IMAGE AND DRESS CODES

Patricia Layzell Ward, Convenor, Library Link

Two seemingly unrelated news items prompted the thoughts that follow.

The UK media has taken up the theme of dress codes following an announcement by Arthur Andersen, international accountants, that the company would be relaxing their dress code and would no longer expect staff to wear formal suits in the office. This was an extension of the US practice that had travelled across the Atlantic to the UK of Friday being the day for casual wear in the office.

The second item was a powerful image that appears on the cover of the Library Association Record for February 2000. The Library Association has run a very successful campaign for workplace libraries, i.e. what many call �special libraries�, and the issue carries a report of the campaign. The cover shows Liz Blankson-Hemans who is Library Manager of a large commercial law firm. It carries several messages. One is that library managers may be women, black, and project a powerful image. She is a model for office dressing - using model in two senses of the word. The photograph could feature in any glossy fashion journal. So much for the professional stereotype of the past - Liz sets high standards for today.

Dress codes have changed over the decades. In the fifties the dress was formal, and as a very junior assistant I can remember the importance of dress length. In the sixties greater freedom resulted in �doing your own thing�. Women could even wear long skirts and choose clothes that reflected their personality - even if older male lending librarians did not always approve! Then trouser suits entered the fashion scene which became acceptable, and were very practical for women to wear in the library. Around the 80�s the dress code became very formal and both men and women acquired the dark formal clothes expected in the work environment if one was to become successful and upwardly mobile. Perhaps it was particularly noticeable in the UK in the later 1990�s as teachers in state primary and secondary schools dressed more formally as schools became subject to inspection by the government. Successful schools seemed to have male teachers who followed the latest fashions in ties. It had an advantage, as it became a uniform. But now perhaps we are beginning to move full circle - choice may creep in again prompted by the action taken by Arthur Andersen. But the image Liz presents is powerful.

Patricia Layzell Ward
Convenor, Library Link

Back to Career Viewpoints