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Casual Friday is so '90s, dressing down is full time
Contra Costa Times ^ | 8/23/06 | Molly Selvin

Posted on 08/23/2006 8:48:35 AM PDT by qam1

On those rare occasions when insurance executive Tara Guizot wears a suit to her Los Angeles office, "people invariably ask me if I'm interviewing for a new job," she said.

The trend toward casual dress has gone so far that Matt Smith, a 27-year-old Los Angeles lawyer, is on a quest to establish "Tie Tuesday." He would like to wear a suit to work but knows he'd be ridiculed. Instead, Smith dons a tie every Tuesday and hopes other men in his office will follow. So far, a couple have.

"It's just something fun," he said.

Forget casual Fridays. In many workplaces, it's casual everyday as corporate dress codes have gone the way of fedoras and white gloves.

Office workers, from executives to receptionists, now wear pretty much what they want, sometimes baring more cleavage, tattoos and body fat than co-workers care to see.

....

Polo shirts, sweater sets and tailored slacks -- what many companies consider "business casual" -- have given way to halter tops, rubber flip-flops, T-shirts and jeans.

The trend has even sparked a mini-backlash among professionals opting for a more buttoned-down look.

"Wearing a tie used to be a sign of conformity. But dressing down is now conformity and dressing up is rebellious," said Robert Stephens, who founded the Geek Squad, Best Buy Co.'s computer repair service. Squad members sport short-sleeve white shirts and black ties.

Credit younger workers, who bring a who-cares-what-I-wear attitude to their cubicles, for the casual-everyday trend

.....

"It really helps us, specifically with Gen X and Y workers," said Miriam Wardak, senior vice president for ICF International, a Virginia-based consulting firm, adding that some younger workers have told her they would not consider a potential employer if they had to wear a suit and tie.

(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: anarchy; bigdeal; casuallifestyle; dresscodes; fashion; genx; geny; notenoughproblems; slobs; stuffedshirts; workplace
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To: tx_eggman
I thought Hawaiian shirt day wasn't until next Friday.


61 posted on 08/23/2006 10:10:10 AM PDT by mysterio
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To: qam1

I'm wearing shorts and a loud, Hawaiian shirt. (I take my tag line quite seriously!)


62 posted on 08/23/2006 10:10:13 AM PDT by Redcloak (Speak softly and wear a loud shirt.)
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To: opticks

While "ass antlers" is quite humorous nothing really catches the essence, the feel or is as perfectly descriptive as "TRAMP STAMP"


63 posted on 08/23/2006 10:10:21 AM PDT by Hazcat
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To: qam1

Great!!! Nothing is more annoying that having some over paid corporate executive decide that his minions must spend a fortune on clothing worn no where else in order to receive their chump change of a check...

My spouse works for a company with such a code..she makes about $25K a year yet is expected to present a 'professional' (read expensive) appearance on her piddly salary.

If a company wants their employees to wear expensive wardrobes, they should pay a wardrobe allowance. The employee gets nothing at all from the scam.

Now lets speak of lunatic office managers who keep the office temperature at 65% winter or summer...because their offices have windows and they get warm...poor babies.


64 posted on 08/23/2006 10:10:27 AM PDT by Jim Verdolini (We had it all, but the RINOs stalked the land and everything they touched was as dung and ashes!)
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To: rock_lobsta

Isn't it strange how multiple posters come up with the exact same response within minutes of each other? I see it a couple of times a week here.


65 posted on 08/23/2006 10:11:11 AM PDT by mysterio
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To: Gingersnap

"People who can't find 'comfortable' clothing that also spares the office constant visuals of a failed weight loss battle just don't know how to dress like a grownup instead of a little kid."



Here, here. Or is it, hear, hear?


The show "What Not to Wear" could have eternal life because the truth is, 90% of American people dress like !$!!@$#@%. If only we could get all of them on the show.


66 posted on 08/23/2006 10:11:20 AM PDT by the OlLine Rebel (Common sense is an uncommon virtue.)
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To: qam1

I work in the IT field and dress seems to getting more relaxed every year. Monday I worked in nothing but boxers and a t-shirt.

(Remotely from home of course)


67 posted on 08/23/2006 10:12:23 AM PDT by Mcirrus (Future Reference)
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To: dfwgator
I remember my first day at EDS when I took off my suit in the cafeteria to eat. I was quickly advised to put the coat back on.

I have a coworker who, when going through the EDS interview process ordered a scotch neat when he went out to lunch with his two "handlers". When they informed him that "at EDS we don't drink at lunch" he looked back at the waiter ans said "make it a double"

End of interview

68 posted on 08/23/2006 10:13:12 AM PDT by tx_eggman (Islamofascism ... bringing you the best of the 7th century for the past 1300 years.)
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To: petro45acp

"What the heck purpose does a tie serve"

it is the last remanent of the bows and furbelows of the 16th and 17th centuries..It also is a demonstration of power by the folk that force such silliness on their employers...

The last company that I worked for that required the stupid things got exactly what they demanded....one tie, worn every day and washed not dry cleaned...(shrunk up pretty well over time) Looked absolutely ridiculous and was shucked for the junk drawer in the desk each time I left the building. I wanted one with a nekid lady on it but my spouse drew the line at my rebellion.


69 posted on 08/23/2006 10:15:12 AM PDT by Jim Verdolini (We had it all, but the RINOs stalked the land and everything they touched was as dung and ashes!)
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To: qam1

"Tie Tuesdays": that's an interesting concept, especially since, as a high school teacher, I have for 29 years worn a suit every Wednesday. I find the wide variety of standards for business dress fascinating and liberating. Unlike some on here, I am also intrigued by the amount of flesh and underthings people are wont to display (I said "intrigued", not "bothered").

