not that i'm that great of a dresser, but...

I think we should talk about attire in the workplace. Although we all have days where we like to slob out, lets not forget that the workplace is where you spend most of your life's daylight hours, and looking your best should be prioritized in there along with making sure you eat lunch and not acting like a 12 year old. If not for anything else but to maintain some level of decorum.

Israel is a much more relaxed work environment than most countries. I remember working for Vodafone back in England and they enforced a dress code for people who answer the phone. This was a place where people were closed in a room for 8 hour shifts and whose only responsibility was to answer the phone. Zero visual customer contact. And yet, jeans were not allowed. I had a friend working for Adecco who was forbidden from wearing bootleg trousers lest any job seeker or potential employer interpret the wideness of the bottom of their trousers as lack of professionalism.

Here are a few fashion violations that make my eyes sore on a daily basis:

• Tucking of sweatshirt into jeans
• Wearing socks with sandals
• Wearing white socks and black shoes. (If you grew up where I did, you SO know about this. I don't know why Guildford, Surrey was the cornerstone of sock-shoe etiquette, but we all knew the singsong "white socks, black shoes: KEVINNNNN!")
• Wearing trousers that are too short. Correct length has trouser falling onto shoe. No ankle flappers, please.
• Dressing like a granny when you aren't even 28.
• Looking like you couldn't quite make your mind up between beach and work and compromising by dressing for the beach and coming to work in Bermuda shorts.
• Trainers. Running shoes. Sneakers. Whatever you want to call them. If they aren't new, don't wear them to work!
• Animal print skin tight tops.
• Shorts or even ¾ length trousers.

There are a couple of people in my company who dress very well. Its always great to see what outfits they have put on. They are edgy. They are cool. There are other people who have a signature look. There's the guy who always wears a beret. David always wore Hawaiian shirts. The lady who always wears stilettos. She's the one who was really worried about the air vents when she heard they were going to be placed in the floor in the new building. Must be ok because we've been in the new building for a year and a half, and she's still wearing stilettos.

Then there's another guy who always dresses top to toe in one color. We see him everyday and his whole outfit is the same color. Even the shoes. I don't know about the underwear. My cube-mate asked me if he is a color specialist who is branding himself. So I asked around about the color thing and the only information I gleaned was that he likes big breasts. One morning he got into the lift with me so I broke protocol and offered "today the day is purple, ah?" The dude was very surprised that I (an almost stranger from another department!) had noticed that he has this thing! He confided that he has 22 colors that he wears in a rotation. The guy simply OCD-has to wear the same color. I happen to know that some days he breaks a little and will wear a striped shirt with MORE THAN ONE COLOR in it…gaah! One day I saw him and he was wearing blue. "Blue today", I said. "Light blue", he corrected me.

I quite like his color clothing peculiarity. Having your own signature is cool. But I can't abide by that sweatshirt tucked into those jeans. That's the signature of bad taste!