In sharp contrast to the Florida-casual aesthetic, my dad was always a sharp dresser. As a salesman, he traveled extensively, and for years he always wore a suit and tie. His shoes were perfectly polished. As business-casual came into fashion, he relaxed his dress code a bit. Still, he rarely went on a sales call without anything less formal than a jacket and button-down shirt.
He worked from his home office when he wasn’t on the road, but long before the days of video calls, he always wore a clean golf shirt and slacks.
According to the consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, by the mid-1990s, almost three-quarters of companies had instituted a casual dress day.
companies had instituted a casual dress day. In response to a tight labor market, firms began to relax more and more to recruit younger workers. This was about the time I entered the workforce, and I remember casual Fridays as quite a perk.
Just a few years later, we were dressing up for presentations and client meetings. Still, things had swung far into the land of leisure, especially for companies cultivating a creative vibe like the agencies where I worked.
I remember gently reminding teams to ‘kick it up a notch’ when clients were in our offices, and that meant preferably no man-sandals (mandals?) or tattered shorts. My advice was not always heeded.
I have also worked from home off-and-on for years. I’ve always found that getting up and dressed (‘with intention’ as I like to put it) has helped me to compartmentalize my day into Work Time and Personal Time. I’ve seen offices downgrade from business casual to casual to barely appropriate, and I know that’s another sign that I'm old now.
But I have always subscribed to the adage: "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have." And I am slightly disgusted by any pants with words across the ass. Even the cutest derriere does not benefit from narrative, seriously.