I do not get excited about Casual Friday, although many of my colleagues think it is a great ‘perk’ that they can wear jeans once a week. My lack of enthusiasm is due to several factors.
Some of my co-workers take the ‘casual Friday’ concept to the extreme; wearing ripped t-shirts, run-down beach flip flops, and/or the retro ultra-short shorts of the 1970s (yes, I AM talking about grown men.) It is distracting (and NOT in a good way) to be in a meeting on a serious topic while sitting next to a guy in a pair of shorts that would make John MacEnroe blush.
I struggle more with the ‘what to wear’ blues on Casual Friday than on any other day of the week. I have accumulated a reasonable amount of work clothes over the years; my wardrobe is perfectly presentable, professional-ish, and comfortable. Despite a complete lack of any real fashion sense, I have slowly gained an understanding of what colors and styles work reasonably well for me; at least to the point that I am no longer tempted to wear pleats under any circumstances. Although admittedly, there are days when I am simply pleased if my socks match.
My final reason for disliking Casual Friday is that I haven’t had a really well-fitting pair of jeans since about 1990. Unlike most women, I do not think the fault is my own. I am a perfectly normal and healthy shape, despite the fact that you won’t find my shape in any fashion or clothes catalogs.
It is both shameful and appalling that clothes catalogs and advertisments always display their clothes on very thin young ladies. Do they not realize that the vast majority of their consumers DO NOT LOOK LIKE THAT! Of course, this is both a symptom and a cause of our thin-obsessed, fat-shaming culture that perpetuates the myth that to be beautiful one must be ultra-thin (and preferably young and blond). This brain-washing has been dismayingly successful, to the degree that most women think its their fault that they don’t resemble the clothes models; whereas I maintain the models should resemble the actual women they are selling to.
I WANT to see how something looks on someone my shape; versus having to squint my eyes at the picture of a coveted sweater on an emaciated 6’0 waif and try to envision how it might possibly look on me. But even more than that I want girls and women to feel GOOD about the shape they are in, and not continually aspire to be something that is both unattainable and downright unhealthy.
With apologies to John MacEnroe, I also want to ban short-shorts at work.
Postscript: two days after posting this my employer is ‘rewarding’ the entire staff with THREE casual days this week. Good grief.