When my friend Steve Cooper moved from the UK to Silicon Valley in 1999, he was delighted to leave all his suits and ties on the other side of the Atlantic. He dressed like a true Californian every day—wearing polo shirts, shorts, and sandals—without needing to change even for business meetings. He thought he could live that comfortably for the rest of his life, until one day he walked into a boardroom at a major venture capital firm and found the room full of people in suits and ties, including the two partners who were usually very casual. He was the only one wearing a polo shirt, khaki shorts, and sandals.
Many people have experienced similar awkward situations, and I have too. Regardless of the country, office attire is a headache for many. We all have countless opportunities to meet people for the first time, from job interviews to client visits, and the importance of a first impression goes without saying. Even in the office every day, personal appearance cannot be neglected. No matter how hard you work, if you dress sloppily every day, your boss may not be willing to take you to meet clients or promote you to management. My personal feeling is that most Chinese people would rather dress more casually than formally, because we value being low-key and prefer not to be labeled as someone who likes to show off. People working in foreign companies and securities firms in China may dress more formally due to company requirements, but most leaders and executives I have encountered in state-owned enterprises, private companies, and government agencies do not seem to like wearing suits and ties all the time. In some social settings, even when a formal dress code is specified, many people still show up dressed very casually.
A friend of mine attended an alumni association event for the China Europe International Business School in Beijing over two years ago. The invitation specified suits for men and evening gowns for women. She shivered in a formal gown in the middle of winter, only to find that most people had arrived in jeans and casual wear. Americans may appear casual on the surface, but the situation can sometimes become complicated. Colleagues who are usually very casual will suddenly dress extremely formally, leaving foreigners like Steve and me feeling out of place. How can one avoid awkward situations in the United States? I asked two office etiquette experts, Gretchen Neels and Ann Marie Sabath, what the biggest secret to professional attire is, and both gave the exact same answer: "Don't dress for the job you have; dress for the job you want." In other words, if you want to be promoted, look at how your boss and your boss's boss dress. These two experts believe that the confusion between work attire and casual wear in American companies is largely due to the "business casual" style that emerged from Silicon Valley in the 1970s and 1980s. Everyone should remember Bill Gates wearing the most common sweaters to launch Microsoft's latest software, and Jerry Yang of Yahoo wearing the most ordinary plaid shirts for presentations. Both of these men now wear suits (though they still rarely wear ties), but Steve Jobs of Apple continued to wear his signature black turtleneck and jeans for decades.
Over the past decade or so, this "business casual" trend has intensified. In many companies, khakis and jeans are no longer reserved for "Casual Fridays" and can be worn at any time. There are very few companies left that require all employees to wear suits every day; even law firms and some Wall Street firms allow employees to wear casual clothes when they are not in court or meeting clients. A friend who works at a major Wall Street investment bank said his company allows employees to wear jeans one day every two weeks. The problem is that many young Americans think casual means they can wear their college clothes to the office. My colleague, "Style" columnist Christina Binkley, wrote an article about how young associates at law firms now only wear suits when they are in court, and wear everything from yoga pants to UGG boots on regular days. This is something the older generation (who are also their bosses) who grew up wearing suits finds hard to accept. Some companies believe that such casual attire shows a lack of basic respect for the job and have begun to try to reverse this trend by specifically regulating what can and cannot be worn. Although I would never wear yoga pants to the office, I have always considered "business casual" to be the best invention after the flush toilet, so I have encountered a few awkward situations myself. I have only bought one suit in my life, which I bought for my interview at The Wall Street Journal. I wore the pants once or twice afterward, but I never touched the jacket again after I started working. From Monday to Thursday, especially when I have to meet interviewees, I am more careful and wear decent cardigans and skirts. But Friday is my day for jeans. One Friday, I was suddenly notified that Intel CEO Paul Otellini was coming to the newspaper office in the afternoon for an editorial meeting—the kind of Q&A session where everyone from the editor-in-chief to reporters and editors covering an industry sits in a square facing each other. That day, I was wearing a pair of cropped jeans that not only had pockets but also holes. Our newspaper's dress code generally leans toward "business casual," but because it is an economic media outlet, it is not excessively casual. I felt a bit sloppy that day and felt very unprofessional sitting there. In fact, even some old-school restaurants and clubs in New York do not accept my definition of "business casual"; some places require men to wear suit jackets and do not allow people wearing jeans and sneakers to enter.
One Friday last summer, a friend and I decided to head to the famous Campbell Apartment cocktail bar at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. At the door, I was blocked because I was wearing sneakers (it was raining that day). Later, I checked the bar's website, and it actually said, "We do not admit guests wearing baseball caps, T-shirts, or sneakers." A few weeks ago, I arranged to meet a friend at the Yale Club. The day before, she specifically emailed to remind me: "Don't wear jeans!" To make fewer mistakes in this regard, you have to rely on reminders from friends, or observe and ask proactively. The problem is that some people don't know what they are doing wrong, and others find it hard to say anything. Office etiquette experts Ms. Neels and Ms. Sabath are often hired by large companies to talk to foreign employees about how to better integrate into American corporate culture; in fact, they often act as third parties to say things that HR managers cannot. They often need to tell foreign employees about American hygiene habits: showering, shaving, and changing shirts every day. Never assume that everyone understands this. A Chinese friend who works at a financial information company in New Jersey told me that a new Chinese colleague joined the office last autumn. He was gentle and polite, but for three consecutive months, he wore the same brick-red sweater and brown corduroy pants every day. He didn't look sloppy, but it was definitely a far cry from the habit of changing clothes every day in American companies. A Chinese colleague finally couldn't help but tactfully remind him, and it worked immediately. He changed into a light-colored sweater and khaki pants the next day, but then he wore that outfit for another three months.