How Casual Is Your Business?
It seems that the trumpeted arrival of the dress code
that came to be known as 'business casual' is making
something of a whimpering exit.
With the 'dot-com' boom, came a new generation of CEOs,
mostly in their late 20's or early 30's who took a more
cavalier approach to their business attire, and turned
up for work 'sans-tie'.
In some companies it was more extreme than others,
where the newly minted millionaire would show up in
ratty old jeans and a T-shirt, and before too long the
masses had followed.
So, what became of the Business Casual dress code?
Well, I for one believe that it never was a genuine
code in the first place.
I can site numerous examples of HR professionals and
senior financial officers dismaying at how some of their
younger people started dressing for work. If called
upon at a minute's notice to attend a client meeting,
it would have been difficult for the client to determine
who had arrived from the Accountants office and who
was delivering the Pizza.
The problem has been that, unlike the 'IBM unwritten
rule of white shirt, dark tie and suit', the term 'Business
Casual' was always open to misinterpretation.
Does one place the emphasis on 'Business' or
'Casual'?
It seems that if you were 40 or older, you thought
this to be a sports jacket and Polo shirt. The next
generation down saw it as an opportunity to show off
their more outrageous designer label purchases, and
the youngest members of the workforce took it to mean
'turn up wearing what you slept in last night, no one
will mind'.
Since the demise of the largest slice of the 'dot-com'
economy, the standard of dress codes seen in most places
of work seems to be on the rise again.
Call it a return to more traditional values across
the board.
Just listen to your radio on the drive into work. How
many 'specialist outfitters' do you hear advertised
which specialize in business suits? I seem to hear more
each day.
Take a look down Bay Street. How many 'high fliers'
do you see not in the traditional designer suit? Very
few upon my own inspection.
Finally, take a look around your own office. I see
more business suits and 'smart casual' than anything
else. It seems we all received an 'Emeril-like' message
to 'kick it up a notch'.
Today business casual, I believe, means a designer
suit with a designer shirt, but no tie, as opposed to
the T-shirt and jeans. Maybe it's because of the thought
that casual attire leads to a casual approach, and as
the economy tightened we had to be anything but casual
in our approach to business.
I still believe there is a place for business casual
- with the emphasis placed firmly on business, and many
companies I work with seem to have got it about right.
Many of the people I see at work would feel equally
at home at a family wedding as at work, based on their
choice of wardrobe. And why not?
It seems that what we came to know as business casual
is dead. Long live business casual…… But
then again, what do I know?
© 2004, MFA
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