The Torture of Business formal (Expert Article Rough Draft)

The Uncomfortable Reality

We all do it, but we all hate it––but why do we  dress up for work?

You are getting ready for a job interview. It is understandable that you have many insecurities: are you going to be judged on your character or your skills? Are you going to be ready for the questions they ask? Are you going to like the employer? These worries are there because you have one goal in mind––you want to make a good first impression. Thus, “Do I look good enough?” is going to be one of the central questions of the preparation process. Before you leave for the interview, you put your best suit on and you admire yourself in the mirror until you are satisfied with your look.

Thousands of people go through this process every day; we dress up for work or for special meetings. Nobody takes a break to ask themselves, “Why am I wearing this? Is it because it is functional or are there some other hidden reasons?” Everybody who has worn a suit before knows that we are not wearing it because it is comfortable. Neither are we wearing it because it is highly functional, or it has some indispensable features. In this article, I am going to explain why we wear what we wear  by laying out these three main areas:

·      The history of business attire for women

·      The history of business attire for men

·      The deeper meaning behind the way we dress

The History of Business attire for Women

Today we consider dress pants or skirts with a matching jacket to be the appropriate clothing for women in the workplace. The skirt should end right above the knee. A collared blouse is recommended and should be tucked in. (Feloni)

The history of women’s business attire is rather short. Women at the workplace were something very rare before the 20^th century. Only after WWI, as the women rights movement got momentum it was normal to encounter a woman in an office. At first ladies at work were wearing the same kind of clothes they were wearing during their everyday life: full skirts. In the 1920s women began to wear, more functional, shorter, dark skirts with white blouses. This trend survived until today with only minor changes. The colors of the skirts are traditionally dark as the suits for men. Only during the 60s, 70s and 80s bright and flamboyant colors were accepted in offices. Today we can say that the darker the color, the more formal the look. (Wild)

The History of Business Attire for Men

At work a man should wear a lounge suit; dress pants with matching jacket. In addition, men should wear a tucked in button-down shirt in traditional colors with a pairing tie. The man should wear leather shoes with a matching belt. (Feloni)

If we observe the history of how the business attire developed, we recognize a scheme which repeats itself over and over again––there is a formal standard, somebody develops a casual version of the standard, the casual version becomes the new formal. We can see this scheme from the development of the morning suit up to the modern lounge suit. But first, we have to go back to the very beginning.

The tailored garments of the upper class in England can be considered as the proto suit. They were fancy outfits in many different colors. Red, green and purple were very commonly worn during official events. The story of the suit takes off in the middle of the 17^th century when deadly waves of plague spread through Great Britain killing a significant part of the population. To mourn the dead the king ordered to the noblemen to wear more modest colors. The bright colors should be reserved for the royal family. Even after the pandemic ended, the noblemen stuck with the dark dyes. The gray, black and navy shades haven’t changed much until today. (Chertoff)

The fancy proto suits were substituted first by the morning suit, which had a jacket with a stuffy tailcoat. The morning suit was soon replaced by the tuxedo which was soon replaced by the lounge suit–what we define as modern suit. In the mid 19^th century the lounge suite quickly became a casual outfit for the upper class. From then on it became wide-spread in America and around the globe, also thanks to Hollywood which embraced this new style. There was a time in the early 20^th century where most jobs––from cab driver to business man––wore a suit. Today we use the lounge suit mainly for formal occasions. (Chertoff)

The Deeper Meaning Behind the Way We Dress

Even if there is no deeper reason to why business attire is what it is, there is a deeper meaning to why we are wearing it. The anthropologist Juval Noah Harari states that suits do the same job today as a turban did in the past. It instantly shows to other people which values you have and what you believe in. By wearing a suit, you show to the other party that they can do business with you because you have similar goals. Harari goes on and says that this is fundamental for human cooperation. By showing our beliefs openly we can cooperate with complete strangers. We are wired that way that when we see somebody wearing a suit, we know that they speak the language of business. (Harari)

Your outfit is a statement. It is important to know what you want to say with your clothes; especially if you work in an environment where people actively look at it. For some jobs it is important to show that you care about all the little details. Therefore, some employers are going to look at all the nitty gritty details of what you wear. My best advice is to be conscious about what you wear and how you wear it. You have to be aware about what message you are sending.

Works Cited

Chertoff, Emily. “Where Did Business Suits Come From?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 23 July 2012, www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/07/where-did-business-suits-come-from/260182/.

Feloni, Richard. “How to Dress Your Best in Any Work Environment, from a Casual Office to the Boardroom.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 16 May 2018, www.businessinsider.com/how-to-dress-for-work-business-attire-2014-8.

Harari, Yuval Noah. Homo Deus. Harvill Secker, 2016.

Wild, Chris. “The Evolution of Women's Workwear Through the Decades.” Mashable, Mashable, 22 Oct. 2014, www.mashable.com/2014/10/22/womens-workwear-20th-century