Office fashion role models faulted in the casuals drama

Remember the late 1990s and early 2000s, when “casual Friday” was a naughty thrill?

How innocent we were. In the past decade those seemingly harmless polo shirts and khakis have spawned a five-day sartorial office free-for-all that’s led to low-cut jeans and “tramp stamp” tatoos.

According to a 2007 Gallup poll, the most recent data available, 43 per cent of workers said they regularly wore casual business attire at the office, up from 32 per cent in 2002.

Even scarier, the lax precedent has allowed them to make their own decisions about what’s acceptable or, worse, cool.

The C-suite is striking back. A survey released in June by the Society for Human Resource Management found that only 34 per cent of bosses officially permitted casual dress among employees every day — a dramatic drop from 53 per cent in 2002.

Some executives are hiring image consultants and fashion experts to crack down on everything from muumuus to Little House On the Prairie-style pioneer dresses.

“Our society has become so ridiculously casual,” says Clinton Kelly, co-host of the Learning Channel’s What Not to Wear. The problem, he suggests, may be the lack of office fashion role models. “Outrageous people are getting the most attention now,” he says. “Kids coming out of college are watching Lady Gaga on YouTube. They don’t understand that Lady Gaga is selling albums, and they’re in accounting. A meat dress just doesn’t fly at the office.”

Popularised in Silicon Valley, the casual office look has always had noble intentions.

“At Google we know that being successful has little to do with what an employee is wearing,” says Jordan Newman, a spokesman for the company. “We believe one can be serious and productive without a suit.”

Professional image

That may be the case for engineers dealing with complicated algorithms.

However, professional image coach Lizandra Vega remembers meeting a male worker at the New York staffing firm where she’s a managing partner.

He arrived for a meeting in thin white cotton slacks—and no underwear. “He was,” she recalls, “hanging loose.”

Even upper management isn’t immune to terrible dress habits. Diane Gottsman, owner of the Protocol School of Texas, recalls teaching a business fashion workshop in Houston last year during which she met an executive “wearing a straw paperboy hat pulled sideways,” she says. “He had on suspenders and black-and-white spectator shoes. He asked, ‘What do you think of my look?’ “ Gottsman tried to be diplomatic, suggesting he take off his hat indoors. “He couldn’t do that,” she says. “The hat helped him with his ‘swagga.’”

Workers may not like rules, but some need them.