Dress Code

hat do you think about dress codes? Do they make sense in school, restaurants, or places of business? Why or why not?

Once upon a time, there was a twenty-something young woman who lived in a land ruled by a former actor and full of people dressed in power suits, sporting big hair, and hefting filofaxes.  She landed a job at a large insurance company, and on her first day, was handing a large stack of forms to sign.  Some allowed the former actor and his agencies to take money from her paycheck to pay for exciting projects named after George Lucas movies.  Others warned her against telling the competition any deep dark insurance secrets.  At the bottom of the stack was a dress code form which she signed after looking at her watch, then the title of the form, then back at her watch as she realized she was going to miss the coffee truck on the plaza if she didn’t hurry up!  So she signed on the line and ran in her black pumps to catch the elevator, never realizing her thirst for hot caffeinated drinks would lead to a workplace fashion disaster.

Approved suit colors:  Blue.  Black.  Gray.  Brown.  Muted stripes are acceptable in approved colors.

Pants on women are not acceptable, nor are bare legs.  Heels must be at least 1″ high but not higher than 3″.  Hemlines must be no higher than above the knee nor lower than midcalf.

How do I remember all of this?  About a month after I was hired, I purchased a beautiful lavender suit at Nordstrom’s Rack.  I’m sure it was sent to the Rack because of it’s unapproved color, but it was April, and while the temperature wasn’t going up that much in Southern California, our heroine was a Jersey Girl and used to greeting spring with open arms and pastel colors.  Also, as part of a push to hire female junior account executives to bring gender equality (but not salary equity) to the insurance workplace,  I could never afford a decent suit at Nordstroms proper.

I bought the suit.

Monday morning staff meeting, I strut in wearing the suit and some fabulous ivory heels.  I sit near the back with the other juniors.  The room quiets.  My boss begins the meeting by looking at me and saying, “I’ll see you in my office after the meeting.”

Oops.  Written up and sent home for violating the dress code.

Fast forward through the 90s and “Casual Friday” replete with khakis and polos for guys, dress pants (yes, pants in the workplace!) for girls.  Then the internet boom with it’s Casual Everyday that included not just jeans but shorts.  My last job was as a Computer Department Manager at a logistics company in Edison.  Jeans and work boots, baby, jeans and work boots!

I discovered how much more productive I could be when I didn’t have to worry about appropriate attire.  I also noticed how far we’ve come when Nancy Pelosi showed up at the new Congress in, you guessed it, a lavender suit!

These days I wear jeans 178 school days.  On the first day of school, I wear a dress.  It’s still summer as far as I’m concerned, and it’s a nice way to start the year.  I wear a suit on Career Day since my ecommerce class is in charge and also required to dress up.  This year, I sported white sneakers with my grey pinstripe as we set up – I’m just too old and out of practice to spend an entire day in 3″ heels!

Otherwise, as a Technology Teacher, jeans are the dress code of my industry – where did I put my black turtleneck? My students don’t respect me any less for wearing jeans so I can lay on the floor and check their stop motion animation sets and shots or crawl on under a table to figure out why a computer isn’t accessing the internet.  They respect me for who I am not what I wear and recognize my appropriate choices.

… and appropriate is the correct word for students.  I could talk about our ban on flip flops (yes, really), but my only request regarding student attire is that they dress for school not a frat house.  I’ve had quite a few male students this year with a fine sense of style, and I appreciate the relatively modest dress among the girls at our school.  Looking out at a group of students and seeing a Snooki-wannabe is never a good thing, so while I’m all for a liberal (or no) dress code, I appreciate appropriate.