Informal Attire - Usage in The Workplace

Usage in The Workplace

Most men do not wear suits. They wear uniforms, or other inexpensive, sturdy clothing that can be easily laundered. Wearing a suit to work daily is often an indication of managerial or professional status. However, when on a job interview or attending business meetings, many men who do not otherwise wear suits, will dutifully wear them as a mark of respect and formality. Many how-to books for men recommend wearing a conservatively styled suit to an employment interview even when the man does not expect to ever wear a suit on the job.

In the 1990s, Internet businesses flourished and so did the relaxed dress standards enjoyed by unconventional dot-com businesspeople. A new form of attire had arisen, business casual, which consists of nice trousers, often chinos or khakis, and a polo shirt or short-sleeved shirt. Today this is acceptable and common attire at technically oriented business meetings and in semiprofessional settings, and is continuing to gain ground over traditional business attire.

The standard for women is also in flux. In the 1970s, women aspiring to managerial or professional status were advised to "dress for success" by wearing clothing that imitated the male business suit: jacket and matching skirt, worn with a plain blouse and discreet accessories. The plain blouse is designated as a long sleeve button down shirt tucked properly into the skirt at the waist. Some women wore pantsuits, substituting pants for the skirt, but in doing so, they risked the displeasure of many who felt that women should not wear pants.

Now even conservative Western workplaces are more accepting of pants on female employees. However, they may still expect female employees to exhibit formality of men's suits. Women in "creative" professions, such as advertising or fashion, can usually dress with more color and flair.

Male business attire is also nuanced. Choice of clothing and accessories proclaims social and financial status. An inexpensive ready-to-wear suit will lack the cachet of a bespoke suit fashioned by a famous tailor. Custom shirts, hand-made leather shoes, fine cuff links and expensive watches may indicate wealth, and in certain professions may effectively amount to a "dress code" (e.g. in investment banking).

Western business wear is standard in many workplaces around the globe, even in countries where the usual daily wear may be a distinctive national costume.

Some non-Western businesspeople will wear national costume nonetheless. A Saudi Arabian sheikh may wear the traditional robes and headdress to an international conference; United Arab Emirates diplomats in particular are noted for attending conventions of the United Nations General Assembly in full keffiyeh and thawb. Diplomats of the People's Republic of China are similarly noted for wearing the Mao suit to international events; Indian leaders often wear Nehru jackets, with Manmohan Singh wearing a suit-like combination including such a jacket with his Sikh turban. Wearing national costume in such contexts can proclaim national pride, or just extremely high status which allows the wearer to defy convention. Sometimes an element of the national costume such as a hat is combined with a Western business suit; for instance, Yasser Arafat was noted for wearing the aforementioned kaffiyeh with a Western-style military uniform (a derivative of the suit).