Sylvain wrote:Never understood this professional look thing...
Even in a bank, I wonder why guys wear neckties.
That'd be "tradition" and, perhaps more likely in the modern realm, inertia. But, how else can a bloke jazz up a dress shirt and a pair of tr*users?
Now don't get me wrong: I happen to think that the "casual workplace" (and I work in one) has completely "gone to seed"; it's being taken well out of the context it was originally established in. For instance, since when is beach-wear (think thong sandals) acceptable in a professional setting? How about pyjamas? Is that acceptable professional attire? (I've seen that, by the way.)
So, I may be a bit "old school" in how I perceive things. I don't like the "grunge look" one bit, and in fact am known to once in a while wear a tie just to "fiddle with the boss-class' heads" because they're not used to it any more, and, in terms of stereotypical looks puts me one up on guys at a directorate level in the company I work for (I've seen VPs in the afforementioned beachwear; it does not sit well with me). Even at last Halloween, when I wore one of my skirts at work, I looked more "professional" than many of my superiors.
Personally, and interestingly it's taken my modern fancy of skirts to bring it out, is that I put a higher value on appearance than I ever have before. Looks say something about the person -- and it doesn't necessarily matter what's worn below the waist rather interestingly -- and so long as that look is confident, polished, and pulled together it'll likely work. Those who hold prejudices, and act on them, will likely recoil from a bloke in a skirted look (no matter how pulled-together it may be), but that's more
inertia than anything else.
So, don't reflexively slag off on neckties -- they're just a fashion accessory after all -- and, given the current
dreadful state of menswear, one of the only things that the average bloke has got.
