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Michael Woudenberg's avatar

Similar to Aloha Shirts are Scottish Kilts... More of a gimick for selling woven fabric.

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Esme Fae's avatar

I started working in the corporate world way back in 1991, at a Fortune 500 reinsurance company. We had a very strict dress code which would be considered "business formal" or "business professional" these days; suit and tie for men, suit (jacket & skirt) or dress for women. Pantsuits for women were technically permissible, but in practice were only really acceptable if you were traveling or if there was a snowstorm. Short-sleeve dress shirts for men, and sleeveless tops or open-toed pumps for women were all Just. Not. Done.

My department head was probably the strictest about dress code enforcement; I noticed sometimes the people in Accounting got away with things that would not have been tolerated in our Underwriting Department. However, my boss may have had a point - we were the department with the most client contact, so it was important to project a professional image.

As a 22-year old entry-level employee, I had to scramble to buy a professional wardrobe. I went to consignment stores in wealthy towns and put together a decent collection of skirt suits and silk blouses. I even found a tailor so I could buy things that were a bit too large and have them taken in or shortened.

While I rather detested wearing my corporate costume, I will admit that it was rather helpful to me.

Since I felt like I was playing the part of a grown-up, professional adult, I think it helped me to subconsciously remember to stand up straight; to pitch my voice to sound authoritative; to not insert "like" into every, like, sentence; to not swear constantly - in short, to stop acting like a teenager.

Then, around the mid-90s, the company decided to start allowing casual Fridays. My department head was very much against the idea - he claimed people would be less productive if they were dressed casually, and he made a point of continuing to wear a suit and tie on Fridays.

I also ended up sort of boycotting casual Friday, but for a totally different reason - I just could not figure out what I was supposed to wear. Jeans, t-shirts and hoodies were forbidden, and since that was pretty much what my casual wardrobe consisted, I would have had to go and buy a bunch of business-casual clothes just to wear on Fridays. My coworkers mostly opted for variations on the khakis, polo or golf shirt, and boat shoes look; but that was just a bridge too far for me. I was willing to play the part of a professional adult; but I was not about to play the part of the sort of person who goes golfing and talks about their stock portfolio on the weekends. I just kept wearing my business formal clothes, and my department head was delighted with me.

Nowadays, I work from home and even if I was in the office, my company doesn't really have a dress code. My wardrobe consists of hoodies and T-shirts. It's wonderful to not have to wear itchy, constricting, and strangely expensive clothing. However, I still have a distinction between my "work" clothes and my "relaxing" clothes - I never work in my pajamas, for example, because to do so would taint my pajamas with work stress!

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