Casual work clothes vary but you can still dress up
Q I was an office manager at an accounting firm and now I work at an Internet company. The expected clothing changed from suit, or at least jacket-and-tie, to tie-less shirts or polos and pants. It costs me almost as much to come up with a casual look. Why can’t I just wear the same clothes?
A Well, I guess you really can wear the same clothes if you don’t mind being the only one at work who dresses that way. Dressing differently from the crowd takes a certain amount of knowledge and a great deal of self-confidence.
I’m not sure it is necessarily right or wrong; often it depends on the degree of difference. If everyone else dresses super casually, as in polos (or even T-shirts) and jeans, then dressing as formally as a suit and tie is too much difference. But if everyone else dresses in business shirts and dress trousers or even khakis, then you have more leeway to dress up a notch or two from the others. Your personal style could be to wear a sport coat, or to go without the jacket but add a tie. You don’t have to be a total conformist. There is no crime against setting yourself somewhat apart to express your own individuality. You may just be one who believes that dressing the part helps you to play the part and to project your professional image. In your rather “traditional” position as office manager, a tie might be not be so unusual; but if the president or CEO comes in wearing athletic wear, you need to take care not to come off as making a statement of complaint.
The truth is that dressing well is harder to accomplish in an office environment where the dress code is less formal than a suit and tie. When dressing with three parts — suit, shirt and tie — you have an easy formula for handsome color coordination and, thus, an easy path toward looking good. But, when you dress in a casual combination, your sartorial skills are put to more of a test. It is harder to look really sharp with just a shirt and pants … and no tie. I always wonder why a man would willingly give up wearing the one item of clothing that helps him to stand out in a crowd and look sharp with so little effort and complication. I believe it is a serious mistake to underestimate the importance of this smallest item in a man’s overall look. People may not remember what else you are wearing, but they remember your tie. No other single garment makes as much impact.
As to cost, you are right that these days you do not necessarily save much by dressing casually, particularly if you do not want to raid your “weekend closet.” If you check out the better clothing stores, you will find a lot of $500 sweaters and puffer jackets that cost well over $2,000! While browsing in a top-of-the-line men’s shop recently, the polo shirts that especially caught my eye were not $29.95, but more in the $150 range. Still, that does not mean you must spend a fortune. If you put your shopping skills to the test, you can find great looks for a lot less. And why not begin by “shopping in your own closet” where you already have some favorite weekend clothes that could qualify as business casual?
Although a lot of men understand the importance of buying expensive dress clothes, they make the mistake of thinking that casual clothes need not be quality. Since so few men spend a lot on their casual styles, you can actually increase your status by seeking out and discovering a few casual looks that are special and a bit above your pay grade in design and in taste. This is true at work and also in social situations. I went to a St. Patrick’s Day party this past weekend, where not even one man wore a necktie. Most of them looked pretty much alike. But one man had found a solid-color shirt with a unique small pattern on the turned-up cuffs and inside the open-at-the-neck collar. He stood out just enough to look a bit special and ready to celebrate.
If a man’s work (or play) environment is on the dressy side, then he should make every effort to come up to the level of his peers. But if his environment is on the casual side, I don’t think he needs to drop his standards down to the lowest common denominator.
Please send men’s fashion queries to Male Call: Lois.Fenton@prodigy.net