Let's Get Critical, Critical
Dress v. Success
I hate dress codes. It’s a pathetic beef, but they just feel like such an archaic corporate-control mindfuck, as if college graduates couldn’t themselves determine what constitutes “appropriate” in a given professional context. Spending so much time weighing the relative nonsense of such things, I’m hoping this post will jump-start a semi-semi-regular analysis of dress codes in various NYC museum-like institutions vs. the amount of clout they actually seem to have over our “collective” culture at large. (Hypothesis: more conservative = more lame.) I should say that I think what the people who work with the actual public (ticket takers, shop workers, and the like) are required to wear is the most interesting, since museum behind-the-scenesters are generally sitting in ivory office towers or relegated to the basement and therefore wearing winter coats in July.
All that said: Examine, please, Exhibit A. This particular museum-like institution lives in midtown, and shall remain anonymous because, well, I work there. Bonus points if you can guess where it is, even more if you’ve actually been inside.
In said institution:
Men are required to wear full suits at all times. Dark/khaki pants or NEATLY pressed chinos. Dark socks, dark shoes. No boots.
Women are required to wear tailored skirts or dresses that may NOT be 3†or less above the knee, or dress slacks. No boots, no open-toed shoes. Pantyhose or tights at ALL times. Jackets required at all times.
Basically, the Key Words here are “Conservative Work Environment†and “Third Piece.†While this is a welcome platform for me to bitch about outmoded dress requirements, I think it might also be instructive in terms of determining higher-up attitudes toward the cultural landscape in which they hope, at least in theory, to play a part. Is the sight of my unpolished toe really going to offend a patron? Why would I wear pantyhose in July when no one else has worn them since 1989? I mean, even the President’s not wearing a jacket to work anymore.
In the coming weeks expect covert inquiries with other Visitor Services staff around the 5 boroughs combined with personal opinion on particular museum-spaces. Comments? Tips? Snarky opines on this lame idea? Hit me.
Image: Corporate Adam & Eve, Adelle Lutz.
[...] I wear jeans to work most days, but apparently not at this museum. [...]
Oh jeez. This hits a cord with me, especially in workplaces where I was an exhibit designer/builder. I suspect that the fact that I was often covered with paint and wielding a hammerdrill made more of an impression on visitors than tattoos and no makeup. And it was mostly a positive, interested impression. Thankfully I never worked in marketing, where I have heard tell of rules involving nail polish.
This is a more serious problem when you talk about wanting visitor services folks to make visitors feel comfortable by looking approachable and “like them.” If we look like 1950s Stepfords, what does that say to the urban young whippersnappers we are supposedly trying to attract?