What NOT to Wear to Work!

Okay, it's summer, and time to loosen up a little. But John and I have been talking about this quite a bit lately and we thought we'd channel our inner Stacey London and Clinton Kelley (from the TLC show What Not to Wear) and put together a list.

I'm all for Casual Friday (John's not so sure- he's a little more formal than I am) but one should show SOME respect for the work we do and the people we work with. And there's years of good evidence that dressing wrong can actually cause damage to a person's career. Sherry Maysonave gives several examples in her book Casual Power of people who unknowingly sabotage their careers because of their clothes.

Yes, it's shallow. But it's true. We don't take the time to really get to know people these days, and come to conclusions quickly. We even treat people that we know well differently when they're dressed differently.

So, we'll be writing articles in the coming days about what NOT to wear.

First thing on our list:

• Crocs! They're cute on little girls under the age of 4, and probably very practical to wear in a muddy garden or perhaps to the pool for those who can't stand flip flops (some people don't like having something between their toes, we understand!) but people have actually been wearing these to the OFFICE! Seriously!
  

I saw a woman in a downtown office in a beautiful office dress - a deep purple crocheted sweater and skirt set with hose and, alas, matching purple crocs. What was strange about this is that, unless she really loves purple, she had apparently deliberately purchased crocs to complement this outfit. I would understand if someone had broken a heel, or it was after hours and she'd had enough of heels for the day and was wearing her backup pair of shoes (for which crocs might be an understandable, if unfortunate, choice for a backup) but choosing to wear crocs with this outfit was a truly puzzling decision.

Not only are they hideous, which should be self-evident (but may not be, given their popularity) it's also possible that they are dangerous. A hospital in Sweden wants to ban them for medical personnel, and claims that several incidents of equipment failures may be linked to static electricity from the nasty rubber shoes.

We'd love to hear what you think - can anyone explain the popularity of these things?

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