The Professional: Uprising of the un-uniform

Our parents and grandparents perhaps worked in one job or one organisation all their lives and their personal satisfaction hardly mattered. But today’s professionals look for true job satisfaction and don’t mind taking risks and shifting careers in the quest for job satisfaction. So, a banker could one day decide that what he really wants to do is build a travel application for mobile phones or set up an adventure sports business. And what you wear for work today reflects this cultural shift. Once upon a time, dressing for work or the definition of business wear meant a dark suit, preferably black or at blue at best, and a plain shirt, preferably in white and in pastel colours at best. It was almost like a uniform of sorts.  Fashion today reflects personality as opposed to a prescribed uniform. So we now have everything from bespoke business suits to khakis and collared tees as part of office wear. Well, it all began when technology companies at Silicon Valley in the United States realized that a relaxed dress code at work boosted productivity of the techies employed, who anyway worked long and disorganized hours, and so the culture of dressing down was encouraged. The big push came when IBM, the technology industry bellwether, took to a more relaxed dress code in 1995 from a time when almost every IBM-er wore what seemed like a uniform comprising of a pin-striped suit, white button-down shirt, rep ties and wing-tipped shoes. That kind of opened the floodgates and the end result is that today Mark Zuckerberg’s hoodies are seen as a fashion statement and so were Steve Jobs’ turtlenecks.  Influenced by Silicon Valley, MNCs introduced a day when employees could dress down instead of dressing up for work. And now that has spread to even traditional, family-owned Indian businesses. India Inc. loves business casual today. While this trend has had a great impact on office culture across the globe, what has also made it even more popular today is the growing number of unconventional careers and career paths, with even B-school grads doing everything from setting up adventure sports firms to vegetable retail online to filmmaking. And with settings where business meetings happen outside boardrooms or in coffee shops and a culture that allows work while you are on the move, this has brought about the uprising of the un-uniform that is the business casual. What is business casual today? Business casual today has changed from business casual years ago and keeps evolving with fashion trends. Smart semi-casual trousers such as chinos and khakis as bottom-wear and a dress shirt that could be optionally paired up with a tie depending on the occasion/meeting, and collared polo t-shirt on a relaxed day – work wear that exudes confidence, means business and is for the man who is equally comfortable in the board room as on the golf course. While business casual today is braver than ever before, t-shirts with bold rock-band prints for instance are still not welcome as part of business casual. You can take personal tastes only so far. Also, ripped denims and shorts are a strict no-no. Instead, there is a lot more to play with given the latest fashion trends. Dark hued denims, sports coats or jackets, slim fit denims, and checkered slim fit shirts paired with sharp pullovers and chic t-shirts with edgy blazers are some of the very interesting updates in the fashion world as far as men’s business wear go. So are you dressing rightly for your job? Here are a few tips that could get you a snazzy make-over: [caption id=“attachment_1768841” align=“alignleft” width=“275”]  1. Switch over to trendy slim fit shirts in vibrant colours with bold checks and micro-checks and pin stripes in dark tones.[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_1768843” align=“alignleft” width=“275”]  2. Classic mono-chrome shirts with smart jackets in darker hues can give a dual tone effect.[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_1768845” align=“alignleft” width=“275”]  3. This winter, cardigans in warm colours paired with shirts in lighter hues can add a new dimension to your ensemble. Also, cardigans flaunting colour blocking worn over collared shirts add a sharp detail to the attire.[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_1768875” align=“alignleft” width=“275”]  4. Pair it all up with coloured non-denim pants in hues like navy blue, black, brown and rust and such.[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_1768879” align=“alignleft” width=“275”]  5. Sleeveless or sports coats with collared t-shirts, jackets with faux leather accents on chic t-shirts, edgy coats with satin lapels for a business meet could be some other great combinations.[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_1768881” align=“alignleft” width=“275”]  6. To up the ante at work, swanky eyewear and footwear like loafers, boat shoes, and others in the non-sneaker category are a few things you could experiment with.[/caption]