Less is not more when it comes to office clothes

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/18/less-not-more-when-comes-to-office-clothes

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It's that time of year again. Walking into the office, I came across a woman wearing a summery dress, short, low cut and with narrow shoulder straps. The thin fabric left – oh God, am I really about to use this phrase? – little to the imagination.

It took me aback. It was a lot of flesh. Am I a prude? Old-fashioned? Unsisterly? I didn't disapprove exactly. Well, maybe a tiny bit of me did, the bit that has bought into the adage that it has to be, at most, one or the other – cleavage or leg – on show.

Etiquette for clothing is generally ridiculous; surely we're all grown-up enough to cope with the dress choices of our colleagues. Still, if you are likely to be troubled by others' attire, this is the most challenging time of year – summer weather arrives in force this weekend and flesh tends to come out faster than the barbecue.

Flip-flops, according to the knowledgeable women on the Observer Magazine, are definite office no-nos on the feet of either sex. Shorts on men remain a borderline issue and on women are very clearly street or beach-wear only – unless tailored. A survey by the Huffington Post last year found far more people judged flip-flops in the office inappropriate than they did low-cut tops. An exposed midriff was voted the most inappropriate, just in case you were readying one for tomorrow.

This might feel like an issue for women and it largely remains so. But a work experience student – of either sex – turning up in jeans and a band T-shirt isn't likely to impress, although a former colleague who liked to celebrate summer by turning up in the office in shabby shorts, sandals and a T-shirt that had surely been bought at Woodstock has done well for himself. Men who wander through the office still wearing sweat-drenched running gear are my pet "ick"; I've never seen a woman do it.

But then there is a far more sinister side to how dress is regarded. Dressing too "sexy" can also have psychological effects on your peers, according to Peter Glick, a professor of psychology at Lawrence University in Wisconsin. A study by Glick that was published in Psychology of Women Quarterly said that women who dress in what is seen as sexy attire are viewed as less competent – regardless of their skill sets.

These women are allegedly passed over for promotion more often than their more modestly dressed female colleagues. Coming across that piece of research made me want to go and find my skimpily dressed woman and find out where she bought her frock, who are these "peers" and what low-down misogynist thinking are they processing?

There might be an aesthetic argument to what we wear but surely that doesn't need to cleave to uniformity. Unless a uniform helps us negotiate our way through authority – ie identifying a police officer – what use is it?

Back to the woman in my office. She looked perfectly comfortable. The problem was, perhaps, that I'm so jaundiced by boring office uniformity that I responded like some kind of sniffy Downton Abbey dowager. But even as I screw my tolerance to the sticking place, I'm still not sure I can extend it to the bloke in the running vest.