Every morning, men make a seemingly ordinary yet vital choice: what to wear to work. Most pull out some variation of the charcoal, navy, or black match from their closet. Some might add their own twist: a polka-dot pocket square or vibrant socks.
This most likely isn't surprising. In Britain and North America, the fit is the most culturally accepted form of workplace wear for males. What do we make of the men who reject the solid-color fit and choose for, say, an embellished jacket and sequined leggings? This concern is not as trivial as it may appear. I have found that the method we address it has important implications for how men feel at work, and also influences organizational cultures in ways most managers may rule out.
Fifty men between the ages of 22 and 78, all residing and working in and around Toronto, Canada, welcomed me into their houses and provided me a trip of their wardrobes. While some of these males got a navy suit and white button-down t-shirt for work, numerous did not-- making clothes choices that defied manly look standards when dressing for their jobs.
These choices are what performance research studies scholar Madison Moore calls "fabulousness"-- a method of styling the body and dressing that not just interrupts gender codes but likewise introduces new forms of identity into the world. It's more typical in the arts and fashion business, however guys likewise select to dress wonderfully in expert companies. Nevertheless, doing so creates a specific dispute. Gown codes, whether composed or unwritten, are typical in workplaces. Unless you work at a style publication or a cabaret club, these codes primarily adhere to dominant gender norms that aren't especially inviting to males who use womanly styles. Numerous men save the sequined tops for the club rather than the workplace since of this. Fabulous males police their clothing to avoid "masculinity predicaments" at work: situations where their appearances and habits are in contrast to the dominant ideas about what it implies to be a man.
Their stories highlight both how guys make clothes options for work and their everyday experiences of wearing clothing that challenge masculine standards. These males represent the range of demographics, professions, and clothes designs in my sample.
Mark. The closet in Mark's bedroom uses a look into his three-decade career in financing. The 50-year-old has actually been collecting suits, bow ties, and scarves in yellow, orange, pink, and other rainbow shades given that he began working for the bank in the 1980s.
Mark's opportunity as a white guy or as an experienced specialist does not protect him from regular jabs and jeers at work. Assessing these all-too-frequent encounters, he keeps in mind one time when he wore a triggering yellow satin bow tie. His employer passed him in the hallway and jokingly asked, "Do you have some sort of audition?" Mark remembers being amazed at the comment because he "had on a blue blazer, gray pants, and a white shirt. This yellow bow tie. It was like, 'You're odd.'" Although Mark has actually seen more straight guys as his bank "rocking color" over the previous years, it is often restricted to neckties and socks. His dynamic attire continue to "make individuals uneasy" since he is "stepping outside of the border of the blue match, blue tie, white shirt." To prevent being the target of jokes and stares, he'll often tone down his workwear.
Nigel. The sixth-grade teacher normally does not distinguish between the clothes he uses on a Monday early morning in his class and those on a Saturday night on the dance floor of a gay club. Making use of his self-described "gender-more" visual when assembling outfits, the black 30-year-old mixes standard males and women's clothes pieces into a single appearance. He will layer a females's sequined top under a men's leather coat, for instance, or a basketball jersey with maroon faux-fur trousers. Nigel sees his style not just as self-expression however as crucial to his job: "As a teacher, wearing the clothing I do provides kids an area to explore their identity and gender."
Nigel's use of clothing as self-discovery and education has not constantly been consulted with excitement from his principal. Taking out a pair of fluorescent pink leggings from his closet, he remembers pairing them with a sequined halter leading one early morning for work. His impulse was that "this is not professional," therefore he used a sports jacket on the top because "blazers change everything." His principal, nevertheless, pulled him aside at school because she believed the clothing was "unprofessional" for the class. While Nigel discusses that his principal was "actually delicate" in how she managed the conversation, it nevertheless triggered him to provide his work outfits a double take-- "I've got to inspect what I use."
When Richard is welcomed to provide a talk to other physicians, he "intentionally uses a coat that is less fitted and looks more conventional" since he does not want his design to detract from the reliability of his discussion. His fellow physicians are "primarily an older generation," and Richard believes they hold more standard views about males's clothes designs. Blazers are common guys's attire, dynamic prints and body-conscious cuts are not.
Richard's care over whether to disrupt manly gown codes stems from his coworkers' responses to his clothing. When Richard used a blazer, shirt, and tie in differing tones of red to a personnel meeting, a male colleague said: "I wish I could pull of using that kind of clothing." Despite the fact that Richard dismisses the experience as "a pretty small thing," he still recalls that "I wasn't using stiletto heels or something, however a comment was made about it," which he perceived as "a push on my expression"-- triggering him to reassess his clothes options for work.
He designs these womanly pieces along with more manly ones, such as sneakers, dark jeans, and navy blazers. Through these closet balancing acts, Harry discusses that he is able to "dress in a method which enables room for me to fine-tune that identity, which can come through me being perfectly put together in the fit, however then still inform some that I'm trans."
His outfits edge towards more masculine dress norms for essential work events. According to Harry, "fits are an expression of rule and a type of severity that fits into conventional systems of what's severe and who is major."