The Business Casual Evolution

There was a time when there was no business casual. The standard was just business. McKinsey required consultants (all men) to wear hats. IBM required sales reps to wear shoes that had laces; no loafers please. At that time it meant suit and tie, not even sport coat. Women didn’t have to worry too much because they sort of wore the same thing. Suit and tie albeit slightly different ties.

When the world first converted to a sense of business casual a tie was still involved. Business casual only happened on Fridays and the protocol was khaki pants, blue shirt, blue blazer and a school tie. Men in Boston thought a yacht club kind of baseball cap would go with that outfit. Soon thereafter the tie disappeared. After that, Friday disappeared and people were wearing the equivalent of khakis, oxford cloth shirts and blazers all the time. Soon thereafter the blazer disappeared.

Invitations would come in the mail and define what was appropriate. If “Business Attire” was the order of the day, no one was exactly sure what that meant. So everyone wore the khakis with the same button down shirt and blazer. Women wore the sort of equivalent. Now the genie was out of the bottle and, in general, things started loosening up. Pretty soon it was khakis and golf shirts and everyone was happy because you could wear the same thing to the office that one would wear to play golf. The blue jean barrier had not been broken.

But then it happened, blue jeans appeared. But they had to be “proper” jeans that were clean and without holes. Some organizations required the jeans to have crease. Yikes. The blue jeans turned to black and other colors and somewhere along the line the golf shirt was lost to the T shirt and the world did not change. No wars or apocalyptic events ensued.

Enter Mark Zuckerberg. The Z Man introduced the hoodie into the business world and it will never be the same again. We all like hoodies but they're sort of hot and are best worn outside. When we take the hoodie off what remains is a T shirt and any kind of jeans, blue, black or anything your heart desires in any length. Athletic gear is still something stuffed in the bag for later.

But now we could be seeing a new breakthrough. All the business reports show that sweat suits are now de rigueur. Not just any sweat suit, we are talking about the retro ones from the ‘80’s. We are talking velour. Combinations like brown and orange, purple and pink, and just plain brown and brown are ok for work. Some sweat suits cost over $200. A Sony Walkman and a Madonna cassette tape should be included.

As business casual continues to change pick those places where you want to highlight your fashion taste. I would think twice before wearing that sweatsuit to an interview.