Wednesday, June 15, 2005
No man is esteemed for gay garments but by fools and women.
Those who work with me know that I like wearing a tie about as much as cats enjoy wearing a leash. I guess when every guy starts working his first professional job, he enjoys putting on a suit for the first couple of months. You look good, and you feel like money. For those of us who don't give a crap about things like "advancement" or even "making a good impression," the thrill quickly fades as we realize that wool, even at it's thinnest, is both itchy and prone to cause spontaneous combustion on hot, summer days or at least make you sweat like a 10-year old at Neverland. What? Too soon?
Before I took up lawyering, I worked for a public policy organization in the greater Washington, D.C. disaster area. Our legal foundation was on the floor above us, and they hired this tool about my age to handle their P.R. He not only wore a suit every day, but had French cuffs with cufflinks cast with his fraternity letters. If this jackass had been any bigger a douche, he would have had to pay royalties to Massengill. Unfortunately, this part of my story has a sad ending. Although it has been nearly 6 years since I left the morally and, most important, financially bereft world of politics behind, Mr. White-collar-with-a-blue-shirt has still not been forcibly sterilized. As far as I know. I remember him suggesting to me that we should emulate rich people because they wear suits. Right. I'm sure Bill Gates spends his days and evenings in a a good three-button, poly/wool blend.
This all comes to mind because I am anticipating a swing in the general work casual/full armor pendulum this year. Every few years, one of the bigger law firms will decide to change their dress policy and, law firms being what they are, everyone else follows suit. Currently, Dallas is populated by casually dressed and slightly less irritable attorneys, but it only a matter of time before some white-shoe firm decides that its clients want their attorneys chained to their desks with silk ties, and then we all gotta take the wool out of mothballs.
My money says the shift back to business dress will begin happening this year. Not during the summer, because of clerks and heat, but likely when things cool down. I guess I should look into getting some ties.
Before I took up lawyering, I worked for a public policy organization in the greater Washington, D.C. disaster area. Our legal foundation was on the floor above us, and they hired this tool about my age to handle their P.R. He not only wore a suit every day, but had French cuffs with cufflinks cast with his fraternity letters. If this jackass had been any bigger a douche, he would have had to pay royalties to Massengill. Unfortunately, this part of my story has a sad ending. Although it has been nearly 6 years since I left the morally and, most important, financially bereft world of politics behind, Mr. White-collar-with-a-blue-shirt has still not been forcibly sterilized. As far as I know. I remember him suggesting to me that we should emulate rich people because they wear suits. Right. I'm sure Bill Gates spends his days and evenings in a a good three-button, poly/wool blend.
This all comes to mind because I am anticipating a swing in the general work casual/full armor pendulum this year. Every few years, one of the bigger law firms will decide to change their dress policy and, law firms being what they are, everyone else follows suit. Currently, Dallas is populated by casually dressed and slightly less irritable attorneys, but it only a matter of time before some white-shoe firm decides that its clients want their attorneys chained to their desks with silk ties, and then we all gotta take the wool out of mothballs.
My money says the shift back to business dress will begin happening this year. Not during the summer, because of clerks and heat, but likely when things cool down. I guess I should look into getting some ties.
Centinel 8:30 AM #