re: clothes and shoes to work in
I wear short sleeve shirts year-round (makes the work easier, and keeps me cool during a hard-working massage therapy session). In the winter, I wear a polartec pullover between appointments, to keep me toasty when I'm not doing massage. For pants, light-weight knit pants are my choice in the winter (yoga pants, exercise pants, casual knit pants). I'm a bargain hunter, and usually buy my pants for under $20/pair. I look in the exercise departments of Wal-Mart, Target, Hanes Outlet Store, as well as the sale and clearance sections of stores like LLBean, Gaiam and Lands End.
In the summer, I trade the full-length pants for light cotton capris. I also wear calf-length, free-flowing dresses in the summer.
Since I have my own office, I work barefoot. However, when I did work in a clinic setting, I wore birkenstock sandals in the summer and clogs in the winter. Sierra Trading Post is a great store for finding bargains on comfortable shoes: http://www.sierratradingpost.com