All other days of the week, I wear black 501s, a golf- or broadcloth shirt, and comfortable shoes. The Wednesday suit thing started out as a way to mark the middle of the week with something special to wear. Hey, it's like anything else these days, especially here in the West: you could be at a car race, church, a restaurant, or a wedding -- and you're sure to see someone dressed in high fashion and someone else in hiking clothes. It's not really much of an issue any more; and I'm OK with that. I think everyone has a choice on how "impressive" they want to be; and I really believe in "dress for success". People do notice.


70 posted on 08/23/2006 10:15:22 AM PDT by Migraine (...diversity is great (until it happens to you)...)
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To: petro45acp

Wait till one of these chicks find out that the translation of that Chinese tramp stamp lettering = "I have a fat ass"


71 posted on 08/23/2006 10:16:42 AM PDT by NRA1995 (Zarqawi died, liberals cried....)
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To: mysterio
Sorry. I saw the keywords and the title, and I thought he was one of the hate filled-boomers that usually overrun these threads.

I don't go for this generation warfare either way, but it goes both ways a lot of times the acrimony on these threads is started by some "generation-x" persone bashing the "boomer" generation as the worst generation ever and responsible for all the troubles of the world.

72 posted on 08/23/2006 10:19:35 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: qam1
I DO love my Khakis and polo shirts, but there is a bad side effect: weddings and funerals mean I have to go buy a suit I'll only use once ever 4 or 5 years or so.

That reminds me, has anybody lately "dressed up" (suit/tie - fancy dress for ladies), to go on a date? I know my wife and I tried it a few times on "date night", and got the funniest stares

...maybe it's because we were at the Sizzler...

73 posted on 08/23/2006 10:20:02 AM PDT by Warren_Piece (Smart is easy. Good is hard.)
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To: Owl_Eagle
Well, I used to know a chick who had this big, disgusting birthmark on her rather enormous cleavage, but other than that, I find that last statement hard to visualize

LOL - we used to have this 20-something woman working as a receptionist for our company about 10 years back. Fairly good looking, but my GOD, she must have had a set of 40 double-deckers sloshing around up there, and seemed to take perverse pleasure in wearing white blouses to work with the first two or three buttions undone.

The lady who worked next to her, a curmungeon in her sixties, would just sit there and just fume when she did this. The men didn't seem to mind, and we found any excuse we could to justify a quick trip to the office;)
74 posted on 08/23/2006 10:20:34 AM PDT by reagan_fanatic (Get off my lawn!)
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To: ShadowAce
"It allows us to be relaxed, and concentrate on our work, rather than how we look."

Very true. Bothering with a dress code in a business is such an old world way of thinking. People should focus on the tasks at hand rather than clothing. In the IT Dept where I work there is a 'business casual' dress code, but I've never paid any attention to it. Most days I show up wearing cargo pants and combat boots lol. I do what would be considered 6 different jobs at most large companies. One minute I may be messing with a hard drive in a PC or in a ceiling with cable, and the next I may be configuring a Cisco Router or working on a large database server. Having lots of pockets is a necessity, and dress clothes just don't get it done.

75 posted on 08/23/2006 10:21:36 AM PDT by KoRn
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To: dfwgator; lormand

I also used to work for EDS back in the day, in fact most people I know have worked for EDS. We call it "Parris Island for IT."

I remember one October 31, a group of GM engineers came to work wearing suits and ties to the Halloween party. When asked what they were dressed up as, they said, "EDS workers!" They won the prize for "most scary costume."


76 posted on 08/23/2006 10:22:05 AM PDT by Alouette (Psalms of the Day: 140-144)
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To: qam1
Hear, Hear!

The necktie is the mark of the assistant night manager at Burger King. It is the collar of a wage slave. It's an accursed remnant of the bloody rags the Huns wore around their necks as they raped and pillaged their way across Christian Europe.

Now that I am a partner in my organization, I wear only Tommy Bahama shirts. The people who work for me wear the dog collars. It's good to be king.

-ccm

77 posted on 08/23/2006 10:22:13 AM PDT by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order)
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To: Malacoda
My husband started wearing a nice fedora to work, and has gotten a lot of compliments and queries as to where he bought it.

I would welcome the opportunity to wear a fedora. Unfortunately, I work in a manufacturing area, and most of the dress is business casual.

One thing that many are missing on this thread is that a little formality can breed better manners. When you wear a hat, there are some standards of respect. You take the hat off when entering a building or room; you take the hat off in a hospital, or during a church service, and certainly during the playing of the National Anthem. Of course, many people have lost this sense of manners, as you see them all the time at sporting events and parades, wearing their ball caps when the Star-Spangled Banner is played.

Formality in dress requires you to care about your clothing, and how you look. Not in a metrosexual way, but in a thoughtful way. A way that shows you respect whom you're doing business with enough to present yourself in a professional way.

And looking professional doesn't have to mean being uncomfortable. A tailored shirt and pants, a properly-knotted tie, and a jacket that is hemmed properly doesn't restrict your motions or your thoughts. It can bring about a certain level of respect however, in that people dealing with you--especially people whom you've never met before--may take you a lot more serious in more formal dress than they would if you were in torn jeans and a t-shirt.

78 posted on 08/23/2006 10:22:34 AM PDT by Lou L
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To: ndt
Great post....

I work in embedded software development....

The last 3 summers I have worn shorts/shoes or shorts/sandals every day all summer ....
79 posted on 08/23/2006 10:24:36 AM PDT by FreedomProtector
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To: opticks; NRA1995

Nothing says "SLUT" like a tat on the butt.


80 posted on 08/23/2006 10:25:11 AM PDT by ccmay (Too much Law; not enough Order)
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