I couldn’t agree more. As I age past youth, my thing is to become more of who I always was and to wear it proudly giving barely a *ish what some evil youngster thinks. They stopped ruling my life in highschool. I refuse to relive it.

In academia and in IT, men who dress up are viewed with deep suspicion, because the only men on campus under 40 who dress like that are either B(usiness)-schoolers or administrative types, the sort who wander cluelessly into a given department wondering whether it’s the sort of thing that can be cut and farmed out to Bangalore for distance learning. IT types in their 20s and 30s still wear the uniform of t-shirts and jeans. Younger professors wear button-down shirts, khakis, and sweaters.

Best strategy is to consider these guys to be trying too hard. Because they are. Ask one of these dandies for his boss’s contact information–and then say, “Oh, forgive me–I’m afraid I thought you were an administrative assistant.”

I love this line:

“I think it’s a reaction against the homogeneity of casual wear,” said Gordon Henderson, the design director of Topman. “There’s nowhere to go with that in terms of personality, whereas a suit sets you apart.”

Hilarious. In the old days, all men looked the same BECAUSE they were wearing suits. Now they claim casual dress all looks the same. “The man in the grey flannel suit” was the epitome of the Everyman.

This is at least the third time they’ve claimed dressing up for work is coming back in style. I’ve yet to see it become really prevalent except in some businesses. Historically, if you look at codes of dress through the ages, it always goes from more complex to less and less complex. I don’t think people, now that they are able to wear comfortable, practical clothes to work, will ever go back to uncomfortable fussy clothes (and for women, god forbid, pantihose) if they can help it.

We work longer hours now in offices than we ever did before. You just can’t keep that up when wearing a noose around your neck or pantihose and heels.