Extreme Casual?

Business Casual is defined as "smart" casual, which is a popular dress code that emerged in the 1990's in white-collar workplaces in Western countries. What started as Casual Fridays soon became Business Casual the entire week. The goal was so that more employees would feel more comfortable at work.

The business casual trend was started as companies wanted ways to give extra perks to their employees without it costing them any additional funds. So they thought if they didn't require their employees to wear "professional attire" i.e. suits, which can sometimes be on the pricey side depending on where you shop, there would be a "cost savings" instrumented by management and the employees would be comfortable and happy. Raising morale and productivity.

What they didn't bargain for is, how one dresses often dictates how one performs. For some, if their dress is casual, so is their attitude towards productivity. Many do not quite grasp the description of "appropriate" business casual. More relaxed, still professional. One's attire should be capable of being presented to the company's president's or the firm's most important client at a moment's notice.

Many company employees have taken Business Casual to a new level, they've tottered over into Weekend Casual, with hoodies and tennis shoes. And some have become too "relaxed" with the "relaxed" dress code. It is better to have on a suit and remove the jacket, than to have on a polo shirt and khakis and walk into a meeting with white shirts or worse yet, have an unannounced visit or someone calls in sick and you have to make a presentation pitch to a potential lucrative client. Overdressed is always better than underdressed.

Tip: Dress in layers. Keep a dark-colored jacket in your office/cubicle. Some men keep a new shirt in their drawer for those unexpected events. You may say, this doesn't apply to me, I work in the mail room, to that I say, dress for the position you want.

Ladies, do you need to be told that short, tight skirts that ride halfway up the thigh are inappropriate for work? Tight, low-cut sweaters/shirts, mini-skirts, skorts, sun dresses, beach dresses, and spaghetti-strap dresses are inappropriate for the office. Jeans are rarely acceptable (and in my opinion should never be acceptable) as part of Business Casual. Any clothing that has words, terms or pictures, are out! The state in which some offices are currently, there's no place to go but up.

If in doubt, leave it out!