Is Casual Friday Redundant?

In Hawaii, it's called Aloha Friday. It also has cultural resonance since the women don their mumu dresses and men wear their best Hawaiian shirts. Mine is a midnight blue silk number with palm trees set against a night sky. It was my Friday uniform and it was a refreshing break from the stuffy dress shirt I had to wear at a retail store every other day of the week.

Today's Casual Friday tradition owes its roots to Aloha Friday, but isn't every day in America Casual Friday?

There are certain jobs that will always require people to dress in a uniform. Lawyers wear suits or fear losing credibility, bankers wear Hermes ties because they can afford it and McDonald's employees have to wear that polyblend button up with the golden arch accents. But for everyone else, it seems like they have taken the Casual Friday look to every day.

Once when I met with clients in Chicago, my team and I were dressed in suits like a bad version of Reservoir Dogs. Eager to do business, one of our clients entered the meeting wearing a velour track suit complete with gold necklace, diamond studs and UGGS. I couldn't tell if she were there to talk about retail placements and strategy or to take a nap. The meeting was on a Wednesday. The rest of her team wore jeans and a t-shirt. I wish the invitation included a dress code, which would have been "anti-semi formal."

This trend continues on as more and more people in the work place dress for work like they would dress for the weekend: jeans, t-shirts, flip flops and baseball caps. Even I have succumbed to the trappings of wearing more casual clothing. BUT I always put an effort to look buttoned up in the office. That's why I would never wear a baseball cap to a meeting, a shirt with a hole or armpit stains to a luncheon or sandals in the office. It's just not appropriate.

So I challenge America to enjoy its casual style of dressing, but for the loves of Hay-sus "Pull Yourself Together!" Do it for your country! Do it for pride!

YES: Put some effort into ironing your clothes or wearing something a little bit more pulled together especially if you are meeting business partners
NO: A designer t-shirt doesn't count as being dressed up
MAYBE: You can get away dressing like a shlub because you work at a Dot com and that's how they roll