I have been keeping out of this thread deliberately after having spotted a mirror thread on FNB a while back.
To be absolutely honest, I am quite realistic about the fact that the lounge suit has the same level of formality as a frock coat in the Edwardian era, and the sports coat the same level as a morning coat. I enjoy shocking people by reminding them that the Monstrously Ultra-formal Lounge Suit is beach wear.
Today it is proclaimed that "there are no Rules today" because Rules are always monstrous, old fashioned and oppressive tyrannies, incompatible with the Glorious Freedom of our time; - ergo, Rules must be torn down: "Viva La Revolución!" But, if we truly live in the Age of Absolute Dress Freedom, then FNB should be able to wear couture house dresses with trains to work, and I should be able to go in court dress.
The fact is, university students go to lectures in jeans and t-shirt because it is a kind of rigidly prescribed uniform. They are not allowed to wear lounge suit and tie, because they would end up outdressing theirs seniors (lecturers) and be derided by their peers for being "out of uniform". It is not phrased that way but the results are the same.
That IT types
have to wear slobwear to demonstrate their greater Spirit of Freedom and Creativity is just another form of prescription to which there is mass conformism. The Generals demanded that the Workers wear slobwear to enhance their creativity and they obeyed.
Rules today are as rigid as they ever were, except that today we avoid the old fashioned formalised prescriptive element of years past to convince ourselves that we live in a Golden Age of Freedom. The Rules today are unwritten and punitive repercussions come in the form of derision or silent exclusion. Yet, forumites have still reported being called into the office to see the boss for wearing lounge coat and tie in a business casual environment.
I swear that after the Social Revolution of the mid-20th century, people decided we live in a Utopia of Freedom and that we had to run around naked in the New Paradise. That being impractical, underwear has been strictly prescribed as a viable alternative. We live in the Age of Nudity:
http://thelondonlounge.net/gl/forum/...pic.php?t=7663
(Note that, we live in the Second Age of Nudity following the student riots in Paris hailing the start of the Social Revolution. The First Age of Nudity followed the storming of the Bastille - also in Paris.)
In reality, clearly announced dress rules make life easier for people. They need not be enforced in an old fashioned, rigid fashion. It is infinitely easier to grab the charcoal coloured lounge and white shirt in the morning than to figure out what this bloody "business casual" thing is. When we permit ourselves to admit that rules in some form or other, written or otherwise, will always exists, then there is a great sense of relief that we no longer have to kid ourselves otherwise. Life becomes easier.