Did you work in a uniform?

Oh what lovely stories you can all tell. The uniforms have evolved over time of course. All that starch and Matron measuring. Wonderful.
BradfordLass I was married before 1973 and had left my flying days behind but was never on the Hong Kong route. Were you a Norland Nanny?
Lyndylou your WRAF uniform would have been a stunner. I was hoping that Mick would have come back on here to tell us about his RAF uniform. Was it the folded cap or a beret?

Uniforms seem a thing of the past now, don't they? It seems only air stewards have set uniforms. Even our nurses here just buy their own scrubs. Grocery clerks usually have a t-shirt with the store logo.

Very briefly in my 20's I was a shop assistant in the paint department of a hardware store and had a very ugly mustard coloured smock.

I am still working, but not in uniform.

MawB,I trained at the Westminster before my Army days and worked on the burns unit at Roehampton.That was in the late 1960’s.Your description of the uniforms sounds about right.

Matron used to bring out a ruler sometimes to measure how far from bottom of hem to shoes!Then we would hitch our dresses up with our belts,we wore black stockings in my day with suspenders belts.Tres risqué.

Another nurse. Our student uniforms were laundered by the hospital and they used the worlds strongest starch on cuffs and collars. We all had rashes on our necks and arms until graduation. My cap was folded according to strict guidelines and I always loved wearing it. A small gold pin was attached on one corner. Later, working in ICU and the emergency room we wore scrub suits. They we're practical, but I always missed my "real" uniforms.

Not work, but school uniform.

I still cannot wear and refuse to buy navy blue V neck pullovers.

grannysue05 You may have flown my family out to Hong Kong, en rout to New Zealand in 1973. I remember my son being given a child's pack of entertainment items and a model BOAC plane. I think we may still have them packed away.
We transferred to Air NZ in Hong Kong.

Prior to my marriage, I was a nanny and wore either a navy or grey dress (two families, different ideas) with a white collar. I didn't mind the uniform, it was quite smart and made by Harrods but what I didn't like was the disdainful way I and the children in my care, were treated.

I feel deeply sorry for children of parents like that who clearly had absolutely no love or care for their offspring at all. They were allowed to be 'viewed' for 10 minutes before bed and that was all the contact the poor wee things had with "Mummy and Daddy".

Packed off at 5 to kinder-boarding and then to schools. No doubt these are the people running the country now.

Yes I wore the WRAF uniform from 1970-77. Still have my "Best Blue" in the wardrobe, if I really want to depress myself I get it out, but I would not be able to get my arms in the sleeves let alone get into the skirt or jacket. I'm not massive now, so I must have been really slim then!

Worked in admin /reception for NHS liked the uniform navy stripe jacket trousers.skirt and blouse , nice not to have to think about an outfit each day.
Worked in Woolworths as Saturday girl and inherited someone’s green nylon checked overall I swear they must have been the jolly green giant, it would have fitted me and somebody else ( those were the days?) and came down to my ankles I am 5’4” not the best of looks as a fashion conscious teenager

Male nurses in those days had suits made in the hospital, they wore white coats where necessary.

This was the thing about uniform wasn't it.....no need to plan an outfit, just get dressed and set off for work.
Interesting that in the early days so many uniforms were made of cheap, hot and sticky nylon. And staff had no say in the matter.
Also a sign of the times (sixties, seventies and early eighties) that men did not have to wear uniform. Why not?

I wore a uniform when I worked for Sainsbury's. Easy to wash, no ironing needed, and you didn't have to think up something different to wear each day.

I worked in my school uniform.

Green, green, and more green!

I met my first husband at work, he was a male nurse and we trained together. When I started my training the Nurses Home accommodated both male and female students. After a while the men were moved to a different building, can't think why.

I've worn a few. As a junior shop assistant I wore a navy blue polyester dress which zipped up at the front with a mandarin collar which was hideous. It almost resembled a raincoat and once a customer asked another if they knew where something was. "Do I look like a shop assistant?" in a snooty Margot Leadbetter voice was the reply.

