Our synapses fired, watching our dads head out the door each morning. That is what ‘work clothes’ look like, our still-forming brains imprinted on the hippocampus.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
The New Rules of Business Casual Guidelines
Our synapses fired, watching our dads head out the door each morning. That is what ‘work clothes’ look like, our still-forming brains imprinted on the hippocampus.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
I just had to stop reading this article to quickly note that I never would have thought to parallel the rise of technological industries in Silicon Valley with the decrease in formal workwear. I guess it makes sense, though, because as the work days grow longer, the margin for comfort gets smaller. That said, can we connect the rise of technological companies with the diminishing of the traditional nine to five? Is that also a statistic that emerges from this data about office fashion? Regardless, I think that this connection is understandable.
I once again have to stop reading this article to acknowledge the puns. I did not say “celebrate” the puns, but they should be acknowledged, nonetheless.
After finally finishing this article, I thought about how the ways we dress affect our psychological idea of productivity and professionalism. I have always believed that by putting more effort into my outfits everyday, I will thus put more effort into my work everyday. I am now questioning how much of this has to do with the ways in which we were subconsciously trained to visualize professionalism.
Business casual has always been one of my favorite “genres of style”, if you will. When I was younger, I always remember being excited for the days that I would have to dress in business casual, I’m not entirely sure why, but I was. I think a lot of people, especially juniors and seniors in college, feel slightly intimidated or challenged by the idea of business casual. When you think of work attire, you think of a small color palette and boring clothing. I think that business casual is a lot broader than many think. It can be personalized to your style and fashion sense while still looking out together and ready for a job interview. It’s also important to make sure you are always wearing things that reflect what you like and your creativity. It’s important to wear things that make you feel happy, comfortable, but most of all like yourself.
The fact that the idea of work clothing began to integrate more with our weekend clothing as work weeks became longer for tech startups makes a lot of sense, but I would argue that it extends beyond that. Tech startups may have been among the first to expand their hours in this way and being a brand new field allowed it to form new rules about attire without any restrictions of tradition, but as technology in general became more present in our lives, so did our jobs. There is no such thing as “off-duty” anymore with the invention of cell phones. This blurred the separation of work and home in our headspaces, and also in our wardrobes. I completely agree with the styling side of this article in terms of creating your own “uniform”. I believe that the freedom to wear whatever we feel is “business casual” is an overall improvement in our lives. To me, it doesn’t just signify a blending of work and home, but also an abandonment of elitism which surrounds such strict dress codes.
It never even occurred to me that business wear is becoming out of fashion. I really appreciated that the article took time to analyze the psychological impacts of business wear because it’s something that has always lingered in my mind but I never really thought hard about it. It really does make sense that in such formal, rigid clothes we have the tendency to work more efficiently because it brings us a sense of duty.
I love that change is happening, that industry standards are starting to fade away. It is more up to the person now to decide what will allow them to perform the best during their work. I also think it’s important that the article said uniforms are boring and bland. If it works for the employees to stay focused then that’s a valid reason. However, I do think this dress code free trend is only going away in top-tiered workplaces. People of lower classes, working at less privileged places aren’t able to enjoy this freedom yet.
I was a part of my high school’s finance magnet, and how I wish I had the guts to send this article to my former teacher there. We had to business dress once a week for all four years, and part of our (incredibly outdated) dress code was pantyhose and heels for the girls. More often than not, company- (or school-) mandated dress codes tend to be sharply divided by gender, and enforce stereotypical ideas of the jobs that genders perform in the workplace. This new, silicon-valley driven evolution of “business casual” allows for a much more open interpretation of what that means to you and your job specifically. I still believe that it’s good to make an effort in your appearance when it comes to important meetings, presentations, or events, because that shows respect and effort on your part, but pantyhose really needs to become a thing of the past.
Japan is famous for having strict dress codes from pre-school to employment. Some elementary schools have regulations specifying the color of female students’ underwear “to avoid raising the sexual excitement of male students.” I mean, what? It is crazy how university students dress all the same for job interviews: black suit with two buttons, white shirt, black hills, and black hair (of course dyed if you are not naturally born with) tied in a low pony tail. Alas, I have all ready in my closet. Even in a general office, there are unspoken rules about how to dress. Cool Biz is a casual wear campaign, which the government has been campaigning for last few years to let the business man wear T-shirts rather than shirts and suit jackets in midsummer day. It is ironic that when my father once wore a suit because he thought the office was too cold, his coworker warned him that he was not supposed to wear a jacket during the campaign. On the other hand, it might be because I am used to this extreme culture, but I feel like some people in the States dress too uniquely that their outfit is not appropriate for their standing. I respect their expression of identity over clothing, but “even in a dress code-free world, how you dress matters!” Why can’t we find somewhere in the middle…?
