In these changing times I wonder if there is an expected business attire for male participants in the B2B workplace. I can’t remember the last time someone came to our office, or I went to theirs and anybody was wearing a tie. Two years ago I wouldn’t leave home for the office without a suit and tie. So is there a minimum standard or are we now in a ‘free for all’ as long as it is tidy dress, like the female participants?

Things have definitely also changed at the golf course relating to acceptable attire. I remember vividly a day when a business associate and I turned up at my course, The Grange, and he was told that the white socks he had on were unacceptable because they had a stripe. This was only the case though for the male members, as usual the woman could wear what they liked, including jandals in the club house. All this is changed now and has it leaked into the business community?

A number of my colleagues in other brokerages have given the suits a miss and are now wearing the business shirts with a nice pair of jeans and casual leather loafers, and utilising their suit jackets as sports coats. I have to admit that I think that it looks very comfortable and quite smart. This is a look favoured by our Italian friends at SpazioCasa, their look though is greatly enhanced by wearing Armani jeans, jackets and loafers.

This issue is on my mind also because it is the end of the financial year and as I put together my return is always annoys me that my suits which I only wear to work are not a tax deductable business expense. I have 8 suits, two of which I might have looked to update at $2k a piece or do I just buy a couple of pairs of work jeans and save the cash?

The obvious question I think is, will it harm the perception of the people we deal with if we aren’t in a suit? I see that a test and measure campaign is in order. Decided to give it a try for a couple of months and the process has been helped by Paul’s wife Janice winding him up when he left for work this week because he had jeans and his normal black leather shoes rather than leather loafers and as such Paul is back in the suit. We shall see if clients notice the difference.

I have been wearing jeans for four days now and have had the first comment made this morning by a colleague of ours from KPMG this morning commenting on Paul and I’s different work attire. Nothing negative but a comment none the less.

Will keep you informed.