I was asked yesterday if I worked for the Telegraph & Argus a local newspaper. I was wearing a business suit made in New York and a Christian Lacroix tie, I did look pretty smart in it. I was due to go for a meeting in Leeds, however the train had been cancelled so I apologised for my absence and decided to have a drink in a local pub. The person who asked me this question was wearing a checked short sleeve shirt. I have to admit he did look like the typical local journalist, So I replied "If I did I'd probably be wearing a checked shirt". It didn't go down very well as you can imagine, Ive never really looked for a job as a comedian. Although I think the others sat with him found it amusing.
Anyway, it got me onto thinking about the uniforms we wear. They've always been a fascination of mine, and I do find the whole idea of uniforms an interesting concept. I always had to wear a uniform for school and later always had to wear a suit when I started work at sixteen. Later as time passed by and I worked for various other firms I became more acutely aware of the way suits and ties were worn as an expression of cultural identity.
Consider UK political parties, labour is to red as conservatives are to blue. Margaret Thatcher was well known for her blue suits and so you will find these means of identity expressed with ties too. I did work for a company and the managing director must have had about fifty different ties, and wore a different one each day. I guess he must have worked for many organisations over the years. Uniforms are a means to express cultural identity, determine values, ideals and political allegiances.
Its also interesting to consider other means of identity, in fact wearing no uniform could be classed as a uniform. You will find many people in IT don't wear uniforms - I guess its a way of saying , I'm different and don't want to stick with the old school tie rules. Academics even have their own uniform. Loose trousers, a sports jacket with an open neck shirt seems to fit the bill.
I'm not sure where I fit into all this, I suppose we all wear different hats at different times and the same goes for the clothes we wear. You wouldn't wear at a funeral what you wore at a wedding would you? If you want to study what to wear for a particular occasion then take a leaf out of the royal familys' book and you wont go far wrong. So when you are getting dressed in the morning think about what it is that you are doing and wear the appropriate uniform, even if it is a t-shirt saying 'you would never guess I am a geek' .
You can judge a book by its cover.
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