dressing down

I rarely engage in rants on this blog, but my day job has recently revived the dreaded "casual Friday" for a number of occasions. Now I have say that when I'm not at work, you'll find me in paint-stained clothes, -usually jeans and tee shirt (long sleeve for cooler months, short sleeve for the hot summers), and never in a tie unless I'm going to the theatre or an equally dressy event. Nonetheless, I have issue with casual Friday at the workplace.

First off, no single workplace policy of the last 100 years has done more to retard the already sartorially dull white straight male than casual Friday. It practically sanctioned Dockers and potato-sack polo shirts as standard work attire. Culturally, we were just starting to get over this. A new generation of young male working types are jettisoning the metrosexual look in favor of a strong, well-put together professional image.

Secondly, work is not casual. Work is work. Attendance is mandatory, the mood is professional and there is a heightened sense of purpose when everyone is dressed to "get down to business."

Of course I'm not speaking of every job. Programmers, developers, these work environments are practically defined by a childlike atmosphere and that is great for them. I'm also not speaking of non-office jobs. When I'm at the studio (which is work too) I dress appropriately. One of the things I've enjoyed heretofore at my new job is the fact that everyone, without exception, dresses in traditional office attire. Ties and jackets for the men, suits or dresses for the women. It works. It uplifts and equalizes everyone, and you feel the collective sense of purpose in the building.

This new resurgence in "office casual" seemingly coincides with the cultural shift to the Right. I'll leave my politics out of it, but let's just say that I don't look to most Southern Baptists for fashion inspiration.

Business casual offers the illusion of independence, but doesn't deliver. Catholic school children know this. Uniforms offer real opportunity for personal style to emerge and express itself. Parameters, -in life, in art, are good things because we find interesting ways to push them. In a troubled economy, we all need to get down to business. This is not the time to put on our golf shirts and white tennis shoes and soccer dad jeans.

IMHO, visit this site for a primer of how not to look like a fat, white douchebag; you'll never find an endorsement of casual Friday by the MB.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.