I’ll be wearing that to Knebworth.
KNEBWORTH MAD FER IT YEAHHHH
Right, a question to really test the fashionistas here.
Given its likely to be fcuking roasting again this summer, are there any short/shoe/upper body wear combos one could get away with in a formal work setting??
There’s a lad I see that walks around Stephen’s Green every lunchtime in summer wearing a shirt and tie, khaki shorts, socks pulled up to the knee, and hiking boots. I think he may also have a moustache. He looks like some sort of British colonial official in Africa.
To answer your question in short, no.
Formal work attire is an awful joke in this day and age.
Surely you can remain presentable in a pair of chino shorts a polo shirt, casual shoes(dark trainers) and no show socks?
Mad that we’d still conform on this, this needs to go
Agree in principle but also, I quite like having separate work clothes and clear separation between work and the rest of my life.
Top half and shorts I reckon would be ok.
What about footwear though?
I’m wondering genuinely if docksoyders would be all you could get away with.
Do you have a responsible job, as in do people depend on you?
Has Covid changed how we dress for work forever?
Pilita Clark
If you were about to head off to your first in-person business conference in two years, what would you want to know?
Would you check to see if everyone had to be fully vaccinated? Or Covid tested on the day? Would you ask if the war in Ukraine had affected the agenda?
It turns out people getting ready to take part in a three-day climate conference in London I went to last week had one more question in mind: what should I wear?
“So many speakers have been asking,” an organiser told me on the eve of the event.
“All women?” I asked, realising I was unsure myself after two years of working in what would technically be called tracksuit bottoms.
Actually, said the organiser, a lot were men. Having discovered the pleasures of the polo shirt at home, some were wondering if they really had to gussy up in a suit and tie again. Or had Covid loosened corporate dress codes so much there was no going back?
Good grief, I thought. Don’t tell me men are confronting the tedium that working women have faced for years when it comes to figuring out what to wear.
It seemed entirely possible. The problem for women has always been about having too much choice. If you go on stage at a business conference, is it best to wear a skirt or are trousers okay? Do heels need to be high or will flattish ones be fine?
Wise men have dodged all this by wearing the uniform of the suit. The exceedingly wise, such as Barack Obama, go further. “I wear only grey or blue suits,” the former US president disclosed towards the end of his first term in office. He had too many other decisions to make and research had shown the act of making decisions impaired one’s ability to make more of them. Hence his effort not to be “distracted by trivia”.
Distraction
Day one of the conference confirmed men now faced seriously trivial distraction.Male members of one panel included the chief executive of a big energy company in jeans; a think-tank chap in standard suit and tie, and a tieless British lord in trainers.
Day two revealed something more interesting. Having taken a sense of the room on day one, men turned up in noticeably more casual garb.
The founder of a corporate intelligence outfit had discarded the navy Ralph Lauren suit, the Salvatore Ferragamo pink silk tie and the Church’s leather shoes he had worn on day one. Instead he arrived in a knitted top, jeans and trainers.
This reflected what he felt was a welcome shift in emphasis in the business world. “It’s so much more focused on bringing your brain,” he told me. “People no longer find a suit a free pass to competence.”
This reminded me of a very competent male colleague who reported this week that he had worn a shirt that needed ironing just once since March 2020 – for a job interview.
I am pleased to report that day two of the business conference also brought a noticeable de-escalation of female corporate attire, especially in the footwear department.
“These are so much better,” said one woman from a bank in London, pointing to the flat lace-up boots replacing the heels she had on day one. Another female banker revealed that below her long skirt lurked a pair of black and white trainers.
As for me, I downgraded from uncomfortable pointy court shoes to boots, but trainers seemed a step too far. I had been warned by the conference organisers that I would be surrounded by women from France, and it was obvious they would all be hopelessly chic.
Yet the first one I met had arrived fresh off the Eurostar wearing a biker jacket over a dress and shoes flat enough to be slippers.
After 18 pandemic months of comfort, she explained, she had worn high heels to a glitzy work do recently, where she had suddenly had an epiphany. “I just decided ‘never again’,” she said.
Good for you I thought, and for all those who follow you – whether we end up in jeans, suits, skirts, ties or trainers.
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2022
I rarely bother wirh this thread, but the wee lassie is in the dentist’s and ive nothing better to do…besides, when you have style you dont really bother with fashion (style fit for feeding silage to cattle). Anyhow, if i had checked in I’d have pointed you to the saddleback leather company. Their stuff is clane mental…guaranteed for 100 years or life, whichever you require. I was fortunate enough to discover them when their stuff was half the price and a quid bought two dollars…
There’s no place in Limerick where you can get Carharrt pants is there? (Or similar type brand, style) I am not talking about the baggy styles, but the regular fit etc ones.
A shower of rain would make shit of them!
If any of ye are ever in Granada, there are some lovely leather shops run by Moroccan blokes in the old part of town. Some really nice bags there, between €50 and €100 would get you something nice. Bought a few as presents for sister and nephew.
I imagine these types of shops are all over Europe or maybe not. Surely down in Malaga and the coast as well.
I strongly suspect she made this up whilst working from home.
You have to trust a lad to dress himself appropriately
“Dress for the day ahead” is the corporate mantra in the new normal.