This is what I wear to work everyday
Walking on the streets of Manhattan
The other day I posted a picture of myself on Facebook with two 23-year old app developers from Chile who came to visit me at my office. Within seconds my California girl friend Sheri Lesser wrote a message on my page that said, “I have never seen you in jeans. You look good.” The truth is that most of my career I was required to wear a business suit to work. I spent thousands and thousands of dollars on clothes each year just to sit in my office, get an occasional visitor or go see a client once or twice a week. Oh yes, luncheons. I needed the glamorous suits to walk from the coat closet in the restaurant to my table where I sat covered for one or two hours.
Online for our coffee in the Flatiron District
Check out the shoes
When I think back to those days, I realize how silly we all were dressing up to impress each other. I have to admit that I was one of the most vocal bosses about people not properly dressing for work. I even scolded several people on my staff when I saw them dressed in warm-up suits traveling to the CES show in Las Vegas. I told them that the aircraft was filled with industry people judging their appearance. I even went so far as to say that what they wore had a direct reflection on the agency.
Muscles and tatoos are the status symbols
Those were the days. Today if you wear a suit in the digital community in New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and Boston people will think you are going to a funeral. Everyone wears casual slacks or jeans, a shirt, top or sweater, comfortable shoes or sneakers and hopefully clean underwear. We are all non-descript. It’s all about creativity and not the surface BS. I may be 30 years older than most, but I better conform if I am going to be taken seriously. Truth be told, I never felt better about myself. I love working in this environment and I love being so comfortable today without my tight-fitting pantyhose, my tangled slip and my aching high heels. I will leave that to the lawyers and bankers who still feel they have to impress someone.
I must say that some of the younger folks do take advantage of the new accepted attire. The young women wear short, short, short, skirts and short, short, shorts on hot days in the summer and their male counterparts wear loose cargo shorts. I urge you not to look up on the subway steps. You will see more than the X-rated channel on your TV sets.
DigiDame 