as well?

Hi swanning_it - yes most certainly my rant was that the problem is about manners and respect on all fronts! I'm just noting that is completely independent of how someone wants to dress. Thinking a dress code will solve people's problems around this is silly (remember the strict dress code of city night-clubs in the 90s!). I'm more than willing to get all grumpy old man on how society today is too self-centred and arrogant (because I very much bemoan how much 'ruder' society has become), but I'm more inclined to blame individuals rather than thongs.

I take your point about 'scruffiness', but I wear what would be considered 'nice' shorts/jeans, shirts and thongs when I do errands or travel. Although I dress 'relaxed' I still make the effort to be presentable and cleanliness etc is still very important (actually - cleanliness is my big 'presentation' gripe). When I meet clients or am on the job I also dress up as required. Hell, last week I put on one of those ridiculous floppy hats and capes on top of a suit to see my students graduate. When you need to make an additional effort you should. But I just don't see aeroplane travel as one of those 'dress-up' occasions.

I get that some people want to make the effort because they enjoy dressing up - and that is fine. It's just that I don't agree with judging people simply because they don't make the same effort as you do. For many of us (even on AFF) we are using planes for their express purpose of getting from A to B as comfortably as possible, not as an event.

 

[midian454]

The point is that wearing, for example, things and singlet, can make other people feel uncomfortable.

It seems very common in Australia right now to forget that we share the world with others. But we do. No one has the right to make me or anyone else feel less comfortable in the selfish pursuit of their own self-gratification.

If having someone nearby wearing thongs and a singlet is enough to make one feel uncomfortable, may I suggest that one has bigger problems than trying to understand what constitutes 'smart casual'.

Much of this thread reeks of people making others feel less comfortable in their own selfish pursuit of self-gratification.

I'm regularly bemused by scruffy looking people who bemoan society not taking them seriously. Like it or not, that old real estate catch cry about 1st appearances being everything is not a myth. They often claim not to care about what others think, but then whine forever about how poorly done by they are. People can disagree, but it's true. You are judged by your appearance. If you don't believe it, take two people into a department store. One with a tattoo of a skull over their full face wearing jeans and a black hoodie and the other looking and dressing "normally" and see the reaction.

Scruffy looking person here and I never bemoan society for not taking me seriously because of the way that I look or dress. Society takes me seriously because I know how to communicate and carry myself. In my career I let my work speak for itself.

I'll be in the Perth lounge on Wednesday night if anyone wants to discuss further, I'll be the one without my head where the sun doesn't shine.

 

[Conrad_S]

Fwiw and imnsho

I've never seen any consistent correlation between what people wear and their manners or behaviour.

Everyone is entitled to make there own choices but I can't support the wearing of fancy thongs (I.e. Havianas). Black and white are the original and the best.

 

[midian454]

Fwiw and imnsho

I've never seen any consistent correlation between what people wear and their manners or behaviour.

Everyone is entitled to make there own choices but I can't support the wearing of fancy thongs (I.e. Havianas). Black and white are the original and the best.

Surfer Joes?

 

[Conrad_S]

Surfer Joes?

I did go through a surfer Joe phase but have always come back to the cheap black and white rubberised. I do like to keep at least one "good" pair though

 

[midian454]

I did go through a surfer Joe phase but have always come back to the cheap black and white rubberised. I do like to keep at least one "good" pair though

I discovered astro-turf thongs last year and I doubt I'm going to be able to go back to anything else

 

[Conrad_S]

I discovered astro-turf thongs last year and I doubt I'm going to be able to go back to anything else

That's probably the peak of the thong technology. Very hard to see field turf ever being brought to the thong world.

 

[midian454]

That's probably the peak of the thong technology. Very hard to see field turf ever being brought to the thong world.

Yeah, leaving a trail of crumb rubber and sand through the VA Lounge would certainly ruffle some feathers around here...

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Yeah, leaving a trail of crumb rubber and sand through the VA Lounge would certainly ruffle some feathers around here...

It's Ok for a cartoon character....not for a genuine person.

 

[midian454]

It's Ok for a cartoon character....not for a genuine person.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AstroTurf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FieldTurf


I'll leave these here for comparison to help anyone that wants to understand the joke.

 

[JohnK]

But what exactly is wrong with thongs? I can't stand shoes and if I want to get on an aeroplane in jeans/shorts, thongs and a t-shirt and they're clean and respectable what's the problem?

Not having a go at you or your post. You raise a number of good points.

But here's the thing with thongs. They are good for the beach. They are good for your backyard and your friends BBQ. That's where it ends.

I can't stand thongs. They don't belong in public. They certainly don't belong in a lounge and they definitely don't belong in an aircraft due to safety issues.

 

[midian454]

Not having a go at you or your post. You raise a number of good points.

But here's the things with thongs. They are good for the beach. They are good for your backyard and your friends BBQ. That's where it ends.

I can't stand thongs. They don't belong in public. They certainly don't belong in a lounge and they decinitely don't belong in an aircraft due to safety issues.

Solid argument backed up by good hard evid... err, personal opinions.