DRESS FOR EXCESS
What do you wear to work? Are you a buttoned-up, buttoned-down traditionalist, or are you one of those folks that feels comfortable showing up to a client meeting wearing pink sweat pants and a stained Metallica T-Shirt from 1985? Do your clothes make a statement about who you are? Do they say “this person is stiffer than Al Gore and really needs to get laid” or do they say “I just failed my drug test?”
I didn’t think twice about my work wardrobe until about six months ago. I wore pretty much the same thing to work everyday; a buttoned down oxford dress shirt with the company logo on the pocket (I owned about thirty of them) dress slacks, and a tie. If I had a meeting with a client I wore a suit, no questions asked. Our company president was about 65 (going on 90) and in the 15 years I worked for him I never saw him in anything other than a suit.
Then I switched firms six months ago. The president of my new firm is 40 (going on 17) and in the six months I’ve known him I’ve rarely seen him in anything other than cargo shorts and his version of a PETA T-shirt (People Eating Tasty Animals).
My new company works really hard at marketing itself as being cutting edge, hip,trendy and relaxed. When I first started, I went to Pasadena to do a trade show and I was to meet one of the guys from our LA office at the show. I showed up in a charcoal gray suit, starched white shirt, and a silk baby blue tie (a look beaten to death by politicians now for decades). When my coworker walked into the building he started laughing and said “what the hell are you wearing?!?!?” “What I always wear to trade shows” I mumbled sheepishly. He pointed around the convention hall and said “do you see any other human being here in a suit???” I had to admit I didn’t and so he sent me back to my hotel to change.
I’ve discovered since that time that the accepted dress for meeting with clients at my new firm is a pair of faded distressed jeans. However, they can’t be faded and distressed from having worn them a lot. They must come that way from the Versace store and they must cost more than a typical mortgage payment. The jeans are to be coupled with a designer shirt that has been cut so that it is intended to be tucked in, but AT NO TIME are you EVER to tuck a shirt in.
Yes, everyone who is the public eye in my company dresses this way, and to the best of my knowledge, none of them are gay. So I’m really confused.
We were all together a few months ago at a trade show in Las Vegas. While we were out one night they drug me into a trendy looking store and refused to let me leave until I bought at least one new shirt. They started picking out stuff and throwing at me. I kept looking around for cameras because I was certain I was on a mutant version of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” (Let me reiterate that all of these guys are married. However, I think I’m going to start calling their wives to see if these are simply marriages of convenience.) I walked out with a black shirt that had silk cuffs with six buttons, a collar that would make the flying nun proud, and enough intricate detail work to keep a sweat shop worker in China busy for a week. I’m not going to say how much this shirt cost but I did have to take out a disbursement from my 401K when my credit card bill arrived.
I’m trying to be more hip. I’ve stopped tucking in my shirts, I’ve grown a goatee, and I’m wearing my hair a bit shaggier. However, I’m about to turn 51 and at some point trying to look “hip” becomes looking “silly and desperate.”
I just got back from a meeting in Mobile, AL with a very prominent African-American church. I knew my company’s “look” wouldn’t fly at that meeting so I wore a suit and it’s a good thing I did because everyone at the meeting was dressed to the nines in tailored suits.
I have to admit, I felt like I was back at home. What do you wear to work?
Comments (17)
Once a week, I am in the woman’s version of a power-suit as I work for a local government and take meeting minutes. You should see how the residents show up, though… some of them obviously do not look in a mirror before they go out. The rest of my work days, it’s just whatever’s clean, with no jeans unless it’s a “casual day” (and they make us PAY for casual day – and donate it to some random cause-of-the-week. No donation, no jeans… BAH!)
I am, as you call it, a “buttoned-up, buttoned-down traditionalist”. I sometimes wear jeans on casual Fridays, but they are dark-washed, trouser cut jeans that don’t look much like jeans at all. I generally only wear a proper suit if I have a meeting with a mucky-muck of some sort, but you would never think that I’m about to hit the party circuit or the beach, or that I’m just taking a break from spring cleaning. Rightly or wrongly, when I meet someone in a business setting who’s dressed like a shlub, I don’t take them as seriously as I would if they were in a suit or professional attire.
Is this question anything like “What are you wearing?” *heavy breathing* ?!?! I guess that depends on where you work, huh?!
I work from home, going out for errands once in awhile, so I dress casual, but nice.
Thanks for making me laugh with this post! LOVE the Al Gore line!!
i usually show up to my office in my robe and jammies. then i’ll change into more socially acceptable clothing around noon or 1, depending on how motivated i am. right now i’m wearing a t-shirt and a pretty worn out pair of shorts. good thing i work at home, eh? at this point, i don’t know what i’d do if i worked with other people again. probably show up in my robe and jammies and wonder what was wrong with everybody else in business clothes.
I get to wear whatever I want, since I work at home. I can’t stand sitting around in pj’s, though, so I’m usually showered and dressed early. On days when the primary client is in town for a meeting, it’s business casual.
Wow, you’ve really had a shift in dressing recently, haven’t you? The shirt you bought – you’re doing your part to bring disco back! Good for you!
Kathi
It depends on what part of the country you live in. You arrived from Button Down Mid West ready to work in Casual California. Guess your workmates have adopted the Out West dress code.
Cargo capris and a sweatshirt, currently, but I’m in a coffee shop, cruising Xanga when I’m supposed to be writing.
My husband swears that showing up for an interview at a Seattle tech company in a suit would immediately disqualify you for the job.
I wish my work place’s dress code was that casual!
haha that’s interesting. i don’t work yet, but i’m excited to wear cute women suits (if i get a job that’s that professional).
What am I wearing ? The french maid outfit. Oh wait !! Wrong venue…
Business casual and I choose to emphasize the casual. I work for a trucking company and see more ass-crack than a plumber’s convention, so I think a tank top under a cotton shirt with capris and sandals is just fine. No one has disagreed with me to date.
Currently I dress for unemployment, so on the days I choose to dress at all, it’s shorts and a t-shirt. Until the weather changes.
xoxoxo
I am the Queen of Comfort. Thankfully, I work in a really crappy building where “business casual” means it’s dress up day. So it’s shorts and tees, or jeans, with flip flops. My second job is in the basement of the owner’s home (medical billing) so it’s all the same. We actually kick off our flip flops for comfort.
I dread the day I have to wear anything other than thrift shop duds.
I spend most of my work day unwashed and occasionally covered in puke or other small child exudate. I wear tank tops & sports bras and sweat pants. I wish I had a suit, but I don’t and if I did I wouldn’t wear to my work. My bosses are extremely demanding but they don’t seem to care much about my attire.
As long as I look cute in it, my bosses comply. But they are all “men of a certain age.”
I’m lucky. I just wear scrubs every day, the equivalent of pajamas. No decisions, no stress, but the drawstring waist will let you gain about ten pounds before you even notice.
I am not the fashion plate that the others in my office are. But then my bosses are all women, and the executive director doesn’t shop anywhere other than Nordstroms. I’m a bit out of step I am afraid. Today I am wearing cargo pants and a red shirt, but no tie.
I don’t wear ties anymore. They are passe in Seattle unless you are a teacher or working at Safeco, the last company to let go of white shirts (with a tie) and slacks for everyone in the company. If I wore a suit my boss would wonder where I am interviewing later in the day….
Hmmmm.. interesting topic. And very funny!