There was a day, in the distant past, when corporate testosterone around the globe lived by the rule of the uniform. It was a simple rule. The color of the suit and socks were to be dark blue or black. The tie must be muted and matched. The shoes had to be black or brown. And the very core of the uniform was the shirt. The crisp, clean, colorless shirt must be long sleeved and white. So important was this feature of the uniform that by the early twentieth century corporate testosterone came to be known by it … the white-collar worker. Once in uniform there was easy entry into the testosterone brigade and ready access to a privileged camaraderie. Those of us missing sufficient quantities of testosterone, but finally making it into the management ranks of corporate America, lacked such an ally. There was no such uniform for women and when we tried to imitate the look, we couldn’t pull if off. A woman dressed in a perfectly fitted, dark suit with a tailored white blouse still stood out … too many curves … not enough testosterone. And for that … thankfully … short period, when some women added the tie to complete the look, snickering could be heard from behind her back.
Somewhere, over three decades ago, testosterone began having tiny fashion fits. A short sleeved shirt would surface perhaps on a really hot day. A pale, blue shirt would emerge possibly because all the white shirts were in the wash. A suit jacket would be removed for long periods of time. A tie came loose and the top shirt button unbuttoned. More colors began to spring forth from the closets oppressed for far too long by white. And finally, the greatest fashion innovation to hit corporate America reared its ugly head … the dress down day. This was a sanctioned day when dark suits and white shirts across an entire company finally took a vacation day. Individual contributors and middle management were the first ranks to embrace this new phenomenon. But those laden with the T-stuff, most residing in the senior and executive levels, found it excruciating to step past the revolving doors in anything but a white shirt. Even the senior women were reluctant at best to explore what ‘dress down’ might mean for them. They were still struggling with a corporate uniform. Then someone, some brave senior testosterone soul, had a brilliant idea. He came into the office on that dress down day, attired as though he were off to play golf. The look took off like fire. Now it felt right and made sense. Golfing attire is testosterone’s second uniform … it’s casual uniform. As much and maybe even more business is transacted in golfing attire as is in formal business dress. It was now safe for all testosterone management ranks to fully embrace dress down day. The brigade was no longer at risk and the camaraderie still very much intact. Polo shirts and fresh, pressed slacks were victorious over the white shirts.
It would only be a short leap from there into the twenty-first century and what would come next ... stay tuned ...
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