Whose dress code is it anyway?

Clothes do oft proclaim the man ....quot; All you English Literature students should at once snap your fingers and exclaim quot;Hamlet!qu...

Clothes do oft proclaim the man 8230;.quot; All you English Literature students should at once snap your fingers and exclaim quot;Hamlet!quot; Of course, in Henry V, Shakespeare takes another view of get-up. Prince Hal jeers at a prissy aristocrat on the battlefield quot;armoured like Mars to skulk behind the baggage trainquot;. The two quotations point to the perennial paradox in one sense, appearance says a lot about us and in another sense, it says nothing at all.

The question of what clothes mean or don8217;t mean is at the heart of a question that pops up from time to time whenever some organisation decides to insist on a dress code. The usual justification for it is quot;discipline and decorumquot;. That is, when a certain standard is applied to people8217;s dress, their behaviour also conforms to that standard. But is that assumption warranted? Who hasn8217;t seen incorrigible rogues in three-piece suits and men of principle who wore nothing but khadi?

Leave aside clubs, should work places impose a dress code? It sounds formal, but let8217;s see what comes out of a casual discussion 8230; you know 8212; a Buzz. Colonel A.P.S. Bindra could be right in saying that it gives a sense of belonging to the organisation. quot;It is not that just our heart should feel for the organisation. I think what we feel is what we perceive through our senses. As we are catering to the people, they should realise that they are being provided quality and service care. The idea is formalising life to lead to quality.quot;

Times Bank assistant vice-president Nina Singh agrees quot;especially when you are directly dealing with peoplequot;. She goes on to say: quot;Personally I would like one day in the week when we can dress up our way but that8217;s not what the depositors want. Earlier, we used to have informal wear on Saturday, but the response we got from our customers forced us to retain the dress code throughout the week.quot;Nina points out that the depositors are quot;sensitivequot; and appreciate a neat, businesslike appearance. quot;Moreover, they can see by our dress who is an employee. That guides them when they want to ask someone for help. The other thing is that it maintains a sense of discipline among the employees.quot;

Usha is a Max Page operator and she loves her uniform 8212; a smart blue sari. quot;It looks good and it reflects our commitment to quality 8212; which is what our clients are looking for.quot;

quot;It8217;s a reflection of servility,quot; scoffs Oriental Bank of Commerce senior executive Bharat Hiteshi. quot;By all means, dress appropriately, decently, modestly, but according to your own choice. Having one8217;s dress dictated by a boss smacks of colonial rule, it8217;s pathetic. I see nothing wrong with a man attending office in a clean, ironed kurta-pyjama. It is truly an Indian dress.quot;

Ah, but then one man8217;s quot;decentquot; is another man8217;s quot;outrageousquot;. In the early years of this century down in Kerala respectable Nair matrons did not wear blouses and were scandalised by the suggestion that they adopt such a garment.

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Around the same time, no Punjabi woman ever went out unless she was bundled up in a chaddar. quot;Acceptable dressquot; is very much a socially determined concept. Latika, a teacher remembers the quot;discomfortquot; of wearing a sari 8212; the dress dictated by the then principal of her school. quot;It was so difficult to manage. A dress code should only be to ensure that people do not turn up in soiled or crumpled clothes or something really stupid.quot;