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Dress-down Friday is all washed up
It's official - wearing casual clothes to work makes people rude, lazy and flirtatious. No wonder bosses are demanding that staff dress up again
Kathryn Hughes
The Observer, Sunday 22 April 2001
Dress-down Friday has not worked out. In fact, it is about to be let go. A slew of new surveys from the States shows employers increasingly concerned that staff who turn up in 'smart casual' (or should that be 'casual smart'?) are up to 50 per cent more likely to act rude and silly.
Lateness, sluggishness or just not being there at all have all become hallmarks of the last day of the working week, according to a study for American Corporate Trends Magazine. So much so, that many bosses are now returning Friday to its previous strict and sober incarnation. They include George W. Bush, who has decreed that henceforth all White House staff must be formally suited and booted whenever they report for work. And in Britain the Institute of Directors has also detected signs of an end to the recent custom of greeting the weekend one day early with a sludgy medley of soft trousers and endless, endless fleeces.
Friday first went casual in Britain in the late 1980s, but the practice didn't really catch fire until the mid-Nineties. By then, the economy was booming and new sources of income and prestige - IT, biotechnology, dotcom - were emerging. The people who worked for these firms may have been rich (in fact, they were getting richer all the time), but they liked to think that they were sufficiently self-confident not to need to rely on someone else's idea of a status symbol. Bowler hats and umbrellas represented an older - now ailing - economy, one that had been founded aeons ago in the mid-nineteenth century on a formal distinction between work and home.
The New Economy, by contrast, liked to emphasise the continuity and even overlap between professional and domestic spaces. People brought scented candles to the office before returning home to a converted industrial site. In Frankfurt, workers could pop into 'nap rooms' after lunch, while in London the smartest new nightclub was called, quite simply, 'Home'. At the level of aesthetics, work and play had become infinitely swappable.
By the time the Millennium finally arrived, many firms, including the formerly pinstriped Merrill Lynch and Arthur Andersen, had decided to extend dress-down Friday to the other four days of the week. There were rules, of course - there always are. No jeans, naturally, and some other less obvious demarcations: shirts needed to have collars, and shoes laces. In America, apparently, staff had to be reminded to wear underwear, but that never seems to have been a problem in EC4 where it is always rather cold.
What has been a problem, though, for a lot of people is achieving the required look. 'I can never remember if I'm supposed to be going for smart casual or casual smart,' complains one Merrill Lynch employee, who has given up pondering the distinction and taken refuge in ubiquitous chinos. While American and French men have long had an alternative uniform to the business suit - polo shirt, unstructured jacket, brownish/fawn trousers - British men have mostly had to resort to that odd solution of teaming a formal, usually Harris tweed, jacket with jeans.
Several retailers have taken pity on the hordes of baffled men who arrive for work in the financial institutions of Canary Wharf each day knowing that they don't want to dress like Jeremy Clarkson but aren't quite sure who they do want to look like. Both Gap and Ted Baker have set up branches stuffed full of the kind of touchy-feely clobber that will take you inconspicuously through the day in a symphony of mushroom.
What is odd is the complaint by one third of employers polled in New York last year that dress-down Friday has led to a huge increase in flirtatiousness among their staff. There surely can be nothing less erotic than men and women swaddled alike in baggy fleeces and comfy cords. 'I sometimes feel as if I'm working in an office staffed by expensive teddy bears,' reports one female bank worker who looks back with fondness to the days of crisp suiting. She's right, of course.
Formal business wear is designed to give the illusion of sharp lines where none really exist. Waists are clinched, shoulders padded, large bottoms mercifully covered. In the case of men, the tie points urgently towards the genital area while, with women, obligatory skirts mean that legs are always on show. It's no surprise that a recent survey of more than 2,000 office workers carried out for Mills & Boon showed that a third of us, male and female, like to fantasise about the object of our office affections wearing a nice smart suit.
Dressing down has proved to be more of a worry, than getting decked out in a uniform ever was. Even in those companies that are casual every day, the understanding is that you wear a suit whenever appropriate - to meet a client, make an important presentation.
'As a result I spend more time matching up my clothes to my schedule than I ever did before,' says Sarah Smart, who works for a Swiss bank.
And, if America is anything to go by, the sartorial week is about to get even more complicated. To counter the negative effects of dress-down Fridays, some firms have instituted the weird corrective of Dress Up Thursdays. Soon, it seems, each day of the week could carry its own coercive dress code.
Where dress-down Friday got it wrong was not in overestimating the importance of clothing upon our psyches, but in underplaying it. Employers had the vague hope that allowing people to wear buff-coloured trousers to the office would signal a loosening up of mental boundaries which, in turn, would release a stream of 'beyond the box' thinking.
But clothing acts like a sharp trigger for sense memory. Wear casual clothes to work, and your brain thinks it's on holiday. It doesn't want to come up with left-field solutions to the problems in Product Development. Instead it makes you want to gossip with your friends, drink coffee, send loads of raffish emails and, if you can bear to fumble through all those layers of fleece, have sex with the person sitting next to you.
Asking people to pretend that work is fun, and then suggesting that they mark this state of affairs by wearing combat trousers, is the height of patronisation. As the economy slows down and recession begins to bite, these kinds of self-deceiving strategies are beginning to fall away. We know what work owes us - money, skills-training and a certain amount of status. It doesn't own our souls, and we wouldn't want it to. For that we have home, where we can dress exactly as we please.
