Covid accelerated dress code de-formalization - true or false?

[Phileas Fogg]

If the condition of ********** risked a potentially fatal, airborne illness, I would also want to know.

perhaps it does.

 

[Megakurth]

While the world of Government whom I work with tends to still have a certain amount of decorum when it comes to dress code, my organization is moving towards a business casual environment (polo and jeans) when we return to office for non-meetings with the “keep a blazer handy” caveat.

 

[Mirage-]

Tbh i kind of wonder when "business casual" took to mean polo and jeans. That's my everyday casual, meaning whenever I don't have any reason/desire to dress up, though I usually wear chinos instead, or shorts in peak summer (because that's just a necessity above 30C).
I thought business casual once meant "jacket required, but suits or ties not required" and that it eventually became the infamous "shirt + dress pants + often ugly shoes" that derek loves to hate, but polo+jeans is even less than that.
So it that a sign of this de-formalization we are speaking of?

 

[mak1277]

Tbh i kind of wonder when "business casual" took to mean polo and jeans. That's my everyday casual, meaning whenever I don't have any reason/desire to dress up, though I usually wear chinos instead, or shorts in peak summer (because that's just a necessity above 30C).
I thought business casual once meant "jacket required, but suits or ties not required" and that it eventually became the infamous "shirt + dress pants + often ugly shoes" that derek loves to hate, but polo+jeans is even less than that.
So it that a sign of this de-formalization we are speaking of?

Ive mentioned this elsewhere but I’ve worked in dozens of offices (my own and my clients) and I’ve still never been in one where jeans or sneakers were allowed as part of business casual. I think it’s a regional and/or industry difference.

 

[Mirage-]

When i worked as a web developer for a big IT consulting company, non-client facing ofc, I could (and often did) dress as above without any problem, that's not the surprising part to me. But no one was calling it business casual either. I think the new employee handbook (actually, e-book) had some vague note about "dressing in a manner that is respectful" or something like that, but no more. And no one really mentioned that. It appeared to mean anything except shorts, judging by the people present, although senior workers and client-facing jobs did dress up more (wouldn't necessarily say better though).
I interviewed in a (looking back, very low quality) dress shirt, chinos, and sneakers.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

The workplace is an evolving and diverse environment and I think trying to judge the state of men’s clothing based on it sort of misses the bigger picture. It’s like asking someone to paint a landscape when the spotlight is shown on only a few boulders and trees.

there is still an appetite for tailored clothing. But it seems like it’s shifting more toward custom and made to measure.

As for the workplace, that ship has sailed. There will still be professions and occasions where and when more business formal attire will be appropriate, but for day to day, I think a more relaxed code is here to stay.

 

[Mirage-]

my point was different though. Not about what was acceptable, but about what was even considered business casual. I could wear basically anything except shorts (and probably offensive Ts, but it's not like I would even want to, anyway) and not be called out or feel out of place, at least within my younger team - but no one went around proclaiming we even had a dress code to begin with, when I was hired no one mentioned it at all, and in any case no one called it "business casual".

 

[smittycl]

Climate change gets a vote as well. Summer is sticky and awful here in DC area. Wearing tailoring is problematic at times.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

my point was different though. Not about what was acceptable, but about what was even considered business casual. I could wear basically anything except shorts (and probably offensive Ts, but it's not like I would even want to, anyway) and not be called out or feel out of place, at least within my younger team - but no one went around proclaiming we even had a dress code to begin with, when I was hired no one mentioned it at all, and in any case no one called it "business casual".

it wasn’t that long ago when business casual meant a sport coat/blazer and not tie.

I don’t even think some of the usual suspects responsible for the downgrading of attire at the workplace (tech,etc) even use those terms.

 

[radicaldog]

I do like to wear a sportcoat (no tie), but that makes me an outlier in my office. A lot of the men dress like slobs.

I will never fully understand this attitude. When everyone had to wear suits to work, most people didn't look like Don Draper or whoever. Most men looked like slobs in suits. Ticking formality boxes doesn't ensure that you won't look like a slob. It hardly even makes it more likely. We now associate tailored clothing with people who care about clothes, and that's why someone in a suit is less likely to look like a slob today (but more likely to look like a peacock dressed by the internet).

 

[Phileas Fogg]

but more likely to look like a peacock dressed by the internet

or Suit Supply.

 

[smittycl]

it wasn’t that long ago when business casual meant a sport coat/blazer and not tie.

I don’t even think some of the usual suspects responsible for the downgrading of attire at the workplace (tech,etc) even use those terms.

That's always been my version of business casual. Maybe even a long-sleeved polo sweater instead of a dress shirt but always with a jacket.

 

[smittycl]

I will never fully understand this attitude. When everyone had to wear suits to work, most people didn't look like Don Draper or whoever. Most men looked like slobs in suits. Ticking formality boxes doesn't ensure that you won't look like a slob. It hardly even makes it more likely. We now associate tailored clothing with people who care about clothes, and that's why someone in a suit is less likely to look like a slob today (but more likely to look like a peacock dressed by the internet).

The guys that look like slobs in suits also look like slobs in business casual for the most part. It's more about caring vice not caring.

 

[radicaldog]

The guys that look like slobs in suits also look like slobs in business casual for the most part. It's more about caring vice not caring.

Pretty much. Caring, or in a few cases just having a good feel for clothes.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Climate change gets a vote as well. Summer is sticky and awful here in DC area. Wearing tailoring is problematic at times.

This is Japan's rationale for its government-backed move to business caual, known as 'coolbiz' - basically to try to reduce the massive carbon output from air-conditioning in summer.