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Via Jezebel and the New York Times I read - with an increasing sense that I’d just time-traveled back to a pre-feminist era - a post about how the Bank of England recently issued female staff with an edict about their office attire. It came on foot of the bank’s Dress for Success day, when a memo was circulated to female employees giving them some ‘helpful’ advice on how they should go about it.
The hugely influential fashion trade paper Women’s Wear Daily got hold of a copy of said memo, which included:
“Look professional, not fashionable; be careful with perfume; always wear a heel of some sort — maximum 2 inches; always wear some sort of makeup — even if it’s just lipstick.” Shoes and skirt must be the same color. No-no’s include ankle chains — “professional, but not the one you want to be associated with;” white high heels; overstuffed handbags; an overload of rings, and double-pierced ears.”
I had two immediate thoughts. A) I’d love to know who wrote it; man or woman? And B) did the guys get one warning them off Lynx and cheap Burton suits?
Obviously common sense comes into this: the term ‘office appropriate’ was invented for a reason, and we all know if you work in the banking sector the dress code is going to be on the side of sober colours and tailoring, and likewise if you’re in the arts or media you’ll get away with more. But telling women to wear makeup to get ahead seems to be a step too far to me. Are times so hard that the Bank of England has been forced to take sponsorship from Estee Lauder or L’Oreal?
It also reminded me of the time I got a fussy email off a man who was obviously outraged at a female colleague’s make up choices. “Is red suitable for the office”, he whined. I think he wanted me to reply that all women should be rounded up, locked away and not allowed into the workplace ever again lest they contaminate it with brightly coloured lipgloss. Because as we all know, the wearing or not of foundation has a serious impact on your ability to do your job properly.
While Beaut.ie is undoubtedly a blog about cosmetics and beauty products, because we’re all into that, I’m also firmly on the side of anyone who doesn’t enjoy or buy into the business of making up/epilating/depilating or similar. We’re not all the same, us women, and hurray for that.
So what do you girls think? Is there a grain of office-appropriate advice in here, sadly lost under a barrage of ill-advised stuffed shirtedness? Or do you agree with the bank’s memo? Let us know your thoughts on fashion and beauty in the workplace, and who should dictate those choices - if anyone - in a comment.
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I think that’s shocking! How can they get away with saying such things in this day and age? They shouldn’t even be suggesting it. In my eyes, the only time that’s an acceptable thing to do is when the employee is dressing/behaving completely unappropriately for the job is turning up drunk/stinky/in runners/jeans etc. It’s understandable then, for the boss to take you aside and advise a change. But just in general? No no.
I wear flats to work everyday, and you’re lucky if i’m wearing more than just mascarra on my face! Clothes wise it’s black trews and a v-neck top. I would be appauled if I was told to wear heels and lipstick every day. Haha.
god i do look like a tramp most days going to work! I never meet customers so its ok and im lucky if i see someone from one end of the day to the next.
I must admit i dressed very smartly when i worked in dublin. My job now dont care what i wear as long as i get the job done.
No overstuffed handbags??? Def written by a man!! Which bank (or any other office) worker wud flash her bag in front of the customer??
All in all thit sounds like it was taken from 50s bank briefing. So inappropriate. Sure we anticipate to see a bank clerk nicely done, not with a hungover breath and last nite’s smudged makeup, but I wudn’t care whether her shoes are white or matching her skirt. And for bank staff who don’t work on the customer floor, they could be wearing bin bags for all I care, as long as my money is safe
Once someone is “appropriately” dressed and is capable of doing their job properly I don’t see why management types should interfere at all.
I would also hope that blokes would be warned, as mentioned in the post, not to smell like they bathed in lynx before smothering their hair in some brylcreme. (I often think some guys start wearing a certain deodorant and “styling” their hair in secondary school and never change their routine.)
Apparently this was circulated to people attending a lunchtime seminar on dressing for success and not just sent out to all female staff. And based on that, I am more amazed by the fact that people still need to be advised to avoid wearing white heels and ankle chains at all, never mind just for working in a bank. The material for that seminar must have been written in 1986 and obviously hasn’t been updated since
There are a lot of sexist issues with this, but there are also a few absurdities! Like a max 2 inch heel length?! I’m wearing 3 1/2 inch heels right now!! And matching the colour of shoes to the skirt?? Surely a woman didn’t prepare this?
