It goes without saying that some companies have "looser" dress code restrictions than others. One more relaxed example is Google, whose official dress code policy is "you must wear clothes.” (Sorry, office nudists!) Other businesses are a little more restrictive… and we’ve rounded up some of the more interesting dress code policies around the world, courtesy of our undercover agents in the fashion police. If, during your manager’s daily mini skirt measuring regime, you’ve ever felt a little inhibited by your company’s dress code rules, you may want to reconsider and count yourself lucky.
Hospital workers’ shoelaces must match
Hospital staff in London were recently presented with an 18-page dress code manual, which instructs them on the finer points of appropriate hospital wear. Some of the proposed rules are that their shoes should have "low noise" heels, they must wear socks and their shoelaces should match. Workers are allowed to dye their hair, but only if it’s of a naturally occurring color. We wonder if they’ll be hair color spot checks, with managers holding up tiny swatches of 100% naturally occurring hair against workers’ locks.
Lawyer could be held in contempt for wearing the wrong kind of necktie
A Milwaukee prosecutor was recently told by a county circuit court judge that wearing an ascot tie to court “borders on contemptuous”. Warren Zier was told he was only allowed to wear a bowtie or a necktie as stipulated by the bar association dress code. The ascot tie – a traditional, loose fitting scarf tied around one’s neck - has been around since the mid 19th century, and is favored by such celebrities as Michael Corleone, Al Pacino's character in the Godfather and Fred Jones of Scooby Doo. Maybe the judge just needs to call an old-time British fashion consultant to the witness stand... or scarf down a few scooby snacks.
Librarians told only to wear clothing of specific colors
Staff of a county library system in Sevierville, Tennessee were told that they may only wear clothing in approved colors – black, grey, white, cream and purple. Good idea… having color coordinated librarians should be a big improvement to most library goers’ experience… though having an unofficially official librarian uniform may lead to a militaristic “shhhhing” regime.
School suspends male students because of their long hair
The public high school in Kerens, Texas, a rural town of 1700 people known as the "Birthplace of Big Tex", suspended 4 teens for having hair that extended beyond the back of their shirt collars. Apparently the school also prohibits mismatched socks, sleeveless shirts, “unnatural” hair colors and “disruptive “ hairstyles. Sounds like the drama club won’t be performing the musical “Hair” anytime soon… “I'm just a hairy guy…. give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair!”
Kuwait makes it illegal to “imitate the appearance of the opposite sex”
A recent Kuwaiti government campaign that, according to one official, is meant to “combat the growing phenomenon of gays and transsexuals” has now made it illegal to dress in anything that isn’t normally worn by your biological gender. This makes living and dressing not only more difficult for transgendered people, but actually criminal. Human Rights Watch reports that 14 people have been imprisoned under this law since it was approved in December 2007. Not to skirt a serious issue, but besides making daily fashion and life in general pretty darn boring there’s no word how this has affected Kuwaiti kilt sales.
Chechen women forced to wear headscarves
If you’re of the female persuasion and happen to live in war torn Chechnya, you’d better be wearing a headscarf if you want to enter any government building. Signs at many government buildings in Grozny, the capital, read “Women without headgear not allowed in the building”. If you ignore the warnings and try to go inside with nothing covering your head but your hair, you’ll be turned away by the hair police aka security guards. It’s part of a larger campaign by president Ramzan Kadyrov to promote “morality and the revival of national traditions”. Who knows, perhaps Chechnya will be able to export some of their forced fashion, and a headscarf revival could appear en masse on the heads of catwalk models and fashionistas everywhere.
Packers fans allowed to don sports gear at the office
Sometimes sports fever can relax workplace fashion hard liners… in the Green Bay Packers’ playoff run a number of stuffy businesses in Wisconsin are allowing workers to dress in green Packers wear at work. Maybe in the spirit of good sportsmanship they’d also allow fans of other sports to sport their own gear? We’ll get our cheese-rolling championship t-shirts and official elephant polo ballcaps ready.
