Do you care how your coworkers dress? Does the decline of formality of dress bother you?



Claghorn said:

Doesn't address the effort aspect, but it at least provides a semi-objective approach to what "dressing well" is in a business context.

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Wait, if I'm reading that right, people regard white athletic socks as more appropriate for work than a suit?

meister said:

When working at an office I really hated the slobby IT section types. Oh but they had to crawl under desks etc....yeah yeah...

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Yeah, I don't care if IT people dress in t-shirts and jeans, but I hate that poor excuse. I get it constantly from my co-workers. Shirts can be washed, you know. Sometimes they're even less expensive than hoodies. I crawl under desks in coat and tie, and I've always been able to get the dust off. Heck, I spilled an entire pink toner cartridge on a pair of flannel pants and they could be recovered without even going to the dry cleaners.

Something about this thread struck me as familiar, so I did a little searching and found a necro-thread written in 1813 entitled "Doth the Decline of Dryss Bother You?" No joke. Lots of good stuff there -- Vox was really at the top of his game. Here's a trechant post from a forum member named "Beaubrummel17":

While, I, myself like to wear my powdered wig daily, I couldn't care less what other people wear. If they want to be slobs with their own real, natural hair showing, I'm indifferent. On the other hand, it may be an issue in terms of professionalism: I really think an 11 lbs. powdered wig with no less than 17 ringlets is still the only way to be taken seriously in the 19th century workplace. And I can state with almost metaphysical certitude that this will be the case for the forseeable future.

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Well played - Thought thread had died a natural death but you brought it back and did so with style (pun intended)



Juan said:

Every time you dress ugly, God kills a kitten 

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allysan1027 said:

it doesn't take more effort to dress well, but it makes someone lazy if they don't...

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Yes. Too lazy to think. Thinking is not effort. And if it is, well, then, dressing is the least of their problems.



patrickBOOTH said:

I was having a discussion with a friend of mine about how casual America has become and the leniency towards how one dresses, especially in the workplace. The Casual nature of corporate America bothers him greatly. He claims that people work harder, feel confident, and there is some sort of referencing hard work with business formal clothing. Essentially looking professional makes one act that way and preform better. Kind of a psychology.

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Lounge suit. Formality of the lounge suit?

I'm guessing if this forum existed 90+ years ago somebody would be lamenting all the dress down types in lounge suits.

I'll go out on a limb and say this thread is a combination of US view point. A lounge suit has become almost formal wear fit for court. The fact that so few younger people ever see even a jacket.

I wonder what the view point is of people that went to schools requiring a jacket.



Nicola said:

The fact that so few younger people ever see even a jacket.

I wonder what the view point is of people that went to schools requiring a jacket.

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That is a very interesting point. My son goes to a school that requires a jacket and tie. He ties his own FIH every morning and must wear the jacket at all times in school. While time will tell if he will end up with a negative reaction - so far he seems to accept it as "normal". Also seeing me where a suit/tie every day probably makes him feel more okay with it.

Can any others here comment on their own experience of having to wear a jacket/tie to school and whether this did/did not influence the level of formality of their own dress when they started working?

The code & systems teams wear whatever they like. As far as I can tell all-black T-shirt and cargos is basically coder uniform.

I wear better than... well, the next three levels of management, TBH.

Hell, I dress better on dress-down Friday than my direct boss does Monday through Thursday - mostly because he seems to think polyester shirts with breast pockets, no tie and cheap brown brogues constitute office wear.

"Do you care how your coworkers dress? Does the decline of formality of dress bother you?"


Naw, not really. Most of them couldn't dress well if they wanted to...


I like trying to dress well. I like clothes- it's my hobby.