This is freakish. Though the worst bit has to be the lame-ass attempt at humour: “professional, but not the one you want to be associated with”.
Oh hee-hee haa-haa. Where on earth does the shoe/shirt matching rule come from? I’ve never heard that before. Oh, also, good luck finding nice shoes that have a heel but yet is max 2 inches high!!
Now (don’t shoot me) and I can only speak of my own experience here but in my time, I’ve worked with women who had no idea (or put little or no thought into it) how to dress for a professional environment where they would’ve met with clients on an almost daily basis.
Whether we like it or not, visual impressions can and do count.
Now, I’m all for expressing your individuality amoung the suits but there are times when it has to be combined with a more polished, pulled together look.
xgirl - I think the material for the seminar must have been written in 1956
There must have been one for the men too!
I hope that they will make some group photo of the female staff after implementing these rules, I would love to see that. Black and white would be probably more appropriate for this kind of rules but I would love to see all the matching skirts and shoes in color.
I remember when I used to work for international recruiting company we used to have seminars about how is advisable to shower every day and wear deodorant, we alway had a good crack out of that.
this is going totally overboard … however i work in an office where allot of women are totally inappropriately dressed … i am talking almost-tracksuit bottoms type trews and fleecey tops .. and no grooming of any kind. whereas the men wear suits. its all women of a certain age and i understand that busy women with children etc don’t have the time but i do think there should be a certain standard ..
however demanding the wearing of make up is too far .. lots of women don’t need makeup .. i would personally think that being dressed appropriately is far more important.
My work is the complete opposite. I work in a lab and if I wear anything fancier than a pair of jeans to work it gets commented on. As in: “oh do you have plans this evening?” God forbid you would wear a skirt to work! While it would nice to be wearing more professional clothes, I wear a lab coat for a lot of the day and am always at risk of dropping some nasty chemical on the rest of my clothes- meaning I don’t really want to wear anything nice.
This shit makes me feel sick. It’s nothing but lazy, outdated HR management by somebody who has no idea what they’re doing. Professional people-managers know that, if someone is coming to work in a bank wearing and ankle bracelet (in fairness) a brief, private email is all that’s necessary to nip the problem in the bud - unless you’re a 59-year-old coward with no idea how to handle a small problem without offending your entire female staff, in which case a copy and paste of a memo from the 50s will suffice, if you don’t mind humiliating yourself and your entire company. Nice going.
I worked at the Fortis bank years ago and most people wear casual clothes like jeans. Most of the staff is sitting behind their computer doing data-entry work all day and you don’t need to dress up fancy for that. I don’t even own sqirts and heels
I have to say I think this might be taken a little bit out of context…according to xgirl it was taken from a lunchtime seminar on dressing for success…so what else could they tell you? I think the suggestions to wear a bit of make-up and some heals is more to do with boosting your confidence - certainly works for me - than trying to roll out some 1950s edict about may have been some advice for men as well. I’ve seen girls in the office dressed like they are on a night out and its probably more obvious in the summer.
I Don’t work in a bank and it’s “Business casual” environment but you do see some wholly inapproproate work outfits from time to time. Exception rather than the rule tho…see I really take exception to the really tight trouser look in work. Seem to remember a rather horrific skin tight white trouser and obvious g string look in summer. Now that to me is too much..not in work lady! (not anywhere for that matter)
In the context of an optional lunchtime seminar, I don’t find this offensive at all. After all, if someone is charged with talking for 40 mins about how to dress for success then yes, grooming is essential, especially in the corporate environment of a bank and so should form an unremarkable part of the lecture.
This excerpt seems to represent the view of the (admittedly outdated) speaker, and not a dictat of the bank to its female employees.
It’d be far more disturbing to be counselled to shorten your hemline and conveniently “drop your files” in front of any passing male colleagues.
