I found this article (via Corporette), lamenting the advance of cardigans as appropriate business attire, interesting. Probably because I wear lots of cardigan to work.
My office is technically business-formal, but as the only practicing female lawyer in the office, I have some flexibility with the rules. (I'm pretty sure the boys in the office don't know what business-formal is for a woman--they just know they have to wear a suit every day.) And so I've self-determined that a cardigan with dress slacks or a pencil skirt will suffice. It's kind of like a jacket--more formal than just a sweater or knit shirt. (I have a big problem finding button-shirts that don't gap, so I rarely wear them.)
Also, I can't work in a suit jacket--it's just too constricting. So when I wear a jacket, it comes off as soon as I enter the office anyway. And the shell that is perfectly fine under a suit jacket, may not be ideal office attire without the jacket. Or I end up freezing without that extra layer. So I default to the comfortable, warm cardigan. I don't think that I'm inappropriately dressed, and I don't think my bosses do either.
But...I would never, ever wear a cardigan to court. I also suit up anytime I have a client meeting or deposition. There is still a place for the suit (and I do love a beautiful suit--a well-fit suit can hide a multitude of flaws), but it is not on a day when I have my butt plastered to my chair for 10 hours drafting a motion or reviewing documents.
1 comments:
I agree, I think the cardigan is just fine. I even wear sweaters to court with slacks or skirts. Lots of female attorneys here do. Where I was practicing before, women would wear sundresses in the summer and flipflops, so yeah, not really concerned by not wearing a suit jacket every day!
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