The man in the tiresome cliched casual duds

Whatever else might be said about the departure of Jerry Yang from Yahoo, I'll be glad to see him go. I'm sick of seeing the chief executive of a major company so badly dressed. Alas, he represents the spirit of the age.

I hate casual dress. I date the decline of our civilization not only by the demise of men wearing suits and ties, but by "casual" clothes becoming a mandatory business uniform. Far from being something that makes people comfortable, it's just the new man in the gray flannel suit -- except the latter looked better. This is no victory for choice or egalitarianism. When I wear suits, people invariably ask, "Why are you so dressed up?," as if I am in white tie. I want to ask, "Why are you so badly dressed?"

Nowadays, outside of a few professional pockets, it's the rebels that wear suits. (And women look smashing in them, too).

When I arrived in Charlotte in the mid-1990s, one walked down the main drag in a sea of suits. The last time I visited, this banking center disgorged its workers at midday as a tide of open-necked shirts and chinos. Somehow "casual" bankers don't make me feel better. My prejudice is that casual dress begets casual ethics. I don't trust casually dressed professionals.

And of course "casual" does not mean the end of hierarchy. Far from it. At the end of the day, someone holds power over others, however they are dressed. Indeed, meritocracy and give-and-take in the workplace seems to have declined during this era of J. Crew-clothed robots with their open collars and name badges.

Admittedly, I have a number of prejudices on this front. I work in a profession notorious for its badly dressed practitioners. I grew up poor and couldn't wait to become an adult and dress like one. The men's suit is one of the great design accomplishments of Western civilization (see Anne Hollander's fabulous book Sex and Suits). Dressing well makes me feel good and it sends a statement of both seriousness and taste.

Alas, our civilization has devolved into, as Jim Kunstler puts it, "a nation of tattooed barbarian 'consumers' with no impulse control, a swollen sense of entitlement..." Business ethics must be taught in college. A general infantilization of society has become vogue, right down to thritysomethings living with at their parents' houses and going to serious jobs in hip-hop threads. Standards, common courtesy and a sense of appropriateness have faded away -- indeed, an insistence on them is frowned upon. That we face a crisis of monumental proportions is no coincidence.

The latest fashion terrorism comes from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran. His suits-and-open-collared-shirts look has been widely copied. It's ghastly. And we were worried about nukes? What fresh hell. It's the equivalent of driving a Bentley without the hood.

Comments

[Doug Demmons]

Casual has indeed turned to sloppy. But I say good riddance to neckties. What is the purpose of a piece of cloth tied around your neck and hanging down your chest?

What's wrong with a band-collared dress shirt and jacket?

[eclecticdog]

I can't help but comment that the Wall Street Masters of the Universe who have robbed us blind with their Republican comrades (the Party the Wrecked America) are always dressed to the nines. Have you ever seen more corruption stuffed into a suit than when Mozilla made the news? I'm reminded of the saying about Talleyrand -- a silk socking stuffed with shit.

In my lowly tech job I dress casual. When I do taxes its a shirt, slacks and tie. Want to guess which one I make more money at?

[Edain]

This column really gave me pause. Maybe it's the age difference. I'm nearing 60, so I was a flower child. To me, dressing up is a waste of time and money. Being a female, I wore dresses and skirts to work for years. When I turned 50, I gave myself the present of vowing never to wear a dress again. My costume of choice is jeans and a flannel shirt, but I dress a little nicer for work (editor).

On the other hand, I was a performing musician for many years, and I understand the power of clothes. The way you dress not only elicits a certain response from people who see you but also makes you feel a certain way. In my case, perhaps some childhood trauma makes me now feel uncomfortable and "inauthentic" when I'm dressed up!

I think the decline of our civilization began when we abandoned manners and other little signs of respect (like not using first names at first meeting). But dressing nice in certain situations is also a sign of respect, I suppose. I wouldn't go to a funeral in my jeans and flannel shirt.

So I guess I agree with you and I don't agree with you. I agree with you about almost everything else you write about...

[Matt]

Jon, as an original azcentral buccaneer, and someone who continues to work in the crossover journalist/generalist field, I can't agree with the tone you take here. We were supposed to be the "throwaways" at the newspaper, so we dressed casual with the same cavalier spirit that allowed us to put together a successful, profitable web site. It was an attitude that was assigned to us by the philosophical rejection of our agenda by the established people in the newsroom.

That said, if you're representing someone in public, I wholly agree with you on the declining standards of dress. Suits are mandatory in that environment, and reporters are the worst violators. It's funny how so many who dreamed of following in the footsteps of Woodward and Bernstein adopted the jeans/blazer fashion statement. I've never seen Woodward or Bernstein in anything but white shirts and ties!

[Ellen]

I agree with you, Jon. I don't understand why men want to dress so badly. It sends a terrible message. As for ties -- they have as much utility as any work of art.

[Liz]

I guess I'm with Edain, Jon. I dress up for occassions (the Economic Club of Phoenix lunches), but for a day of reading, thinking, editing, emailing here in my off-campus office, dressing up seems like just that -- dress up. A costume. It's silly. Maybe the crucial difference is the comfort gap. Men's clothes look comfortable (except the tie). But check out women's shoes sometime. Imagine wearing them all day -- most are agony.
That said, you've convinced me to abandon my dream -- a workplace where business attire is sweat pants and flip flops....

[just a name]

Yep civilization declines now for around 2000 years and counting, hardly news here.
Dresses of style changed since the, recorded, beginning of decline, sheets of linen, more sheets of linens, T-shirts called Tunics, long dresses for man, short dresses and hose for man, puffy pants, silk jackets and red heels, yellow knitted trousers, would be called capri leggings today and finally the beginning of the suit, which now will stay for all eternity, won't it ? Let me state my one liner : lack of change is the downfall of any civilization. By the way suits were invented in a restrictive era, maybe we should move beyond that. For some people ties and suits restrict their thinking processes. As for woman high heels have a similar effect. My other one liner coming through : Restrictive clothing was invented to hold the masses dumb and preoccupied. Freedom of thought should also correspond in freedom of clothing.

[BobInCo]

The trouble is, there's no freedom of clothing in many workplaces. I'm a professional who would love to wear suits. The one week I tried it, I was given a "talking to." Casual is mandatory. So much for freedom. Come to think of it, all of the conformists I know also dress like slobs in the new mandatory casual uniform. So much for the great liberation.