If I got an unsolicited memo informing me of this information when I had never expressed an interest in learning how to “dress for success” however it’d be a different story…
here’s an article from the UK Independent on it:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/bank-tells-staff-dont-forget-the-lipstick-girls-1522530.html
well that was def written by a man anyway ’some kind of makeup’ … what the hell does that mean?
i can see where the article is goin, ive smelled some strong horrific perfume in my time in the office and seen some inappropriate clothing alright, but i think it should just say look neat and tidy and respectful to others. i dont see any harm in higher heels or overstuffed bags or looking fashionable yet classy…so many nice colourful office clothes out at the minute why would you want to wear all one tone clothes…once your skirt is not too short or the twins are not about to fall out its all good
“Leading equal opportunities solicitors said last night that female employees would have a potential case for legal action against the Bank of England for sexual discrimination. “It is indicative of an institutionally sexist environment. If women are being judged by what they wear, then it suggests that they are being treated differently to male employees,”
Thanks Admin - just read the article. I think this is political correctness gone mad and a lot to do with the way it has been reported. It wasn’t the Bank ordering female staff to dress in a certain way but rather professional image consultants hired to give a seminar offering their specialist advice. Its very easy for men - shirt, tie and trousers all day everyday - but for some women its a lot harder to know what is appropriate and whats not.
Hannah - but regardless of whether it came from a man in the bank or a company they hired, the bank clearly felt it was ok to send out this sort of message to their female staff. In 2009. I would pitch a fit if I was working somewhere and the female staff were given such inane advice. Everyone knows about dress codes, of course they do, but this is a step too far.
Hannah - To be fair, a bit of common sense goes a long way when figuring out what to wear with regards to the environment you work in.
Admin - This is very badly handled by them. If they have an issue with the way certain people within the organisation dress (which they must do to warrent these guidelines), then they should’ve dealt with it far more discreetly than this.
Or indeed they could treat their female workers like grownups, and not bold children.
Have to agree - we’ve had communications in work before regarding dress code and they have always been generalised and directed at all staff. And if I’d signed up for this hoping to learn something, it would have been a huge waste of my lunchtime.
Admin - I can see your point but I read it differently…to me a seminar on how to dress for success is a bit different to a memo or circular sent to female employees about dress code. And I think a lot depends on whether this was just one of various seminars that the bank offers its employees to attend voluntarily or whether it was a compulsory seminar.
MontyC - I agree that it is common sense but like you said earlier some have no idea.
Just my take on it!
Hahaa, that’s hilarious! Can’t believe they’d get away with something like that, duh!
I think it’s fair enough to tell people to go easy on perfumes because it’s awful when someone wears too much perfume and cheap perfumes give me a headache, some people are even allergic to perfumes, so that’s fair enough.
Some sort of a dresscode is ok, I’ve worked in an office with no dress code before and the things people wore… omg. Though the biggest offenders were men, I have to say!
But you really can’t tell people to wear heels if they don’t want to. I wear heels but some women don’t/can’t. Same with make up, that’s just ridiculous.
I think, though, most women these days are confident enough so they probably wouldn’t take that too seriously and would continue to wear flat shoes (or stuff their bags too full, hah!) if they want to.
Mind you, this reminds me of an office I worked in about a year ago. They didn’t really have a dress code but I still dressed smartly enough and so did most people. They then suggested that blue denim should be banned, which made me so angry because a) you can look smart in jeans/denim skirt (as often proven by me, hahaa) b) few people (women!) dressed really scruffy, horrible old jumpers and scruffy old black trousers or suits, but they weren’t wearing denim, so that would be ok?? Isn’t that ridiculous? yet quite common, isn’t it?
Tina - we had a guy in one office I worked in that had a really, really bad BO problem and he cycled to work - making it even worse. He used to come in and change out of the shirt he cycled in, into one that was crumpled under his desk. At lunchtime he would come back to the office and change back into the shirt he cycled in, and put the other one back in a heap under the desk. He did every day for well over a year - wearing the same shirts but just alternating them to let the sweat patches dry out. It was really bad and no one wanted to deal with it. On casual days he wore manky stained tracksuits. You could smell him from the front door of the office building and it was so embarassing when clients came in. Eventually the bosses talked to him but it really didn’t do any good.
Just focusing on the makeup part here: clearly it’s ingrained in our minds nowadays that women should wear makeup to look presentable. but since when did makeup become compulsory?? why can men waltz around with bad skin and eye bags and not be criticized while their female counterparts are expected to be permanently glowing and flawless??
don’t get me wrong, i’m not against the idea of spending time making yourself look pretty and polished (i have my red lipstick days and they’re fun!!). but i often go out with a naked face i would hate to be obliged to wear makeup every single day and feel insecure if i don’t.
Sarah-Anne - that was exactly my point of focus too. I adore makeup, but very often wear absolutely none. And I won’t be made to feel bad about that!
