Can men wear shorts in the office now?
Ive always frowned at the shorts in the office. But now I love the idea of long shorts, an un-tucked shirt, and open-toed sandals at work. Michel, New York  Given the heatwave that is sweeping the United States now; the fact that most of us have been stuck at home for 16 months; the reality that many offices no longer require a suit and tie dress code; the influence of technological culture, where shorts, T-shirts and Tevas are acceptable work clothes; and the fact that the rise in genre fluidity is finally eroding many of our most enduring fashion prejudices, thats a wholly understandable desire. (Phew! Thats a long list of why.) Yet its also true that for most of the history of male dress codes, the idea of wearing shorts to work was pretty much a heresy, at least in a white-collar office environment, even after the rise of casual Fridays. And whether this is an outdated prejudice is still the subject of heated debate. I mean, thats one thing the town of Honesdale, Penn., men are prohibited from wearing shorts in their municipality in 1938. It is quite another thing to realize that the PGA requires male competitors wear long pants during tournaments. And they play sports! In the fire! (Women, on the other hand, are allowed to wear shorts.) This state of mind may stem in part from the origin of the garment itself. Shorts are fine, short, for short pants, which are what little boys traditionally wore to indicate their youthful status. On the other hand, the expression that someone wears the pants is meant to denote the powerful aura of the person, similar to that of a boss. In an office environment, the message you want to convey to your colleagues and clients is probably not: Hey! Im still a kid. The message you want to send is more likely, Trust my juju decision making.