In my last job as a cleaner we had to wear horrible black tabards which attracted pale dust and fluff.

I worked in a bank in the 60s and all females wore the most hideous navy blue nylon overall. The men wore their own clothes .

Jaylucy I worked in a store as a Saturday girl when I was sixteen.
It was Kendal Milne in Manchester before it became House of Fraser, and was a really posh place to shop at the time.
I had to wear a sickly brown nylon coat to serve (!) in the cashmere department. As I knew nothing about cashmere I was usually ignored by customers.
I got sacked on my seventh weekend as I missed my bus into town and was twenty minutes late.
Not tolerated in those days.

Yes I wore a uniform- the design changed 3 times during the time that I worked for a certain opticians.
Started off with a lilac tunic top and black trousers or skirt that was quite nice to wear - although the tunic was made of polyester that was not very comfortable on hot days when you worked in a shop that had no aircon!
Next came a lilac short sleeved blouse and charcoal trousers or skirt. On the hanger, the blouse looked nice and smart - however, you had to be careful what colour bra you wore - a dark coloured one showed through! (As some as my colleagues found and for a while the business was very popular with male customers!) I used to wear a vest top underneath - it also helped again with the fact it was again polyester! I also wore my own trousers as I am allegic to wool mix materials that the official ones were made of!
For a while I wore a black polo shirt and trousers - as store merchandiser, it gave me the chance to get on with my role of the constant stocktaking and restocking.
Jeff Banks designed the last one I wore - there was a choice of I think 5 different styles (and colours )of tops and 2 different styles of skirt and trousers. We wore (and they still do) a long sleeved jersey wrap effect top and trousers or a skirt that was in a really deep purple that looks more like black in daylight, with a patterned scarf that you can tie in different ways . Best by far - top was soft and stretchy, a dream to wash - trousers were a bit rigid, just got round that by getting a size larger and putting elastic through the back of the waist - even though they were all supposed to be bespoke when first introduced!
So easy wearing uniform no problem having to choose what to wear each day and you also can claim tax relief on the laundering!!!

Just after I retired I got a temporary job one summer in a Victorian museum and had to dress up as a maid. I wore a long black skirt with a white frilly apron and a white top, and
a mob cap made of lace.
But mostly, through my secretarial years, I just wore various navy blue suits. Very boring.

MawB your post reminds me how much respect was shown to hospital staff and their various qualifications.
This has certainly shown itself again during this crisis.

Another nurse I am afraid. Mauve and white striped cotton dresses, stiff cardboard collars that cut into your neck, petersham belts, colour dependent on your year. Sleeves rolled up and kept in place with white elasticated cuffs. Very complicated butterfly cap to fold. Thick navy cloaks with a red lining, worn inside out to sing Christmas carols round the wards. But we were allowed flesh coloured stockings!!

Oh Teetime you are the first to say you met your husband on the job. Your tender loving care lead to marriage!
I also met my future husband on the job. No tender loving care....I stepped on his foot by accident and he was in agony.
Anyway, fifty odd years later, we are still here.

I worked for New Home Builders for many years Barrets/Wimpey/Wainhomes/Redrow etc and we always had nice uniformes all smart and nicely cut blazers.
During the Summer time some would issue a Summer dress depending on their budget.They where never returned so when I retired I had a wardrobe full of uniforms from different builders.

I met my husband when he was a patient. He was unconscious from a bad RTA and I had to take his clothes off- nice!!!

I worked as a vets assistant for 10 yrs. We wore light blue dresses with white piping on the collar and pockets, also wore those plastic disposable aprons on top for the dirty jobs...of which there were many !

Well remembered MawB and didn’t they look wonderful.
There must have been regional variations I suppose, as I remember some nurses in a lilac dress?Any nurses on here can tell us.?