I plan on wearing dress shirts and pants to work

[yllus]

I wouldn't do it. There's a proper level of dress for each station, and yours isn't that formal.

Check out Street Etiquette if you're looking for inspiration on how to dress with a bit of flash. I'd tone down anything those guys do but they're a great starting point.

 

[yllus]

Double posting a lot lately.

 

[bruceb]

Decent pants, with some sort of collared type shirt (like Izod or from Land's End)
That will be fine. What they don't want to see are tattered clothes, rags or bad looking jeans. Unless they call for it, I would not want to wear a tie.

 

[dpodblood]

My two pieces of advice are:

1. If you have a choice between looking good and not looking good, then look good.
2. Dress to the level you wish to achieve. If you're seeking a promotion and all the people at that level dress to a certain code, then you should dress to that code as well, regardless of how your coworkers dress.

Good advice! If you feel comfortable wearing more formal clothing that do it. Don't get too formal though or people will start to think you believe you're better than them.

 

[OulOat]

I guess because that's too close to what I wear now

Khakis with a polo is what the IT staff in my Fortune 500 clients dress at. Managers are expected to dress at their level (shirt and tie), but the frontline workers are allow to wear BC. Khakis with a polo are firmly inside the BC range.

Daverino has some good advice. Dress (and work) at your sought after position if you are looking to be promoted.