Clothing Transparency

“Transparency” is a key corporate buzz word.  Executives and human resources professionals are major advocates of transparency–with shareholders, customers, vendors, employees, the public, whoever’s out there.  Like most corporatespeak, it’s a term that has become meaningless except as a smoke screen.  But what about clothing transparency?

In her most recent style column in the Wall Street Journal,  Christina Binkley writes about exactly that.  She does so by calling attention to the demise of the woman’s slip.  I must confess that a wave of nostalgia engulfed me as I read her declaration that the “slip–once an all-purpose weapon against visible panty lines and sheer, clingy dresses–has lost its usefulness.”  It brought to mind a frequent question asked by my mother when I was a kid:  “Is my slip showing?”  Ms. Binkley’s thoughtfully crafted expose of sorts forced me to realize that I hadn’t heard that question in years.

Everyone’s wearing less, more transparent clothing to work.  Men don’t wear coats and ties, and depending on how far their employers’ dress codes let them go, will show up at the office wearing a net or mesh shirt.  But it’s always women whose workplace attire draws the most attention:  camisoles under sheer silk blouses, leggings under see-through skirts, layered, feather-thin T-shirts, again depending on an employer’s appetite for transparency.  Ms. Binkley quotes two opinions that may explain why the slip has become an antique ladies’ garment:  (1) It went the way of virginity.  (2) It blocks the view of women walking around in “diaphanous dresses with only a thong underneath.”

So, how much more transparent will our workplaces become?  Whether art imitates life or it’s the other way around, an increasing number of TV shows portray working women with more transparent clothing, particularly in the most unlikely of workplaces:  police stations and other law enforcement offices.  Maybe it’s my imagination, but I’m pretty sure that “female detectives” and “policewomen” are revealing more then ever while they work on Close to Home, The Closer, Cold Case, Criminal Minds, CSI (any version), Dexter, Flashpoint, In Plain Sight, Law & Order (any version), Monk, NCIS, Numb3rs, and Psych, not to mention Reno 911. 

These new female police-issue garments and The Man Gene ensure that a growing number of men will seek out law enforcement as a career.  They also ensure the continuance of sexual harassment claims, so employment lawyers should pay attention to clothing transparency.  If there’s ever a remake of Naked City, watch out.

If only the slip could make a comeback.  Then hose.  Then blouses and dresses that reach the neckline.  Then dress shirts.  Then coats.  Then ties. 

But it’s too late.  As someone in Ms. Binkley’s article laments, “Propriety is a word that just has no meaning today.”

1. 

   John Phillips says:

   July 31, 2008 at 6:21 am

   Thanks for the mention.

   Your posts about leadership are always thought-provoking.