Dressing to kill doesn't work

Skimpy tops and sexy stockings are more suitable for the bedroom than the boardroom, says Jackie O'Fee. Photo / Babiche Martens

Skimpy tops and sexy stockings are more suitable for the bedroom than the boardroom, says a top image consultant.

Jackie O'Fee said women workers dressing inappropriately was a big problem - with serious implications for employers.

"If your team are all out there looking overtly sexy, it sends the wrong message," said O'Fee.

"We draw conclusions based on what we see - that's the way humans work. You want to make sure people are drawing the right conclusions about you."

O'Fee's company Signature Style visits businesses to talk to staff or individual employees.

Many employers hire her because they don't know how to broach the issue.

"They're concerned that there will be personal grievances laid against them. Because it's such a personal thing, it's a hard conversation to have. It's like telling someone they're smelly."

While O'Fee also works with men, she said women were often harder to deal with because their image was more important to them.

"We get confused with the whole fashion element. We don't have model bodies but you see all these images of these gorgeous little things and they look amazing.

"We like to believe that we look like that and we lose that sense of perspective because we're really wanting to be fashionable."

US psychologist Peter Glick has researched the way women dress for work and found the more senior their role, the more harshly they were judged.

His study found a woman in a high-status job would be seen as more threatening and untrustworthy and less competent or intelligent if she dressed in a way that was deemed too sexy.

Christine Rankin's employment dispute with Work and Income proved it wasn't just women in lower-level jobs whose clothing attracted attention.

During her bid to be reinstated as Winz chief executive, former top civil servant Mark Prebble told a 2001 Employment Court hearing that, on their first meeting, every time Rankin moved he saw "an embarrassingly large amount of breast exposed".

Eight years on, Rankin declined to comment but O'Fee said short skirts, exposed midriffs and cleavage were still the main problems.

O'Fee recently had to tell one senior executive she was "too sexy".

"She was wearing fishnet stockings and a pencil skirt and I told her she needed to button her shirt up at least two buttons. It's just not appropriate - you're not at work to find a mate, you're at work to do work."

Auckland University employment law specialist Associate Professor Bill Hodge said employers were within their rights to tell employees how to dress - within reason.

Concerns about inappropriate dress came up occasionally but were usually among a raft of concerns.

Modest best

One of O'Fee's clients came to her after a new employee took a business contact out for lunch.

"He rang them back after lunch and said: 'She was lovely, but next time she comes to see me can you ask her to wear something more modest. I felt like I spent all lunch trying to avoid looking at her very ample bosom.'

"That's why they contacted me. They said, 'We can't have these girls thinking it's fashion'."

"I spoke to a group of real estate agents and one was wearing a top that showed her midriff. She was really slim, but that's so not appropriate in the workplace."

O'Fee said receptionists should bend over and check in a mirror. Their low-cut top may look fine to them, but if they're sitting down visitors to the office will be greeted by their cleavage.

Views from the street

Rohit Kumar, 32, customer service, North Shore

"From my perspective, it would be great for us [if women dressed in revealing clothes at work] but I don't know how good it would be for business. It would create a whole world of gossip."

Rohit Sharma, 22, customer service, CBD

"It's a very fine line but as long as it's decent, I think it's okay."

Linda Lee, 26, risk analyst, CBD

"You should wear what you're comfortable in but it depends on your role. If a woman in a senior role always dressed in sexy clothes it would be in her favour. I'd think she was brave."

Juliet Jaques, 65, insurance manager, North Shore

"It's about attitude. If someone is busy trying to attract male attention, they're not doing their job."