I worked in a bank for quite some time, and there ARE some women who have no idea what professional attire is. I’m all for being comfortable while working your 8 hours, but I found ways to do it so that I still looked presentable to a customer and/or higher up bank people. But telling women they HAVE to wear lipstick, and that double pierced ears, or ankle bracelets are hooker fare is just OFFENSIVE. Who probably helped him get dressed this morning…uh a WOMAN!!
But the Bank wasn’t telling anyone they had to wear lipstick etc…the image consultancy people were presenting their recommendations for professional dress - which might be questionable but it is only a consulting company’s advice. I think the Banks biggest crime here is not considering how the advise of a consultancy firm engaged by them might be misinterpreted.
WTF? This is a joke right? Right?
Hannah, I’m with you all the way on this.
What were they thinking given the state of banking in general at the moment forking out god knows how much to an obviously clueless consultancy company?
As if the Banks haven’t squandered enough money already - hiring image consultants to give out-dated advice on how to present yourself?!
If it was truly a seminar for the staff in the bank - where is the ‘advice’ for the male bank staff? I take it they’re supposed to wear 2inch heels and a bit of makeup too? I know you will get some people who need to be reminded of the standards of dress for work but who decides that it looks ‘professional’ for women to wear heels and makeup to be professional?
funny, i also had 2 immediate thoughts.
1st thought: is this what my hard earned savings money’s going towards? i’d much rather earn more interest and be served by a non-lipstick-wearing bank clerk than have BofE spend money on the most ridiculous ever “dress to impress” courses!
2nd thought: if you start giving grooming guidelines, where do you stop? Is “dress clothes with sober colours” so much more acceptable than “always wear some sort of makeup”? i’m not so sure.
i’m not so sure i think it’s a big deal either. After all, they’re “advice”, recommendations, not rules, regulations or protocol - however absurd, tacky (or badly written) they are.
Take it or leave it, laugh and shrug your shoulders if you are so inclined, in other words.
That’s the big difference with 1956.
All professions where an employee deals with customers have guidelines and-or uniforms.
Apart from teachers - and let’s face it, growing up i often thought they should have.
I agree with you Maria. But I’d also have major issues with the suggestion that make-up and heels would be needed for optimal presentation. I’m back in college and see so many girls who rely way to heavily on make-up rather than using it as an added extra. I think for more mature (in attitude or years) ladies who are comfortable in their skin can laugh off these kinds of ’suggestions’. but I’m imagining any one of those masked girls hearing this and feeling that it’s further proof that they can’t be attractive without some sort of face adornment.
[...] in Uncategorized by louche on February 3rd, 2009 The ladies at Beaut.ie have got hold of an outrageous internal memo from the Bank of England advising female employees on appropriate office attire - tidbits include [...]
I’ve just read the linked article, and the bit that I don’t understand is the image consultant saying women struggle with what to wear for business and formal wear??? I would have thought that no other dress code is as easy as that, you know the look exactly that you’re going for. It’s not rocket science, especially not in banks: suit and shirt/top. I worked in banks, still do in fact and I think it’s pretty much self-regulating. You see what other people are wearing and just copy it, because most people would dress professionally. And that includes grooming as well. For example, you know that you don’t leave your shoes muddy from the morning commute, because noone else does and it doesn’t fit into the picture of a ‘professional in suit’.
I think semi-formal is a lot more confusing as it can be so broad. Most companies would have a general dress code in the employee handbook anyway that you get as part of your induction as well.
So I agree with the general opinion, they should have thought twice before going ahead with a seminar like this in these times, and that women shouldn’t be prescribed to wear make-up just to look well-groomed. I think that was the point of the ‘advice’ on make-up, just to look groomed and boost your confidence. But if someone feels ok without make-up, than they shouldn’t be told to wear it. Clearly the image consultants should have gone to a ‘how to make your point’ consultant.
Some of these rules make sense, but some are just plain wrong. Statistics show that taller women get paid more on average and that wearing high heels can also increase your chances of making more money.
Ugh. It’s like being vaulted into a timecapsule to the 50’s. Somebody pass me a martini.
Had to laugh at the comments suggesting this sounds like something from the 50s - something like this wouldn’t have been required in the 50s. Women back then knew how to dress in a smart, professional and appropriate manner (as did the guys) and didn’t set out for a working day dressed like they were headed for the nearest dance floor.