A Case Study in Corporate Attire - Why it pays to dress for success.
One of the “perks” my employer offers is a business casual work environment - for men this means khakis and polo shirts or blue button-downs. For woman it means, well, I’m not sure, but based on what I see around the office it means as long as you aren’t wearing cutoffs and a tube top, you’re dressed appropriately for the office.
Fridays are jeans days. People love jeans days.
My firm is one of Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work. We’ve been on the list for a few years now, and one of the rewards employees receive in recognition for our ranking is weeks and weeks (months, really) of jeans days.
This has become quite a conundrum for me.
You see, given the choice, my summer uniform would be jeans, a DKNY t-shirt or tunic, and flip-flops. Too bad flip-flops aren’t allowed as part of our corporate dress-code, I have to wear flats or sandals instead. In the cooler months I may change it up and wear a sweater or jacket and boots with my jeans.
So I should be celebrating all of these corporate jeans days, right?
Well, not so much.
My boss doesn’t wear jeans on jeans days. Neither does his boss. The president and the rest of the C-suite however has been known to sport jeans, especially on Fridays when there are no investor meetings or media visits.
Tricky, tricky.
This week I conducted a little wardrobe experiment (it was yet another jeans week). I trudged into work in a dressed-up version of jeans (trousers, really) on Monday. On Tuesday I wore a jean skirt. On Wednesday I said “eff it” and went with my favorite faded blues (with a slightly frayed hem), a t-shirt, and some big jewelry to ‘make it professional’ (yah, right). Thursday I had an important meeting with the VPs, so wore a suit complete with pumps and hose.
What a difference!
It was as if I became a different person overnight. I got pulled into a strategic planning session at the last minute. My peers suddenly looked up to me and deferred to me. My boss’s boss sought me out to ask my advice. A director stopped by my desk to ‘chat.’
The only thing that changed from Wednesday to Thursday was my attire.
It helped that everyone else was wearing jeans. When you out-dress, you out-class.
Stumble it!
July 11th, 2008 at 10:47 am
It’s true! Casual days can do us a disservice by blurring the lines and daring us to cross them. I get to be casual (with some very limiting rules) and am actually encouraged to be informal.
Sometimes, though, I’d much rather put on a nice dress and shoes or slacks and a blazer. I definitely carry myself differently when I’m dressed up.
As much as I know that clothes make a difference (What Not to Wear addict speaking), it’s still shocking to me the contrast in your two days.
So are you doing to start dressing up more? And does that mean that jeans are a form of workplace camoflauge?
July 11th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I’ve seen a similar assertion on Trent’s blog, and I agree it’s probably the general case, but it really depends on your field.
In a lot of software companies it’s actually quite the opposite, being overly formal is seen as off-putting and you will probably be treated with suspicion.
Of the two most respected engineers in my group (who make well into six figures), both are in their 50s, but one dyes his hair blue, the other I’ve never seen in anything other than shorts. And this is a large 10K+ employee corporation, not some web 2.0 startup with teenagers working 80 hour weeks.
My sensitivity on this issue is partially due to a job interview that went poorly because I was unaware that certain industries do not defer to wardrobe and that over dressing just made me look silly.
July 11th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
@ Sara - I am not sure if I’ll be dressing up more (most of my suits are skirt suits because I’m a freakin’ amazon and no one can seem to make pants long enough for a woman of my height - and skirts mean pantyhose and I abhor pantyhose), but I will be dressing down (ie: jeans and khakis) less. My corporate uniform is typically a blazer or jacket from Talbot’s or Jones New York paired with black or dark brown pants, and pumps.
The thing I didn’t mention in the original post (but should have) is that shoes make a huge difference as well. Jeans with three inch heels or nice boots make a completely different statement than ballet flats or Sketchers.
@ Red – you’re absolutely right – attire conventions vary greatly by industry. Unfortunately, I work in financial services, where corporate suits (with a lower-case and capital ‘s’) prevail. My personal style preferences would dictate that I may be a lot better off working for a tech start-up than in corporate finance.
July 11th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Though we are allowed to wear jeans on Fridays, I rarely do. I am in public relations and can sometimes get called to do a tv appearance at the last moment, so I tend to stay a little dressy even on Fridays. If I know I have a board meeting or a tv appearance, then I make certain I’m wearing a suit or something equally dressy.
Unfortunately we also have a number of people who take casual Fridays to the extreme and show up to work in clothes that I wouldn’t wear to the grocery store on a Saturday afternoon. Some people don’t seem to realize that “casual” doesn’t mean a free-for-all.
July 11th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
So true! Some times my company (also financial services) lets up have jean days as a reward (what? give me money) or on the days before holidays. The first time this happened, I mentioned to my boss “hey, jean day tomorrow, you excited?” and he told me “its ok if you wear jeans since you’re right out of college, and the CEO can wear jeans cause he can do whatever he wants. but if i wear jeans it won’t fly.” Hmm…well I don’t want to be thought of as “the girl who is right out of college” by those whom I don’t work with, so I didn’t wear jeans. I still haven’t. I think it does reflect much better.
July 11th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
It is easier to get the next position if they see you dress as that position.
Hard to remember and follow, but true!
July 13th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
I arrive to work wearing spandex (I ride my bike to work). I always change into professional gear afterwards.
It’s all about the shoes. 
July 14th, 2008 at 11:32 am
My company has a casual dress code (even visible tattoos and piercings are OK), and so I do wear jeans almost every day. However, I wear nice dark ones, and I wear a decent-to-nice shirt and good shoes. Some people take our policy too far, though–once I saw a lady wearing sweatpants and fuzzy slippers. I kid you not. It does seem that people who dress at least business casual around here get noticed and promoted more often, so I’m working on kicking my own wardrobe up a notch.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
My workplace is technically business casual, but it’s really just casual. I do software development in the leisure travel industry. Can you say laid back?
I wore a skirt and tank with a dress jacket over it on Friday and got a lot of teasing. It was supposed to be 86 degrees and I was going to an outdoor party after work, so I wore the skirt and tank. Casual or not, tanks at work are a no in my book, so I need something to go over. I left my more casual jacket at a coffee shop the night before so I wore the dressier jacket. The majority of my team asked me if I had an interview (including my boss). In fact, on Monday my boss stopped by for no other reason than to ask how my ‘Court date’ went.
I can ‘get away with’ dressing a bit nicer because I’m a girl (there are only three of us), but my coworkers would definitely take the mickey out of a guy who dressed nice at work.
July 18th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Perhaps you are under-estimating the possibility that the director stopped for a chat because you looked hot.
If you are surrounded by male colleagues wearing pleated khakis/chinos (which usually make them look like they are wearing a diaper), you have all my sympathy!
August 1st, 2008 at 8:02 am
I work at a company that requires business professional attire and business casual during the summertime (No Jeans). Having to wear a shirt and tie for 2/3’s of the year, I really realize how important attire is just by the way people address you and communicate with you.