Re: “casual Friday”
But then casual every day wouldn’t cost any more, and employees would like it even better, right?
Assuming a 15.5" neck and 38" chest, a 6" drop means a 32" waist, and an 8" drop means a 30" waist (what are typically supposed to be “regular” and “athletic” dimensions).
But the Brooks Brothers Milano (the slimmest one) has a 41" shirt waist (narrowest part of the shirt), which is 9" to 11" bigger than a “regular” or “athletic” wearer’s actual waist. That seems pretty loose; from what I can tell, a dress shirt should be 5" to 8" bigger than the wearer.
I don’t use mine anymore so I can send it to him. It might be confusing as it does say “Magnetron” in Korean on it.
I’m with UCB on this one. Most shirts are cut with way too much fabric around the waist for a thin person, even the ones labeled slim cut. It’s like carrying around an extra pillowcase in the back of your pants. Calvin Klein makes some shirts with a little bit of spandex and a slimmer profile.
My husband wears business casual during the school year, t-shirts and shorts in the summer and puts on a tie and jacket when he goes to a Board of Overseers meeting, and a jacket (no tie) for Faculty Senate Meetings (he runs them). He’s at a med school.
I’m an architect and used to dress up more than I do now. I’d never ever meet a client in jeans ten years ago and I’d always have a jacket/blazer or twin set. Now I usually don’t only for the initial meeting.
Actually, in my experience there are offices that would define “business casual” in a way that would include T-shirts (nice T-shirts, but still).
No matter that, though, “business casual” has become an annoyingly meaningless term, and businesses ought to stop expecting employees to have any idea what it means.
Seems like lots of the slim fit men’s shirts are missing the pocket. My boys don’t care, as they never put anything in that pocket anyway (unlike their dad, who ruins the occasional shirt with ink stains). But to me, when a dress shirt has no pocket, I expect it to be unbuttoned down to the waist, on a really sleazy looking guy.
OP’s kd shoukd ask either someone who interned there last year or a current employee.
If he doesn’t have a contact to call, he could just call the receptionist, introduce himself, and ask.
My husband and kid are slim as in European cut slim fits them best. Even the slim Lands End and LLBean shirts look like clown’s clothing on them. DS gets his slims at H&M (for inexpensive) and Express or Banana Republic for dressy. DH gets his slims at Nordstrom or the Boss outlet. Boss slims fit him perfectly. He can also wear Banana Republic slim cuts, and sometimes Gap slim cut shirts.
To the OP…agreed…get your son a couple of pairs of socks, and a few shirts. Buy from someplace with mail order. Once he figures out the dress at his internship, have whatever he needs sent to him.
Pocketless men’s dress shirts are actually considered more formal (French-cuff and tuxedo shirts being examples, but also generally applying to button-down shirts in higher grades of cotton). Of course casual shirts frequently don’t have pockets either, but since when has fashion ever made sense? Maybe the no-pocket style has trickled down in the decades since I paid attention to such things.
My son buys all shirts he can without pockets. He is on the short side, and the pockets practically tuck into his slacks.
All my hubby’s dress shirts have no pockets, and he spends a pretty penny on them. he wears Prada type dress shirts.
Agree eyemamom…my husband’s Boss shirts cost a pretty penny too. But you know what? Since he stopped wearing a sports jacket or suit to cover the clown sleeves and wider torso…it’s well worth the money spent.
He does have some larger slims he wears in the winter under sweaters.
"Re: “casual Friday”
Pizzagirl wrote:
Because it’s a perk businesses that require more formal dress can give their employees - that the employees like and doesn’t cost the firm a penny to implement.
But then casual every day wouldn’t cost any more, and employees would like it even better, right?"
You’re not thinking with a people / psychological / emotional lens in mind (which doesn’t surprise me).
If I say business dress every day and you “get” to go casual on Friday, it’s perceived as a treat every week. If I say casual dress everyday, then once I’ve made the announcement the perk is over and it’s the new norm.
Think of a child. Ice cream is a treat if they only get it on Friday evenings and have fruit for dessert the rest of the week. If they get ice cream every evening, it ceases to be a treat.
Same concept as summer hours that a lot of firms offer (end early on Friday). A company could structure its work hours that way all year round but it’s viewed as a perk if it’s just summer.
It will be a perk compared to other employers that do not have it. Comparing employees to small children might not be the best analogy (and some may consider that insulting).
Good grief - I’m not comparing employees to small children. I am illustrating using an analogy. This involves thinking with something other than your left brain, which I rarely see you get out of on CC - which is a shame, as you have a lot of good thoughts but they are very literal and linear.
People don’t remember perks that they get relative to other companies. They remember perks that they get relative to the rest of the year. This is a basic psychological insight about people. You’re right, there’s no reason that a company couldn’t go casual-casual all year round, and many have (including my own - I wear jeans to work about 95% of the time). But there is a reason that the others don’t, and the ability to portray casual Fridays as a “perk” is one of them.
Good grief - I’m not comparing employees to small children. I am illustrating using an analogy. This involves thinking with something other than your left brain, which I rarely see you get out of on CC - which is a shame, as you have a lot of good thoughts but they are very literal and linear.
People don’t remember perks that they get relative to other companies. They remember perks that they get relative to the rest of the year. This is a basic psychological insight about people. You’re right, there’s no reason that a company couldn’t go casual-casual all year round, and many have (including my own - I wear jeans to work about 95% of the time). But there is a reason that the others don’t, and the ability to portray casual Fridays as a “perk” is one of them.
When it comes to little perks, employees are very much like small children. I remember the petulance when free soft drinks were eliminated at my old job. A few of us continued to drink the remaining stock of cream soda until every last can was gone–even though cream soda is pretty gross.
In DC, at least in trade association offices, business casual is generally khakis or other slacks, and button-up shirts. I do see polo shirts sometimes.
Also, institutions are not monoliths with a single point of view. Going to casual Fridays may represent a compromise between the traditionalists who prefer professional dress and the comfort-seekers who want casual clothes every day.
In addition, there’s been a long tradition and practice in the most button-downed elite environments of a relaxation of dress on Fridays (especially in summer), so when the the dress-code revolution got started, the traditionalists could tell themselves that a policy of business-casual Fridays was simply a codification of the long-standing practice among the posh.
And yes, it is offered as a perk by employers who would prefer more formal dress every day.
Ha! As I was reading this thread, my H (who is a physician) called – one of the perks he gets is free food in the cafeteria at the hospital all the time, not just on nights when he’s on call - and he heard that as of June 1, the hospital is taking that away. It’s not that we can’t afford to buy him a sandwich and an apple and a drink, but he was like - that’s it, as of June 1, I’m retiring! LOL.