Late 1800s as part of a romanticization of Scottish culture in concert with the burgeoning fabric industry where complex weaves, like a Tartan were finally feasible.
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!
Esme, this is a great memory with a lot of rich detail. Thank you for sharing this here!
I know just what you mean about having a distinction for formality. I want to push back against stodginess and stagnation of ideas, but I also don't want to throw out the baby with the business clothing, if that makes sense. Not all of these ideas are bad; they just maybe went way, way too far in the US during the 1950s.
I feel like I can relate to the unintentional boycott!
I have an extensive tie collection from my first long term corporate job. For a guy wearing suits, the tie was one thing that expressed some individuality. I loved buying them. I even had my power interview tie-guaranteed to land any job. I inherited some of my dad’s ties and my uncles and I went through a ‘skinny’ tie phase unduly influenced by Buckaroo Banzai. This was pre casual Friday, but I had a few fun ties that I’d wear on Fridays to quietly celebrate—my favorite was, of course, my Amazing Spider-Man tie and now I have to go find it.
Also, can you tell I’m in catch up mode. I’m a bit behind after 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 Substack special event for Earth Day. Did you catch any of those stories?
From 1994-2004, I worked for a global athletic footwear and apparel company in Portland, Oregon. (Not 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 one, the other one of German heritage). My first Friday at my first “adult” job, the guy next to me plopped a case of Henry’s on his desk at 3pm. The IT guy walked it carrying a red solo cup he’d filled from the kegerator in the break room. If you showed up at work in a tie, it would be cut off. And if you showed up with a swoosh, it was grounds for termination. (Not really, but also, yes.) Today, my side hustle requires yoga pants, which are basically PJs. For my real job, it is appropriate to wear jeans and athletic shoes everyday—now I “dress up” to go out on dates with the hubby!
In health care I’ve avoided anything more formal than scrubs for the last 30 years. The first 15 years of my career did require dress shirts, ties, and real pants (usually kaki). My favorite tie from that time (which I still have) is dark blue with the molecular structure of the antibiotic Amikacin embroidered on it. Now that I’m working remotely (job description: keeping residents from killing patients) I can wear a t-shirt and scrub bottoms, almost as good as PJ’s.
Nice! Congratulations on being able to work remotely. If that's what you want (I tend to prefer it most of the time), it is such a life changing thing to have.
After spending the COVID years working overnight at an inner city hospital I was ready for a change. Plus, I’m starting down the glideslope towards retirement, so it’s helping me ease into that mindset.
Oh wow. We just watched the TV show The Pitt. It takes place over the course of one ER day, and one episode is an hour. There are references to covid flashbacks. I would love to hear what you think if you get to watch the show.
The good thing about most work places in Denmark is that they're very chill about dress code in the first place, so the concept of Casual Fridays isn't really a thing. (Exceptions are major international banks or consultancies or other multinationals that need to maintain a certain aura of sophistication/brand image.)
I've never worked in a place where I had to worry about what I'm wearing on a given day.
And yet, Dutch culture tends to be productive and diligent. I guess some places need to put on airs more than others, kind of like when I worked at Subway (branded polo shirt) vs when I worked at The Movie Cafe (whatever I wanted, even if it smelled bad).
Very interesting about the dry cleaning bill! I get it, though: it was a change of pace for folks, and that made an impact. Being on the other side now (management, ownership) for a while helps me see the bigger picture, so I think a lot more about these deliberate (or not deliberate) trade-offs. The trade-offs can be tough to measure if you don't have all the information!
Also: your office sounds sensible, like ownership actually paid attention to what was happening out there. That's very good, but certainly not always the case!
Keep in mind -- the partners wanted casual Friday for themselves. They were very often going out of town for the weekend and not having to go home to change saved them time.
Similar to Aloha Shirts are Scottish Kilts... More of a gimick for selling woven fabric.
Yeah, those are a fairly modern invention, right?
Late 1800s as part of a romanticization of Scottish culture in concert with the burgeoning fabric industry where complex weaves, like a Tartan were finally feasible.
Knowing this just makes Braveheart even funnier to remember.
That’s where I first learned it. In Scottland at the William Wallace memorial realizing that they wouldn’t have worn kilts at all back then.
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!
Esme, this is a great memory with a lot of rich detail. Thank you for sharing this here!
I know just what you mean about having a distinction for formality. I want to push back against stodginess and stagnation of ideas, but I also don't want to throw out the baby with the business clothing, if that makes sense. Not all of these ideas are bad; they just maybe went way, way too far in the US during the 1950s.
I feel like I can relate to the unintentional boycott!
I have an extensive tie collection from my first long term corporate job. For a guy wearing suits, the tie was one thing that expressed some individuality. I loved buying them. I even had my power interview tie-guaranteed to land any job. I inherited some of my dad’s ties and my uncles and I went through a ‘skinny’ tie phase unduly influenced by Buckaroo Banzai. This was pre casual Friday, but I had a few fun ties that I’d wear on Fridays to quietly celebrate—my favorite was, of course, my Amazing Spider-Man tie and now I have to go find it.
Oh man! If you have to wear a tie, it should always be a Spider-Man tie!
Also, can you tell I’m in catch up mode. I’m a bit behind after 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 Substack special event for Earth Day. Did you catch any of those stories?
No, but please feel free to drop a link here for anyone who wants to go now!
From 1994-2004, I worked for a global athletic footwear and apparel company in Portland, Oregon. (Not 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 one, the other one of German heritage). My first Friday at my first “adult” job, the guy next to me plopped a case of Henry’s on his desk at 3pm. The IT guy walked it carrying a red solo cup he’d filled from the kegerator in the break room. If you showed up at work in a tie, it would be cut off. And if you showed up with a swoosh, it was grounds for termination. (Not really, but also, yes.) Today, my side hustle requires yoga pants, which are basically PJs. For my real job, it is appropriate to wear jeans and athletic shoes everyday—now I “dress up” to go out on dates with the hubby!
Awesome. I'm not sure I've ever had an adult job, exactly.
I have a LOT of stories like that Friday happy hour one, though. Like, a ton. Restaurants were where I cut my teeth.
When I was at Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) we men were required to wear a tie, except not on Fridays. That was as far as "casual Friday" ever got.
Never mind that I worked in IT where the public was never allowed. We had to wear a tie.
No idea whether they are still required.
Yeah, the CEO in New York wore a tie every day, so we Nashville people had to do the same.
Ha! Imagine making the CEO root for the Vols and wear orange all day during game weeks.
Yikes! Sounds unnecessarily oppressive.
I was just thinking about my awesome wardrobe! I’m going to write a bigger comment on business casual! I loved dressing up for the office!!!
Awesome! I think I triggered something in a lot of people today. Memories are buzzing.
In health care I’ve avoided anything more formal than scrubs for the last 30 years. The first 15 years of my career did require dress shirts, ties, and real pants (usually kaki). My favorite tie from that time (which I still have) is dark blue with the molecular structure of the antibiotic Amikacin embroidered on it. Now that I’m working remotely (job description: keeping residents from killing patients) I can wear a t-shirt and scrub bottoms, almost as good as PJ’s.
Nice! Congratulations on being able to work remotely. If that's what you want (I tend to prefer it most of the time), it is such a life changing thing to have.
I'm nerding out over that tie choice!
After spending the COVID years working overnight at an inner city hospital I was ready for a change. Plus, I’m starting down the glideslope towards retirement, so it’s helping me ease into that mindset.
Oh wow. We just watched the TV show The Pitt. It takes place over the course of one ER day, and one episode is an hour. There are references to covid flashbacks. I would love to hear what you think if you get to watch the show.
You’re the second person who has mentioned that show to me. I’m going to have to look into it.
I have known lots of first responders, and they seem pleased. Definitely hit me up!
The good thing about most work places in Denmark is that they're very chill about dress code in the first place, so the concept of Casual Fridays isn't really a thing. (Exceptions are major international banks or consultancies or other multinationals that need to maintain a certain aura of sophistication/brand image.)
I've never worked in a place where I had to worry about what I'm wearing on a given day.
And yet, Dutch culture tends to be productive and diligent. I guess some places need to put on airs more than others, kind of like when I worked at Subway (branded polo shirt) vs when I worked at The Movie Cafe (whatever I wanted, even if it smelled bad).
RIP, Movie Cafe. RIP.
Most offices I worked in had people dressing professionally because clients were regularly in those offices for meetings.
Once there was no longer a need for a client's physical presence, the need for formal wear went way down.
To the point where if a client is coming in now, we are asked to dress accordingly as versus dressing up every day.
And it may have seemed like a gimmick to you, but casual fridays cut my dry cleaning bill down.
Very interesting about the dry cleaning bill! I get it, though: it was a change of pace for folks, and that made an impact. Being on the other side now (management, ownership) for a while helps me see the bigger picture, so I think a lot more about these deliberate (or not deliberate) trade-offs. The trade-offs can be tough to measure if you don't have all the information!
Also: your office sounds sensible, like ownership actually paid attention to what was happening out there. That's very good, but certainly not always the case!
Keep in mind -- the partners wanted casual Friday for themselves. They were very often going out of town for the weekend and not having to go home to change saved them time.
I can relate! They sound like pragmatists. That probably made it way better to work for them.