As Dr. Phil says, no matter how thin you make a pancake it still has two sides. The good news/bad news sides of the dress pancake is that women are now not alone in dressing dilemmas or dressing faux pas. Women in the workplace used to be the sole target of inappropriate dress. Men got a pass. Today, men can dress as inappropriately in the workplace as women may be tempted to dress. Wouldn’t it be great if both elevated their dress rather than subjugated good taste to what is poolside appropriate?
The bottom line is that you can’t decide whether or not you are dressed appropriately. Your bosses decide. The person who signs the paycheck needs to have the ability to decide what is appropriate in their workplace. If your client virtually signs your paycheck, then they decide. The problem is that often there is little conversation about the “rules”. This phenomenon is similar to billable hours. Somehow people are just supposed to know they increase as you ascend the ladder of success. You need to have a conversation and you need to have that conversation early, THIS IS HOW YOU USE COMMUNICATION to advance your career. If you have to ask yourself if something works as office dress, the answer is NO.
The standard unwritten rule is that you dress one step above your audience. Not ten steps. Which translated into our everyday world means not an Armani suit when your boss is wearing heaven forbid, Dockers? If Armani is one side of that thin pancake, casual dress is the other side. A tank top, a halter top, a strapless top is one step above what?
Summer is a season not a dress code. What happens to common sense when summer comes to the office? Summer does not invite or excuse anything that would not be accepted in the middle of winter. That includes too much skin, tattoos in many work places, and flip flops. I would expand the rules to forbid golf and Polo shirts. Because if you are wearing a Polo shirt, how can you change that when your boss or best client walks in wearing a sport coat?
The most effective strategy is to dress in layers. Yes, even in the summer. If you dress in layers you have options. You can always take off a layer to be more casual. But if you come to the office in a golf shirt, there is no way to step up your game. If you had come in a long sleeve shirt and jacket, you would have had many options. You could always take off your jacket, roll up your sleeves and you are good to go.
Men and women need to look at themselves in an honest mirror from head to foot. Your body is like the music in the car idling next to you at the stoplight. Just because that driver likes Lil Kim, do I have to listen to it? Just because you like to expose skin, does that mean I have to look at it in the workplace?
It is a challenge to legislate good taste. One person can wear open toed shoes, with a pedicure of course. Another person with chipped polish, not so good. Dress is a way for you to standout. It is not about dress. It is about your ability to make good decisions. To be strategic rather than tactical, even in your clothes. Just because the weather gets above 80 degrees does not mean you stop protecting your value. Summer is a season, not a dress code.