Every day is Friday in NY

By SELWYN PARKER

Corporate fashion in New Zealand is much more formal than in the United States, where casual wear is replacing suits even in the pin-striped citadels of New York law and brokerage firms.

"We cannot attract the best minds with a formal dress code," Philip J. Purcell, chairman of brokers Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, told shareholders last month.

Mr Purcell's comment may mark the death knell of the Wall Street look.

Already, a 280-year-old New York law firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, allows employees to dress down 365 days a year.

"This is a reflection of the new way in which business is done," Cadwalader partner Mitchell Sonkin said. "People are no longer impressed by how you dress. [Casual clothes] break down barriers and make for happier and more productive people in the workplace."

The percentage of American employers who allow casual dress every day, not just "casual" Friday, is up to 42 per cent. In practical terms, casual dress means slacks, open-necked sports shirts and sweaters.

However, the bifLos Angeles Times, says "many employers still prohibit jeans, halter tops, leggings, sneakers and sandals."

Of course, there is a dress guru, Sherry Maysonave, author of bifCasual Power: How to Power Up Your Non-verbal Communication and Dress for Success. The explosion of casual dress, reports Ms Maysonave, is part of the "casualisation of America."

Ms Maysonave, thinks it's all about shorter time frames in the internet era. "This casualisation is more efficient," she says.

"Information needs to be passed on more quickly, so the formalities fall by the wayside."

Perhaps, but it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Hundreds of suits, white shirts, drab ties and leather shoes have gone to the disabled, former prisoners, and welfare recipients.

* Selwyn Parker is available at wordz@xtra.co.nz Regrettably, he cannot answer personal correspondence.