Skip to main content
Perusing through my company’s exhaustive list of don’t
dos in dress etiquette reminded me of an artful attempt in Mandukya Upanishad
to define God using negation as a technique - a string of not-this and not-that.
Defining an abstract like ‘what to wear’ to look respectable and represent
a profession or brand can be quite elusive. Dress code dilemmas challenge every
organization. Nuanced illustrations of dos and don't-dos on all dressing
possibilities get put up followed by frantic counter measures to tighten
up when intransigence are spotted.
The real challenge before us is, what exactly passes
as respectable? From an employing
org’s perspective, the ask is quite modest - look the role you play. It is a
‘white-collared’ job. And rest assured, most firms do pay decent
perks to reflect what they stand for; something the company knows that it cannot
be policed. From an employee perspective, it depends on his values, attitude
and alignment. But then, why do people take liberties and flout the code. Unfortunately, it will take some grey
hair to appreciate this. For, reflecting on my formative years, I too will have to admit of
having entertained violating these expectations, enjoying a rather parochial
defiance to such ‘meek’ conformance, misconstrued often, as subservience. Such demands smacked of school-like repressiveness. Besides, at
an young age, one would not appreciate the bearing such transgressions might
have on clients and businesses. Lastly, there was no dearth of iconoclastic inspirations like Jobs and his black mock turtlenecks to back your point of view. Or maybe, I have been contrarian all along, for, when my firm finally opened the floodgates to fashionable prerogatives, formals became the new fad for me. 😃
With age, you realize the
world does not pivot around you and, a society’s perception bias is not
something you wish away. Also with age, you would have worn several
‘leader’ caps as manager in office, head of family and organizer of social
events. And in each setting, you would have perhaps noted, attire and the way
you comport yourself does help win more respect and credibility. But when you
are young, idealism reigns supreme and you rebel against all shallow
conventions. After all, what’s in a dress or a name (as the Bard of Avon asked).
Interestingly, while it perhaps is well known, how your attire leaves an impression on others, how it affects you the person might not be equally apparent. I am not referring to ‘You are what you Wear’ punchlines mouthed by fashion icons but serious research (published Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology) on systematic influence of dress on the
wearer’s psychological processes which has come to be coined ‘Enclothed Cognition’. Evidence suggest,
wearing a simple lab coat correlated with increased attentiveness and carefulness
of the wearer! In short, in right attire, you not only look the part but chances
are, you might even get better at it!😀
Anyway, glossing over the
long list of allowable before me, I could not help wonder - probably they( read HR) should have kept it simple - whatever you wear, tuck it in to look a tad more
respectable. That would suffice.
Perusing through my company’s exhaustive list of don’t
dos in dress etiquette reminded me of an artful attempt in Mandukya Upanishad
to define God using negation as a technique - a string of not-this and not-that.
Defining an abstract like ‘what to wear’ to look respectable and represent
a profession or brand can be quite elusive. Dress code dilemmas challenge every
organization. Nuanced illustrations of dos and don't-dos on all dressing
possibilities get put up followed by frantic counter measures to tighten
up when intransigence are spotted.
The real challenge before us is, what exactly passes
as respectable? From an employing
org’s perspective, the ask is quite modest - look the role you play. It is a
‘white-collared’ job. And rest assured, most firms do pay decent
perks to reflect what they stand for; something the company knows that it cannot
be policed. From an employee perspective, it depends on his values, attitude
and alignment. But then, why do people take liberties and flout the code. Unfortunately, it will take some grey
hair to appreciate this. For, reflecting on my formative years, I too will have to admit of
having entertained violating these expectations, enjoying a rather parochial
defiance to such ‘meek’ conformance, misconstrued often, as subservience. Such demands smacked of school-like repressiveness. Besides, at
an young age, one would not appreciate the bearing such transgressions might
have on clients and businesses. Lastly, there was no dearth of iconoclastic inspirations like Jobs and his black mock turtlenecks to back your point of view. Or maybe, I have been contrarian all along, for, when my firm finally opened the floodgates to fashionable prerogatives, formals became the new fad for me. 😃
With age, you realize the
world does not pivot around you and, a society’s perception bias is not
something you wish away. Also with age, you would have worn several
‘leader’ caps as manager in office, head of family and organizer of social
events. And in each setting, you would have perhaps noted, attire and the way
you comport yourself does help win more respect and credibility. But when you
are young, idealism reigns supreme and you rebel against all shallow
conventions. After all, what’s in a dress or a name (as the Bard of Avon asked).
Interestingly, while it perhaps is well known, how your attire leaves an impression on others, how it affects you the person might not be equally apparent. I am not referring to ‘You are what you Wear’ punchlines mouthed by fashion icons but serious research (published Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology) on systematic influence of dress on the
wearer’s psychological processes which has come to be coined ‘Enclothed Cognition’. Evidence suggest,
wearing a simple lab coat correlated with increased attentiveness and carefulness
of the wearer! In short, in right attire, you not only look the part but chances
are, you might even get better at it!😀
Anyway, glossing over the
long list of allowable before me, I could not help wonder - probably they( read HR) should have kept it simple - whatever you wear, tuck it in to look a tad more
respectable. That would suffice.
Comments
Post a Comment