Having to go to work when the weather is extremely hot is never fun. Yet, regardless of how hot the weather may be, there are certain pieces of clothing a person—man or woman—should never wear in a professional office environment. Examples include…
Women exposed themselves in droves wearing…
° Tank and spaghetti strap tops at work without an outer covering
° Tops and tubes so low-cut their breasts were hanging out and exposed
° Skirts and shorts so short when they bent over their panties showed
° See-through dresses, tops, and skirts with seemingly no undergarments
° Sheer clothing that shows through when back-lit
° A naked pregnant belly with a tiny top
° Rolls of fat above low-cut pants
° Rubber flip-flops manufactured for sportswear
Men were also at fault. They wore…
° Mesh and tank tops that did not fit properly that belong at the beach
° Pants and shirts so beat up they looked like the clothes you’d wear to move furniture or paint the living room
° Clothes that should only be appropriate for a backyard barbecue; not when attending a more formal event
° Pants down-around-the-knees with exposed under-shorts… I still don’t understand that one.
I don’t want to be a fuddy-duddy about today’s standards of dressing. I recognize that clothes have become more casual. Still, there are limits. While the people, primarily women wearing the kind of clothing above might think the message is “I’m so-o-o hot,” others might be thinking, “She’s so-o-o vulgar.”
What about you?
Do you always think through what image and the impression you convey to others with your clothes? At work, do you and the co-workers with whom you work appear confident and professional? Are your clothes clean, well pressed, and coordinated, giving the impression you care about your appearance? Wearing professional clothes does not mean having to wear a suit. It means clean, neat, properly fitting clothes that are neither tight nor baggy. Showing cleavage is not appropriate, regardless of what you see on television. Colored shirts open beyond two buttons are in the same category.
Clothes send many messages about who you are. They show…
° Status, authority, power, and rank
° Friendliness, dependability, and adventurousness
° Upper, middle, lower-middle, and low class
° Trustworthiness and good judgment.
What messages do your clothes say about you and your company? Might you be too dressed down for the occasion?
If your clothes fit properly, are clean and neat, and in most instances, on the conservative side, you will give the best impression. “You are the message,” said Roger Ailes, President of Fox News Channel and media consultant to former US presidents. That means you are what you wear. You are your own brand and it is up to you to make the best impression at all times.
If you know people who should read this article because of the way they dress, please send it on. If you’d like to give someone a specific hint, submit your comments in the area below and then send them to our blog at www.AdvancedEtiquette.com/blog.
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Happy Practicing!
Proper dress code is very important to maintain. In every place we visit everyone shoud follow the dress code. You mention very good point of dress code.
Every place has its own value and atmosphere. We cannot adopt the same dressing style everywhere like the school, offices, and etc . Thank you for your time.
David: I agree about being free to show your unique style of dressing. This was not the purpose of this article. It was to show what is “less” appropriate in a traditional professional workplace environment. You rarely see people wearing some of the items described in the article in law firms, and other business environments. That said, if you own a law firm and you choose to allow spaghetti strap tops for women and teeshirts for men, it is your call, for sure. For me, when seeking professional assistance, paying high sums of money, I do think the lawyers and staff could be more professional, versus casual in their appearance. We all have ‘general’ expectations from which all degrees of variations can still be displayed, as chosen. Thank you for writing.