Did you wear a uniform?

I wore one at school. In the early years working as a Teaching assistant you were expected to make up paint for the children they used glue too so we wore a nylon overall. Later on we had cotton tabards.
Must admit I like a soldier in his dress uniform ooo.

My best friend was an in patient in a mental hospital where the nurses wore ordinary clothes not uniforms. My friend told me this was a bad policy because a fellow patient sometimes confided to him they wanted to kill themself, and he did not know which inmate was a nurse to report this to.

At school, and fondly remember wearing grey pleated skirt with stiff, multi-layered net petticoat, what did it look like!! First job after school, worked in a bank and had to wear an overall. Nylon and all the same navy colour but could vary in design. Moved branch and changed colour to pale blue, subsequently passed on to MiL who wore it for housework.
Later on wore nylon overall again while midday supervisor at school. Finally worked in Court Service and had to look really neat and smart if in Court, mainly black skirts with white or cream blouses, no trousers. Still have a couple of the black skirts which do come in useful if attending a funeral.

I wore uniforms through most of my working life, really missed my London one when I moved north. Ours had been designed by Hartnell so we were proud to wear them, except the 6 weeks prelim'course ones known as purple passions. Think these were a rite of passage until our proper ones were made as we were measured in the sewing room by lovely ladies when we began the training. Still have some offcuts in a patchwork cushion along with the darker purple staff nurse fabrics. Uniform in later hospitals really wasn't as nice, missed my gorgeous purple cloak for the walks back to the nurses homes in all weathers too.

When I was 19 I started a new office job. The first day I was taken shopping to get my overall, a navy blue nylon thing. All the female staff wore them but not the men. After a few weeks I stopped wearing mine and got told off but I carried on. One by one other female staff came and said they thought they had to wear them but as I had set a precedent they weren't going to wear them either. I suppose women wearing an overall kept them on a lower ladder than the men.

School uniform and white shirt, tie and black trousers while coach driving, smart and professional.

Went to a school with a very strict uniform code. Hated it ! When I left school I vowed that never again would I wear the same thing each day - and I have managed to keep that up for the 67 years since I left school ??

A nylon overall when I was a Saturday girl at British Home Stores. In the lighting department. Nylon!!! Imagine the heat generated with all the lights on at the same time. I absolutely hummed by the time I got home.

Uniform when I worked in Tesco for 10 years.

But not in any other job.

In the 50s I was a Brownie…Then I had a navy and grey school uniform at Grammar school for 7years.

As a holiday job during college years,I often worked in hotels…cleaning rooms and making beds..so wore a company issued Nylon overall.

For 20years or so, I wore cotton overalls or aprons as a nursery assistant.

"Yes it is barbaric, but it definitely got you to follow orders." Surely there is no place for a 'but' here? It IS barbaric and was surely always illegal!

Hanne

Yes, my school uniform. It was brown and to this day I never wear brown.

Mine was brown too. A shade described at the time with a word we would never use these days. I also can't wear brown!

After school I swore I'd never wear a uniform again. But for about 7 years back in the 90s, each summer I'd work for a few weeks as a courtesy car drive for the Wimbledon tennis championships. We were given a uniform each year, along with a brand new car to drive. I found I quite liked not having to think about what to wear. The whole experience was great fun!

Quite surprised at your B.O. comment. When I worked in intensive care in the early 2000's we wore a freshly laundered scrubs uniform every day. I used to shower on arriving to work (because I used to cycle everywhere) and shower when I arrived home each day I worked.

While in the army, if you didn't do your ablutions every morning you'd be put on a charge. We'd often be inspected and I remember one guy being put in jail for two weeks because he had a dirty pair of socks in his kidney pouches during a big inspection. He had a clean pair in his backpack, but it was easier for him to grab one from his kidney pouches, which happened not to have been washed; unfortunately he did suffer from very smelly feet; so, when asked by the inspecting officer to show him a pair of socks, he grabbed the easiest pair to get. Everything in your webbing had to be packed in a specific way.

While doing my basic training we had one guy who didn't wash every morning; we were charged by the sergeant to give him a regimental bath, which is not pleasant because you get scrubbed with a stiff scrubbing brush using scouring powders such as Vim. He was also given a beasting. (apparently now banned following the death of a soldier some time ago) The guys who were ordered to beast him were told if they didn't comply with the order, they would be beasted as well. If you don't know what beasting is; it's an extreme form of punishement that isn't actually in Army Reg'. We were ordered to hold the recipient down so that he was totally immobile and two soldier were then ordered to bite the nipples of the offender (after he had been scrubbed red raw in a bath of cold water) until they bled. Yes it is barbaric, but it definitely got you to follow orders.

The only time we didn't have access to a proper shower/bath was when we were on military manoeuvres, but we still had to wash; sometimes in freezing cold water before morning inspection; during the winter, in the middle of Germanies forests temperatures would often drop to -16 degrees. .

The only uniform I never liked was the grey woollen uniform of the post office circa 1978 to 1979 that when wet had a doggy smell to it and was extremely itchy. The white waterproofs we were issued with used to make you sweat badly as they had no breather holes. They updated the uniform shortly after I left and were issued with breathable waterproofs that looked really smart (blue and red coloured)

Oh yes: at school we wore tweed skirts and cloaks then I advanced to traditional nurses uniform with starched collar, apron and cap.

@ Foxglove77 I’m still front line ambulance so green all the way for me!! ?

Age 16, checkout, Store uniform, waitress, black skirt and white blouse with a frilly apron. 18, Civil service, smart casual, teacher ditto. Oh, and a wedding dress...does that count? ;)

I never had any issues with wearing a uniform. I loved my army uniforms and always looked smart unless I was in combats. We were given the freedom of St. Tonis near Krefeld, West Germany, amazing day, with everyone in number two's for the parade & march through town with swords drawn etc; then number ones' for the evening ball and dinner.

1971 to 73 - Cadet Nurse uniform
1974 to 1978 - Royal Signals, Army (Catterick then BAOR)
1978 to 1979 - Postman (itchy woollen trousers)
1986 to 1990 - Lab Assistant wearing lab coats at University while doing post grad studies into Dutch Elm, Acid Rain and various Environmental Impact studies
1998 to 2004 - Registered General Nurse (Scrubs while in Intensive Care + usual nurse uniform when I transferred to Royal Eye Hospital, Manchester).

Retired at 49 due to serious RTA (I used to cycle over 30 miles a day to work and back to keep fit and keep with my ideals of a cleaner world until I was hit from behind by a speeding car that left me with four broken vertebrae {lost 4'' in height} and brain damage.

17 years of studies & exams gone down the pan (not counting Primary and Secondary Education) wasted because of a driver not paying attention.

Only at school. Glad I never had to at any of my jobs simply because they always seem to be made from sweaty synthetic material. I always notice when I have a hospital or dental appointment the whiff off BO, and feel so sorry for the wearers who I’m sure have showered before coming to work. I know it’s so that the uniform can be washed and dried quickly but they must be a nightmare to wear.

The original post mentions working in offices, so therefore not having to wear a uniform. However back in the 80s when lots of the big institutions like banks, building societies etc took over all of the independent estate agents and they became corporate, we had to wear uniforms that were very similar to bank employees uniforms. Of course when the bust came in the 90s most of the corporate estate agent groups collapsed.

I did wear a navy blue school uniform.
My father must have loved his wartime naval uniform and kept it hidden. On a planned visit to Australia in the '70s mum asked him what he was going to wear . He disappeared into the bedroom and came out in full tropical kit, khaki shorts, shirt and knee-high socks looking like something out of it "Ain't half hot mum" and he wondered why we laughed.

School uniform, black and grey. Then uniforms for working as cabin crew for Courtline Aviation and for British Airways on short haul, then long haul in seventies and eighties.

School uniform was green and I remember telling a (very young) DC that and not being believed because "When you were young, everything was black and white."

Brownies, Guides, Rangers and nursing auxiliary summer job.

I ve been a nurse for 47 years and when I started we had denim blue dresses, white apron, collar and cuffs, black tights, cap and a red cloak, when we qualified our dresses became royal blue with a blue velvet band round our cap, loved it. As the years passed we went into tunic dresses although I worked in theatres and we had our own “uniform” of scrubs, clogs and a white muslin turban. Nowadays uniforms are almost out of favour and following Covid most healthcare professionals seem to wear scrubs no matter which branch of healthcare they are working in. The great thing though about any uniform is that you never have to think about what to wear

Brownies, Guides and Rangers, which were OK.
School uniform which was not OK. Horrible in fact.
A blue nylon rather sweaty overall when I was a Saturday girl in Woolies, then a brown nylon tunic when I was a Saturday girl in a shoe shop. That caused dreadful static, so that it clung to your legs and rode up at the back....
There was an attempt to bring in uniform at work (probation service) which led to a dreadful outcry (I was a union rep at the time and the responses from members were often very unprintable), so that thankfully died a death.
I do now wear a polo shirt for our bike club meetings (Institute of Advanced Motorcyclists) embroidered with the IAM logo and my name but that's voluntary. We pretty much have a 'uniform look with protective leathers and textile clothing!

I think that liking uniform is down to whether it looks good on a person and whether you want to identify with whatever it represents, or whether you feel it surpresses your own individuality. Probably why I hated the school uniform and being regarded as some sort of clone!

School uniform BHS uniform coop uniform legal gown for my first career cassock and gown and all black clothing for my second and choir uniform for performances now