08/18/2021
Wall Street Casual
Has one of the last bastions of “suit and tie culture” fallen? Byproducts of COVID – a year of working from home in sweats and the return to a minimally-staffed office – show a casual workforce rolling in to Wall Street this summer. Only time and cooler temps will reveal the magnitude of this dress code shift.
Beware cube dwellers, just because there are few coworkers in your office doesn’t mean nobody notices what you’re wearing. Don’t confuse the concept of relaxed rules with no rules and in many ways a relaxed dress code is harder to interpret than a formal one. Remember, any day in the office is a potential job interview!
Sadly, rather than using this opportunity to express imagination and creativity through dress, this story shows a male workforce especially that has simply exchanged one boring uniform for another. Polo shirts and chinos – really?
I hope that if you are returning to a more casual workplace than the one you left a year and a half ago, you will take this opportunity to express your individuality and your talents through your work wardrobe rather than just resigning to a sloppier version of a dull uniform.
As workers return to the financial district, longstanding dress codes have been relaxed. Right now, almost anything goes. Even jeans.
