This week I’ve had the privilege of working with some auditors from Italy.  Any one who knows me knows I love and hate this particular job.  I hate it because it seems to be the case that any Italian who is not a blue collar worker seems to think themselves obliged to spend a minimum of 10 hours a day at work, regardless of how much work they actually do.  I love it because the people are lovely, welcoming, interesting people.

So one of these fellows is a little older than me and we were discussing how it’s wonderful to not have to wear a suit on the weekend.  Italy is a little more formal in their professional standards than Australia, however as a consultant I should generally be wearing a suit at all times when I am or could potentially be in contact with clients.  We’re in the same boat.  I'm lucky, however, instead of wearing a tie and a buttoned shirt I get to wear more colourful tops and fabulous jewellery.  Needless to say during the course of this conversation I taught my colleague the correct use of the term “thongs” when in Australia (which is the incorrect use in the UK).  I think it all leads back to my university days, where being a member of the Arts faculty meant that I could pretty much what ever the heck I wanted.  Pyjamas were dressed up for some classes, ironed clothes were a rarity.  My staple clothing was pretty much jeans or army fatigues and t-shirts (yes you heard me right, I wore combat pants consistently or at least two years I can remember).  In my final year I started to get buttoned shirts as I thought I may need a professional wardrobe at some point and didn’t want to have to fork out for it all at once.  I loved it.  I’d love it even more now as I can actually afford decent clothes.

Which made me wonder, who on earth wears a suit outside business hours anyway?  The only time I would do this is if I’m going to something after work and don’t have time to change.  Although if it’s a professional function I wouldn’t change even if I had time to do so.

Personal dress sense, in situations where there is not a uniform (I include suits in this as even though they are not homogenous, are all essentially uniform) is generally meant to say something about you.  It’s a form of personal expression and also a way to belong to a group.  Really, to be voluntarily wearing a suit after hours or on the weekend, you pretty much have to be selling something or have absolutely no creativity or individuality what so ever.  The third option is that you don’t have a regular desk job and for some reason you think it’s cool to wear a suit, but I won’t go there.

For my case in point my mind goes back to a fellow I knew a few years ago who I had only ever seen in a suit, a tux and the generic jeans, polo and leather jacket (none of the items were fashion items, they were all rather generic, “I have no idea what to wear when I’m not wearing a suit” type items).  I think he thought he was creating a good impression or giving a sense of authority.  He was doing quite the opposite.  The suit was so often out of place that it immediately put people off side and seemed to mark him out as someone who did not know what was contextually appropriate.  It was on par with turning up to the church for your grandfather’s funeral in a fuchsia emblazoned Hawaiian shirt.  Possibly a Hawaiian shirt with “thank goodness the old bastard is gone” embroidered on the back as well. 

The other thing about my case and others I can think of as well, is that the suit was usually fairly new and worn with gaudy cuff links.  I put this sort of dressing on par with girls who update their Cue collection every 6 weeks.  Whilst moderately fashionable (for the middle class) and up to date.  It screams lower level customer or client facing staff.  It readily identifies the wearer as young, generally childless and having few financial commitments.  

Let me elaborate.  People who are able to update their wardrobe regularly, and even seek out fashion finds, are people with time.  They also don’t have to spend their cash on things like feeding, clothing or educating children, housing and in most cases that come to mind, transportation.  Their budget is pretty much divided into clothing money and drinking money.  And it really does show.  People who spend their time seeking fashion finds on work clothing, also place a high degree of importance on the front that they present at work.  They feel insecure enough to have to have something newer or sharper than most of the people they deal with.  And more often than not, they do not have sufficient experience or ranking to assert their authority without resorting to Donald Trump brand suits and Italian cufflinks.

These are probably people who also base their ideas of what it’s like at the top on television and the movies.

I have been in board rooms, worked with executives of a variety of companies from small to large, from listed, to private to partnerships.  The one thing I have noticed is that people with real power and authority do not have to be suited up in order to be in command of a situation.  One female banking executive I worked with in a previous role looked to me, like she did most of her clothes shopping at Kmart when she was picking up toys for her children (don’t ask me how a woman gets that high in a company and still looks after the children as I have no idea).  If she didn’t have the authoritative dignity which she has, the unsuspecting could have easily mistaken her for one of the EA’s.  The same goes for a CFO I have worked with recently.  She generally walks around the office in a knitted top and slacks and you need to watch closely to notice she’s wearing expensive shoes!  Other than that, it is her knowledge and her people handling skills that set her apart as someone who leads the company.  I have come across one CEO who I always see in a jacket and often in a tie, but his work does involve a meeting with clients regularly.  However, he is quick to shed his jacket and isn’t nearly as fashion conscious as most of the external auditors I have met in the firm.  I’ve also found the heads of the medical firms that I have worked with surprisingly unassuming and unpretentious as well.

So this is my very long winded way of saying that nothing seems more clueless, socially inappropriate and less authoritative than some one in a suit at 8:30pm at night or on the weekend.  I’ll generally want to know what’s wrong with you or what you’re selling!

And for those not convinced, I will show you a picture of a very undesirable public servant that came up on my hits when I googled, "bland suit."

My other point is, a suit is also the resort of someone who does just not have a clue about what to wear.  Perhaps they’re too scared to say something personal about themselves, or living in fear that they have got the dress code wrong.  But by the same token, sometimes wearing a suit does actually say something, it says, “I’m bland.”  And from time to time it is also inappropriate in many social situations.  At school, self expression through clothing is inappropriate; hence school uniforms are selected for students.  However if by the time you’re 17, have finished school, and feel the need to wear something uniform like, you obviously needed to spend more time in Art class, or with your friends.