My imaginary work clothes would come in many different bright colors that would coordinate well with the colorful stability balls you would use for chairs. You could layer the clothes so that you could regulate your temperature with ease. In these clothes, would be easy to take a break from your work to stretch or do some jumping jacks. There would be no tags; instead the clothing information would be printed inside the clothes.
(We need a line of clothing for Highly Sensitive People! Here are some resources for clothing that might work well for HSPs.)
The first things that come to mind when imagining what effect clothes like this would have on behavior at work are:
1) People would be more comfortable.
2) People might be less professional or power-oriented.
The office suits, high heels, stockings, confining clothes, and wardrobes that are different from what we wear for leisure serve to promote a (pun!) buttoned-down environment.
Functions of office wear:
a) Make men look powerful, angular, masculine. Office suits reinforce and resemble men's shoulder and jaw angularity. The office suit has evolved for this purpose. Consider the term "power suit."
I think feminists could argue that the office suit gives men an unfair advantage, since women's equivalents, even women's suits, might not have quite the same power association and effect as men's suits, perhaps due to cultural ideas tied up with men in suits.
It would be interesting to compare what people think about men in a suit versus women in a similar suit. I think there might be some slightly negative connotations to women in power suits, or even in skirts and blazers, because of generalized discrimination toward powerful women. The same way that women suffer from double standards about kind of behavior is tolerated in them (e.g. women might be seen as bossy if they do things that men can get away with); there might be double standards about suits and office wear (not just that women can wear more creative, casual, or sexy clothing; but also that there might be slight negative connotations to women wearing power-clothes similar to those that men wear often with no negative connotations).
A creative idea for balancing gender power in the office would be to forbid men from wearing suits or ties, while women could use whatever clothes they liked as tools for self-promotion. It's kind of a variant on Clothed Female, Naked Male (CFNM) parties: in this case, a Suited Female, Casually-Dressed Male (SFCM) workplace.
b) Make people aware they are doing something different from regular life, change people's behavior, promote "professionalism."
The idea of promoting "professional" behavior by means of clothes is a bit weird when you think about it.
In this context, what does professional really mean? (followed up by how office clothes contribute to that characteristic):
Professionalism Characteristic 1: Denying one's own feelings, not showing feelings. Your needs don't matter, you just figure out what the boss or customer needs. (analogy with co-dependent people, via The Addictive Organization).
Office wear contribution: You wear the uncomfortable, movement-restricting clothes that the workplace demands. Can't just wear what you feel like wearing. Dressing for someone else's requirements, not your own.
Professionalism Characteristic 2: Fitting into the crowd.
Office wear contribution: Office wear is more homogeneous than casual clothing. It serves to make people look similar--similar colors, fabrics, patterns. Different people at work could just as well swap ties or shirts--interchangeable clothing.
Professionalism Characteristic 3: Pick up on what is required and follow the rules, even when they are poorly defined (analogy with dysfunctional family, courtesy of The Addictive Organization).
Office wear contribution: In the absence clearly defined rules about what's appropriate to wear to the office and what isn't, you have to watch others. There are articles about this: picking up on the unofficial office wear rules by observing others. (In contrast to having a uniform, scrubs, or fixed rules like "No shirt, no shoes, no working").
Professionalism Characteristic 4: Do whatever the job requires, make any necessary sacrifices, put the workplace's needs ahead of your own.
Office wear contribution: Nice office clothes can be extraordinarily expensive. I am shocked at the prices of nice ties and suits. Quality women's wear can be very expensive too. I remember when my boyfriend was interning at J. P. Morgan, the female interns were taken on a tour of some clothing stores and shown what were good things to wear at the company for women. They said, "If I made 10 times as much as I make now, maybe!"
In contrast, what could be the functions of comfortable clothes at work?
Comfortable clothes could promote:
-Integrity and continuity between work and non-work (if you are comfortable in both situations).
-Team spirit (if people wore similar uniforms to work--e.g. scrubs).
-Happiness about life (if black and navy were swapped out for key lime, tangerine, ocean blue, etc.)
-Feeling like the world is a good, loving place (rather than a competitive, dog-eat-dog world).
On occasions when I've been around people in comfortable clothing (sleep-overs, yoga and dance classes, meditation, shiatsu) I think that the comfortable clothes have promoted a comfortable way of life in those settings.
To get a sense of the impact of work clothes on behavior, imagine going to the beach, a pool party, a yoga class, or a protest in work clothes.
- - -
0 comments:
Post a Comment