No Ties
Pre Pandemic from Monday to Friday the City of London would have been swarming with men and women in sharp suits moving very quickly about their business and looking rather important, for 13 months the majority of those people will have been working from home, wearing nothing more restrictive than loungewear, I imagine the prospect of returning to the office and wearing starched collars and restrictive clothing fills them with dread, so much so that many of the cities big firms are being lobbied to drop their formal dress code in favour of a more casual approach.
Aside from the negative impact on the brands that rely heavily on city workers’ trade (TM Lewin, Reiss & Thomas Pink to name a few) why do they need to wear a suit? If they aren't in customer facing roles, who are they dressing up for? Do they need to be in shiny shoes and tailoring to take one another seriously?
While I am not quite sure what it is City Workers do, i believe it involves large sums of money, so perhaps wearing formal clothes keeps them sharp, on the ball? But does that mean dressing for comfort make your brain work slower, less effectively? If so how on earth have they gotten through the last year working at home without making catastrophic errors of judgment? Im a big fan of American legal dramas and a large portion of the appeal lies in the wardrobe department, the men might get to wear impeccable tailoring but the women get to wear an array of incredible blouses, skirts and sharp cut dresses (think Victoria Beckham before she went all casual on us) UK legal dramas aren't nearly as glamorous, did you know the funny looking curly horse-hair wigs worn by Barristers here are to signify the formality and solemn nature of the occasion?
Nothing to do with the fact us Brits love a bit of pomp & ceremony! I know I wouldn't fancy having to wear a suit everyday, for women its even more difficult as it inevitably involves wearing a heel, perhaps the City of London will come to a compromise on their strict dress code, a tie & jogging bottoms perhaps? Hoodie & lace up shoes?