PROFESSIONAL DRESS ETIQUETTE
OVERVIEW
There is proper etiquette for just about every situation, including how to dress professionally. Proper attire varies depending on the job you do and the workplace culture, but there are certain rules that apply to virtually any professional situation. It is not difficult to follow proper dress etiquette in the workplace because the guidelines are based on a neat, low-key appearance that presents you in a positive way.
PURPOSE
The purpose of following proper etiquette for professional dress is to make a good impression on others. You are judged by your performance in the workplace, but your appearance counts too. Dressing professionally shows others that you pay attention to details and respect yourself and others. It can lead to your supervisor, co-workers and customers thinking more highly of you, making you appear competent and confident.
GUIDELINES
In general, men who work in a formal atmosphere should wear a suit and tie. Otherwise, dress pants and a dress shirt or golf shirt is acceptable. Women can wear dresses, skirts or pant suits in a formal environment and dress pants and blouses or shirts otherwise. Both sexes should wear polished shoes, and TCB Solutions, a recruiting company, says a heel height of 1.5 inches is appropriate for women.
ACCESSORIES
Accessories should be understated, according to TCB Solutions. The workplace is not the right environment for big-hoop earrings or ostentatious bracelets, necklaces, rings and other jewelry, or stiletto heels. Piercings and tattoos should be kept hidden if possible while you are at work, especially if you are working directly with customers or clients in a conservative business. The Robert J. Trulaske Sr. College of Business says not to wear strong scents, which can bother others.
IMPRESSION
You should make a conservative impression when you are following proper professional dress etiquette. Clothing should not be too loud or revealing. A good rule of thumb is that your clothes should present an attractive picture, but they should not draw attention to you.
CONSIDERATIONS
Certain considerations influence proper professional dress etiquette. You may work in a casual workplace, but there are certain times when you may need to dress more formally. For example, you will want to make a good impression when clients or potential new customers are visiting. You may also want to dress more formally for a meeting that will be attended by upper management.
WARNING
Some workplaces use casual Fridays or an overall casual dress code as an excuse to totally disregard professional dress etiquette. Certain guidelines should be followed, even when you work in a casual atmosphere. Clothing must always be neat, clean and in good shape, without visible tears, fraying, stains or signs of wear, TCB Solutions says. Dress a bit better than expected. For example, stick to khakis and a golf shirt instead of a T-shirt and blue jeans.
You don't get a second chance to make a good first impression. How you look tells others how you feel about yourself and makes a difference in how you will be treated. It's easier to get to the top if you look like you belong there.
Clothing is not the only thing a business man or woman needs to be successful. Drive, ambition, intelligence and education are needed to move up in the business world. Without these qualifications, the best clothing available won't help. Even with all the qualifications, without the right clothing, no one moves ahead.
It is important to know the dress culture of your organization. Make it a point to dress appropriately for the job you have. The following information will help you if you choose to become a professional or work in the corporate world.
Here are ten decisions people will make about other people based solely on first impressions.
In order to gain better promotions and receive higher income on the climb up the ladder of success, research has proven that a person in an upper-middle class garment will get there faster than an equally skilled co-worker in a lower-middle class garment.
Surveys also proved that when employees were dressed professionally, they conveyed strong feelings of trust.
Research has proven that young employees can overcome comments from older customers such as, "You remind me of my granddaughter/son" or "May I speak to someone in charge", simply by learning the secrets of dressing professionally.
Because clothing covers 90% of our bodies, it becomes very important in communicating non-verbal signals. We can use our appearance to determine how those we meet will react toward us.
Colors that Tested Best for Professionals
Suit Colors to Avoid
Women:
· Most pastels, particularly pale yellow
· Bright orange
Men and Women
· Most shades of green
· Mustard--very bad.
Dark colors make you more powerful. Use them when you need control. Keep in mind your size. If you are 6 feet tall, you don't need power colors. Your size creates it for you. Navy blue is a color respected by all socio-economic levels. A substitute teacher should wear navy. The kids will behave better for him/her!
Suits and Dresses
A good suit says you are an upper middle class executive type, while an obviously cheap polyester suit says you're not. Research shows that when you are wearing a suit, it's easier to give orders and have them carried out.
Although the skirted suit has tested as the very best outfit for the professional woman, the dress is the other choice. A dress can say, "I'm in charge." Dresses are usually more professional when they are in solid or near solid colors. It is best to avoid prints. Dresses with long sleeves are more widely accepted for business wear than short or sleeveless dresses. A dress with a jacket is a great option. Avoid plunging necklines. Currently a panted suit can be very appropriate if fitted properly and if made of fine fabric. Polyester is acceptable when it looks like a natural fiber such as wool, cotton, or silk.
Coats
Raincoats that test best for both business and social situations for men and women should be beige.
If a woman is only going to buy one coat, it should be camel colored and a wrap-around. It's the only one that tested well, giving women both authority and appeal. Single breasted coats are better than double breasted coats. A coat should always cover the dress. Avoid extra pockets, gaudy buttons and buckles.
Accessories
Professional Dos and Don'ts for Men and Women
Professional Dos and Don’ts for Women
Professional Dos and Don’ts for Men
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