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Americans began the 20th century in bustles and bowler hats and ended it in velour sweatsuits and flannel shirts—the most radical shift in dress standards in human history. At the center of this sartorial revolution was business casual, a genre of dress that broke the last bastion of formality—office attire—to redefine the American wardrobe.
Born in Silicon Valley in the early 1980s, business casual consists of khaki pants, sensible shoes, and button-down collared shirts. By the time it was mainstream, in the 1990s, it flummoxed HR managers and employees alike. “Welcome to the confusing world of business casual,” declared a fashion writer for the Chicago Tribune in 1995. With time and some coaching, people caught on. Today, though, the term “business casual” is nearly obsolete for describing the clothing of a workforce that includes many who work from home in yoga pants, put on a clean T-shirt for a Skype meeting, and don’t always go into the office.
The life and impending death of business casual demonstrates broader shifts in American culture and business: Life is less formal; the concept of “going to the office” has fundamentally changed; American companies are now more results-oriented than process-oriented. The way this particular style of fashion originated and faded demonstrates that cultural change results from a tangle of seemingly disparate and ever-evolving sources: technology, consumerism, labor, geography, demographics. Better yet, cultural change can start almost anywhere and by almost anyone—scruffy computer programmers included.
The answer, apparently, is Nerds! NERDS!!
(Score: 4, Interesting) by damnbunni on Saturday May 27 2017, @12:31AM (1 child)
Keep in mind I work in a call center with a lot of college-age people. It's a 'job' place, not a 'career' place.
We used to have a 'business casual' dress code. No jeans, collared shirts, no sneakers. When the new owners bought us out, we got their dress code, which allows jeans, sweatpants, it's basically 'don't be naked' and 'no Tshirts with offensive language'. Oh, and 'no flip-flops' but that's never enforced.
And at pretty much the same time, the atmosphere at work nosedived. It just got much less professional overall. People not taking care of their workspace, cigarette butts all over the parking lot (till smoking was banned entirely), and general 'Not my problem, don't care' attitudes.
Having to put on 'work clothes' to go to work helps enforce a sense of 'this is work, not my house. Behavior that's OK at home is not gonna fly here.' It's why I still more or less adhere to the old dress code - I do wear jeans now and then, though.
Because it helps me separate 'home' from 'work'.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 27 2017, @01:57AM
Look to the managers for what is wrong. Cloths typically are not the issue.
I have worked in 'no bunny slippers' to 'I cant see myself in your shoes'. Management always is where you look first to poor performance. Look to leads and you can see who follows...