On Success & The Fun Of Getting Dressed Up

An article I can enthusiastically sum up using only the word "rad" was recently published in the Wall Street Journal online and brought to my attention. If You Really Want to Defy Conformity, Dress Up on Fridays, in short, details the move from Casual Fridays to Formal Fridays. Tech start-up companies on the West coast as well as modern empires of internet business (read: Facebook) spend the bulk of their work week in casual attire that they now devote each Friday to fancier threads. This is definitely a turn around from the more traditional four days in business wear, one day in jeans mentality that pervades the East coast and Midwest. Albert Lai of Pulse enjoys the shock factor that a San Franciscan in a bow tie exudes. "They kind of assumed all Californians just wore Hawaiian shirts all day," he quipped of his East coast clients.

Thom Woodley, an employee of The Barbarian Group, on one of the company's Formal Fridays / Photo credit:  The Barbarian Group via WSJ online

What I find so intriguing about this article are the many avenues and aspects for analyzing clothing and its impact in the workplace. On one hand, you have a younger generation of business professionals, throwing off the work attire of the past and creating a new, casual, successful work space. On the other, the importance and (it could be argued) need for formal wear still rings true. For example, for the employees of jobFig, it serves as a way to introduce cohesiveness as they are a small company with no formal work space. Lydia Ramsey, a business-etiquette expert from Georgia was quoted throughout the article and made the argument that "employees are more productive when they dress in formal attire."

I believe all of this to be subjective to a degree, but as I muse about this on a personal level, I find both sides to ring true. I personally hold to the belief that style and appropriate attire have their place, but too much of one vibe, be it casual or formal, gets old quick. Clothing is and should be a fun, creative outlet, an annex of who you are and the social circumstances your find yourself in. If you can dress up a pair of jeans, or dress down a conservative skirt, and still feel comfortable with yourself and your work, you're doing it right.

This is one reason why I find bloggers like Leandra Medine, Erin Perez Hagstrom, and Annabel Ly so fascinating and inspiring  Each woman is capable of towing the line between casual cool and work-ready office wear, while still remaining true to herself. They each have a fun, quirky side to their personal look, but are all still taken seriously in their workplaces and within the blogging community.

Annabel Ly of Blushing Ambition / Photo credit: Blushing Ambition

Leandra Medine of The Man Repeller / Photo credit: Naomi Shon for The Man Repeller 

Erin Hagstrom of Calivinatge / Photo credit: Calivintage

                                           
And I think that's the real secret to all of this... Being able to look pulled together, but not stuffy or sloppy or uncomfortable. Being yourself, being focused, being genuine -- these are all qualities that will take you far in the workplace, regardless of occupation, and play a key role, beyond clothing, as to how you present yourself to others.