Dress codes

What to wear ? What not to wear ? Tricky questions, aren’t they ? But why do we have to worry about clothing ?
In fact, when we dress, we follow a set of rules which makes us wear the right clothes at the right time.

But if you refuse to follow the rules, you will show your difference by wearing anti conformist attires, as we will see below.

To help you understand what we call casual and formal clothing look at the grid below. It tells you the differences between these two forms of dressing and also explains what to wear and when, if you do not want to step out of the line.

1. Casual clothing
    

   	Women	Men
   Casual (Comfortable clothing for parties with friends...)	A pair of jeans and a tee-shirt or a dress Sneakers or heels or boots	A pair of jeans with a tee-shirt or polo shirt Sneakers
   Business casual (Office work)	Nice trousers or a dressy pair of jeans or a skirt with a shirt or dressy top Blazer Heels	A pair of coloured trousers with a shirt or polo shirt Loafers
   Smart casual (Business dress code)	Dress pants or skirt with a top Jewelry, accessories Heels	Dressy jeans with a sport coat or a vest Tie Dressy shoes

2. Formal clothing
    

   	Women	Men
   Business formal (More sophisticated than smart casual)	Business suit or business style dress Heels	Nice trousers with a sport jacket or business suit with tie Dressy shoes
   Semi formal (Office work, evenings...)	Classy short black dress Low or high heels	Dark suit with a tie and white shirt Dressy shoes
   Formal (Weddings, ceremonies...)	Long evening dress Jewelry Low or high heels	Tuxedo with cufflinks, bow tie and white shirt Classy shoes

As you can see, each situation entails a different type of clothing. Dress codes have become so important today that some workplaces, schools, restaurants, weddings, degree ceremonies... apply them. If they are legal, it can sometimes be difficult to know where the line is between lawful and unlawful discrimination.
So, the right thing is not to go too far to enforce them. If it can be fun sometimes, we must know that not everybody likes to be confronted to codes. Some refuse them and prefer dressing as they like whatever the situation.

Sometimes, people will refuse a dress code because it applies to them only (women, colored people...) and they are right because it is a form of discrimination which must be condemned with force.
But other people reject dress codes for personal reasons. This is the case for the punks, steampunks, Goths... who dress their own way, whatever the circumstances, and who refuse to follow the rules of conformism.
To mark their differences, they choose to behave according to a way of thinking and as they want to single themselves out from the rest of the population, they adopt a totally different way of dressing. They will never wear suits or ties or loafers or evening dresses...

If dress codes have existed for a long time — queens and kings dressed differently from their subjects to show their social difference — they have become very popular in the last decades and it is very difficult not to comply with them.
Of course they must not be forced upon you so as to be free to wear what you like.