Avoid the Workplace Monkey Suit

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I envy the ladies. I really do.

Although much has been said about the pay inequality, the sweeter gender has the one-up over the fellows in an oft-overlooked area: workplace attire. I’m not even going to pretend that I’m some high-profile fashionista–I’m not. You’d only have to gander at my worn out (yet infinitely comfortable) pair of Old Navy jeans that I don far more often than I should to understand the basicness of my attire. Granted, I’m no bum, but I’m no Thomas Crown, either.

Still, the small fashion rebel that dwells within likes to make its presence known, which can prove troublesome in certain office environments. I’ve been employed at a variety of companies (with a wide variety of dress codes), and I’ve been sly enough to circumvent the mandatory requirements and integrate enough of my personality into the mix. I’ll admit that these steps won’t work for everyone–if you’re a Wall St. type, you’re pretty much stuck in a suit and tie–but if you have a less rigid work environment that has business casual rules, you can usually move beyond the confining nature of the monkey suit.

What is a monkey suit? It can be any form of business-casual attire imposed on you by Da Man that you loathe wearing. Your employer has established this rule to maintain a professional identity; unfortunately professionalism and clothing rarely coincide, as anyone who’s spent more than one week in the workforce can attest. Typically business casual for a man consists of a polo shirt, slacks/khakis/and some form of non-sneaker foot wear. These items frequently stay within the white/black/beige/navy blue/grey color schemes ( unlike the ladies, rocking a lavender shirt may raise questions beyond your choice of style, sadly). Fortunately, you don’t have to be bound to what society dictates is correct.

INTRODUCE YOUR PERSONAL STYLE SLOWLY
I find that usurping the rules needs to happen incremental, not all at once. Toss on a sports jacket–I have a rather pimpin $20 pinstripe jammie from Old Navy that I picked up two years ago that fit the bill nicely. I replace the polo and button down with it and a stylish T-shirt. You boss isn’t going to ask you to remove the jacket, and if your tee isn’t too gaudy, you should be able to get away with fashion murder.

NO SNEAKERS ALLOWED? NO PROBLEM
The problem with sneaker is that the boss doesn’t want to see you wearing a hyper-designed athletic shoe that Shaq or Kobe would don before walking onto the hardwood. Take a trip to your local Payless or Sketchers store and check out some of their mid-price offerings. They typically have a dash of flair without being over-the-top, and blend well with khakis, or the holy grail of casual workplace attire, jeans.

MAKE ‘EM BELIEVE IN DENIM
Despite what your boss thinks, denim is not a bastard material; thanks to a fashion revolution a few years ago, its now acceptable to wear jeans with all manner of clothing (and you don’t have to wait until Fridays to do so). Slipping your favorite pair of jeans into your office wardrobe should only be done after establishing the tee-shirt/jacket combo. I would advise, however, to wear jeans with a pair of shoes instead of the aforementioned sneaks, as the triple combo of tee, denim and casual footwear may reveal your ruse before you can establish your subtle new look.

ADD THE PERSONAL TOUCH

Even if you decide to play it by the book and wear the sanctioned attire, adding a pin, necklace, or a chain wallet is enough to make you stand out from the rest of the by-the-book monkey suits. Or you can bring all of these above together into a clusterfreak of awesomeness. Push the limits. Test the waters. Let us know how your wardrobe change goes.

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