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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: 2) by kaszz on Saturday May 27 2017, @02:53AM (1 child)
I have however noticed this pattern at a slight distance. People without technical skills have a tendency to compensate with other attributes in a technical situation. Thus it becomes a warning sign. People with suits can be very skilled, it's not that. But rather that when skills are lacking the compensatory behavior shines through.
Try a thought experiment. If you had a billion dollars in fortune. Would you dress in any way you didn't like for people that weren't really important? or if your skill set were the best since sliced bread and you know it, and the people around you knew it? The focus would rather be on comfortable clothes and getting on with the job.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Saturday May 27 2017, @03:40AM
I understand your point and even addressed in my initial post under this subject heading. But at the risk of repeating myself:
I don't need to do a thought experiment. Even if I'm not a bllionaire, I will dress as I feel is appropriate. Full stop.
As I mentioned in the initial post in this thread, I believe that people are most productive when they feel most comfortable.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr