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• Dress for success?

When I graduated college a few (i.e. several) years ago, my first order of business on the work front was buying a couple of suits to wear on job interviews. At this point, it still wasn’t clear exactly what sort of generally unskilled job I was going to pursue, but for some reason, I assumed I would need a nice suit to do that job in. As it turned out, I didn’t much care for jobs that required suits. This was perfect since most of the people hiring for jobs that required suits didn’t care much for me either. It worked out great. I’m still really not much of a dresser, work or otherwise.

The weird thing is it wasn’t that I ended up wearing the suits just every once in awhile; it was that I never wore the damned things at all. If I actually had to sort of “dress up,” that soon began to mean a pair of Dickies from Farm and Fleet and a shirt that the dog hadn’t chewed more than two holes in. Coworkers initially would mock my lack of style, but in a general sense, I don’t think it mattered much either way.

Eventually, your wardrobe at work simply becomes an extension of your personality. In the long run, it doesn’t matter so much as long as the work gets done. Oh sure, I can’t wear ass-less chaps and a tiara and still be looked at in the same way, or any way, for that matter. Still, I can dress a few levels above rodeo clown and be just fine. Since I’ve had the same job for some time and my jackoffiness where clothes are concerned has by now become commonplace, it never much occurs to me what proper work attire actually is.

As luck would have it, a Web site called TheLadders.com did a second annual “Fashion in the Workplace” survey that made me feel a little better about my dumbass fashion sense. They found a walloping 79 percent of high-end executives prefer to wear business casual or regular casual clothing to the office. Their employees felt that way too. Fine, I’m sure the key word there is “prefer.” I would prefer a ton of things, but just because I prefer them doesn’t mean they’re going to actually happen. Still, it seems like business casual is beginning to take hold.

In their survey, 62 percent of the businesses asked said that business casual was now standard. Granted, this still doesn’t help me much as my wardrobe is often still a few notches below this at “hobo casual,” but at least I’m getting closer to the pack. Business casual used to mean khakis and a nice shirt, usually polo or button-down, but now even that is sort of up to the wearer’s discretion. Even jeans can now count as business casual if they are free of holes and not acid-washed. Actually, the acid-wash thing is also a good rule of thumb for any occasion.

The big question is what does this all actually mean? I generally don’t have much of a problem with folks being less than spiffy. That being said, I’m not sure I can ever pony up and get a car loan from a guy in a cut-off shirt and flip-flops. I also seriously doubt that morticians will ever participate in casual Fridays. “Oh, we’re super sorry about your loss, but this is casual Friday, so your husband has to be buried in a Hawaiian shirt. It’s cool, though. He’ll be ready to party as soon as he gets to the afterlife.”

For a lot of the other people where dress really doesn’t matter much, it’s a different story. It is now sort of thought that those employees who dress casually are perceived to be more creative and more fun to be around. Geez, everyone must assume I’m insanely creative and an absolute hoot to chill with. They do, however, caution that employees who dress down too much run the risk of not being taken seriously. Oh, see, that makes sense now.

Despite all the changes, a few things still don’t belong in a business casual wardrobe. Revealing clothing is the first one. See, I think that sort of thing on women is awesome, particularly if they’ve got something really great to reveal. Sure, it may not make me more productive as a worker, but on the other hand, it may actually give me a reason to come to work in the first place. The other faux-pas is flip-flops and sandals. I’m assuming there will be some leniency on this one if you’re a lifeguard or a beach comber, but everyone else should really try to suck it up and wear regular shoes.

Where this will all lead, I don’t know. I must say I’ve never much liked the uniformity in the wardrobes of most of the science-fiction movies I’ve seen, so it’s nice it doesn’t seem we’re heading in that direction. At the same time, I still feel sort of weird if someone waits on me while they’re wearing a pair of pajamas. It’s nice to be creative and create your own little style, I suppose, but I like it a little more if it’s something I can at least recognize as a form of “outside the house” clothing. When it’s all said and done, I may be the best-dressed person you’ve ever seen ... and that will not be a good thing.