A HEADS UP, page-72

"Well, let me retort..." (hat tip to Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction) with my own experience about clothing style(s).

The insurance industry in which I worked for 30 + years (now retired) was nattily buttoned up every day and everywhere when I worked in it back in the eighties and early nineties. They rightly considered themselves white collar and white collar was indeed the order of the day. After years of employees belly aching in our NY home office about caual attire, the company introduced casual Fridays which for men meant dress slacks, a suit coat, dress shirt opened at the top and no tie (woo hoo).

Then something happened. In the early to mid ninieties computing and automation became a hot button in the information and data industry that the insurance business is at its core. I.T. departments came into their own and suddenly this huge industry (and others too) was seeking any and all I.T. folks they could hire. Competition for this technical talent became fierce.

Well, as it turned out I.T. guys, affectionately known as geeks, marched to a different drummer so to speak. Telling an I.T. guy back in the nineties to wear a suit and tie was akin to telling him to go elsewhere where his talents were desperately needed and they did, until insurance companies relaxed their attire standards and hired these critically important tech guys. That led to all company personnel being allowed to ditch the dress clothes once and for all.

In the case of formal dress in the insurance industry the I.T. tail wagged the nattily attired corporation dog. No contest. Tech talked and executives hands were forever tied.

To conclude, I see the casual and sometimes sloppy attire (take a bow Mr. Zuckerberg) ubiquitous in the tech industry as a "meh". Nobody cares. And either do I.

I am, however, saddened to see the overall dumbing down of how society at large approaches dressing in public these days, like at symphonies, weddings and funerals to cite a few examples. Regards, dippY