Casual Fridays
Thu., August 15, 11:54 AM
I absolutely hate the concept of casual Friday or, what’s worse, the casual office. Remember, I was trained at Katharine Gibbs, where dressing for the role was part of our curriculum. Before that, I went to a college where women did not wear trousers in public except on Saturdays. As long as I worked in Manhattan, dressing appropriately for work was second nature.
The way you dress affects your state of mind as well as those around you. You dress according to what you are supposed to be doing. The person who greets clients does not dress like the person who scrubs the floors.
Well, New Haven is not as formal as New York, but I still had a sense of suitable dress. That was convenient since I had at least one supervisor who was a stickler for form. I was expected to wear a girdle and nylons. If it was too cold to wear a skirt, I wore tailored slacks with a matching jacket; I might wear a sweatshirt under my pretty blouse, but I was still “properly” dressed. What I call “dressed for the job,” my daughter (the U.D.) calls “dressed for an interview.”
At the same time, I found myself wondering about the schoolteachers who dressed so informally, especially the men. What kind of message were they sending to the students, whose clothing (and state of mind) was anything but conducive to study? It’s not so surprising that the teachers couldn’t control the classes long enough for the kids to learn anything.
Then came The Worst Job, where I wore jeans and was probably the best-dressed person on the site. Nevertheless, for assignments after that one, I continued to wear conservative clothes and, of course, makeup every day. Casual Fridays were gaining popularity, but I was often in places where we were told that the “senior” assistants should take care not to be too casual. A Friday outfit might be walking shorts with a matching tailored jacket. You had to look twice to notice that I had on shorts.
At my last long-term assignment, I was informed that it was a casual office and, though I looked “very nice,” I was overdressed. I stuck to my own style most of the time anyway. (Slacks, tailored jacket, blouses rather than T-shirts, makeup of course). My final supervisor there was a very stupid woman, and I had an extra feeling of satisfaction in looking better than she did.
These days I’m working for a lawyer who is very casual. After appearing in court, the first he does when he gets back to the office is change into jeans. So I don’t usually dress up here, unless I know ahead of time that he’s expecting a client to walk in. Certainly slacks and a jacket work better in the winter, when the heat is set a little low. And, yes, it is easier to go casual. But I would feel more efficient in skirts, nylons, and high heels.
Addendum: "Cathy" knows I'm still out here. "Wrong, wrong, wrong!"