First of all, I have always hated receiving an invitation that specified a “business casual” dress code. I have grown up in a generation where I can remember watching my dad leave for work in slacks and a button-down, but I have also been able to see his work environment evolve into modern-day where he can wear jeans and a polo shirt. Dress code is something that is particularly hard to pin down in the theatrical industry. While Silicon Valley may have made the most impactful statement when it comes to dress code, I would not be able to do my job in a scene shop safely wearing a suit and tie. The idea of “dress for your day” is generally how I approach my wardrobe. Personally, I like having the opportunity to dress up and look nice, however, this is not always practical for the day ahead of me so keeping in mind my daily schedule really dictates what I decide to put on in the morning.
The freedom to wear whatever one chooses is somewhat applicable to theatre. For many of us, there are simply items you cannot wear in the scene shop or paint shop, but that does not mean there can be no creativity within it. Some years back when I switched from private to public school, I no longer had to wear a uniform. To be honest, it did become somewhat stressful for me, especially in the insecure time of middle school. The concept of a uniform is smart, but I haven't gotten around to try it. I thought this article overall was useful, but the perspective seemed a little odd. The advice is aimed at men from a woman's perspective, but the title of the website makes it appear that girlfriends decide what their boyfriends wear. It might just be the way it's framed, but I'm curious to see how men react to this brand and motto.
This article was really interesting to me—“business casual” has always been something in a grey area for me. Whenever I had to get dressed up to be more professional, I always used to google images of what the term entailed. And every photo seemed to tell me something different. My dad is a lawyer, so I grew up with him leaving for work everyday with a briefcase, nice shoes, and a full suit. The women in his office wore tights, flats, and pencil skirts to the knees with blazers. My mom tried for years to get me to get a blazer for my closet in case I ever had to be professional. I refused, because I never felt comfortable wearing one. I appreciate the changes to the professional industry standards being more geared towards comfort and productivity, not just some standard to be upheld, just because it’s the standard. I hadn’t put two and two together that silicon valley had influence in changing that standard, but after reading this article, I’m not very surprised. If dressing more casual/to your own standards helps you create better stronger work, then why not ditch the standard?
Never have I ever worn a "business casual" outfit that is typical for women, but I do love the style of "male" business casual, which is a common outfit I often wear out. As a Silicon Valley native, I have definitely noticed the decreasing formality of either what business casual entails or businesswear in general. Individuality has really been popping through in small, start-up, and tech businesses around the Bay Area. No more are most working people leaving home in slacks and a button-down. More and more people are styling their workplace outfits to their own tastes. It is an interesting trend. For me, business casual has meant black pants, nice shoes, and a button-down (though a solid t-shirt is acceptable if I throw a blazer or sport coat over it—it's what I wore under my gown at graduation). I am eager to see how the future of business casual will pan out.
I’ve noticed that wearing what we think of as work clothes such as suits has largely disappeared. My dad has always worn a nice dress shirt and khakis to work so I always thought that was pretty normal for most office jobs. Recently he has mentioned that a lot of his younger coworkers dress very casually in sweatshirts and don’t seem. I think as much as it is nice to be able to wear whatever you want there’s something kind of nice about the tradition of caring about what you wear. It just seems like the end of an era but I guess change is good and inevitable. Also, no dress code allows for more personal expression through clothing which is always a good thing! I think it’s nice that people can wear whatever they want to work but I just hope they still take pride in what they wear.
I think that this is a wonderful article. As someone who has been tasked with wardrobe revamps or curating a person’s style professionally, these are things that I knew and looked for but I have never been able to phrase these “guidelines” in quite as concise a manner as Style Girlfriend does. I, personally, am all about curating a sort of “capsule closet” as a basis for a wardrobe and then adding pieces that can elevate a normal outfit to whatever an occasion demands. I think a lot of people have started noticing that traditional conventions for dressing yourself in the professional world (and just as, you know, an adult person) have very much started shifting the way we as a society dress. Unfortunately, this tends to confuse many people which is where we start to get those who feel it is proper to wear, say, sweatpants to work (which, in my opinion, is never appropriate save for those who are fitness professionals).
Business casual has always been one of the most interesting fashion categories out there simply because of the huge variety of what it could mean. I’ve been more focused on the women’s side of it, because I never know what would be more appropriate when told to dress business casual for an event, a dress or a blouse and dress pants, so I thought the look at men’s fashion was interesting. I think the idea of the tech world inspiring more ‘weekend’ clothing at the office is interesting - other people in this thread have mentioned their fathers leaving for work in suits, while my dad, working a “techy” job in a graphic design studio, has always worn jeans and sneakers. It makes sense how the standards are breaking down some, as people consider that as long as people are comfortable and doing their jobs, it doesn’t really matter what style of clothes they are wearing.
Post a Comment