Submitted by editor on Sat, 05/31/2008 - 9:27pm.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year when it comes to being allowed to choose what you want to wear to work. As summer nears, many companies will begin to relax the dress standards in the office to allow employees to shed the suits and wear more casual and comfortable clothing to work.

However, there are employees who will not understand the dress code, even if it is spelled out for them. You can bet that every summer there are at least a few individuals who are sent home from work because they thought that wearing something like flip flops or a see through sarong to the office was a fashion statement, or even worse, a good idea.

It is to these individuals that I would like to direct this piece on what to wear to work this summer. I believe that most of us get the fact that even though it is summertime, the workplace is still the workplace, and certain dress standards must always be observed. In the grey area of personal style at work in the hot sexy summer months, it’s important to know the difference between what is stylish and sexy and what is too sexy and provocative.

Rather than go through a list of what is appropriate summer attire for work, I think I’ll go through what you shouldn’t do (by gender):

Women should not:

• Show too much cleavage. When a woman’s breasts are put on display in a low cut blouse, they can be terribly distracting to both men and women in the workplace. Nothing will take the focus off of your breakthrough marketing idea quicker than if you are wearing something that shows off your physical assets in a provocative way. If you must wear a low cut blouse, be sure to wear something under it, like a camisole or undershirt.

• Wear a micro miniskirt. No matter what the weather is like, miniskirts that are tight and reveal a lot of leg are both distracting and inappropriate. And if you don't believe that miniskirts are distracting, just listen to what former Greek junta dictator Stelios Patakos had to say about miniskirts back in 1967:

  As a general rule, women should wear skirts whose length hovers somewhere between an inch and 2 inches above the knee. Notice I did not say below the waist.

Men have a much easier time in deciding what to wear, well, anywhere, just because outside of H&M, there really are not a great deal of clothing stores that encourage men to wear attire that shows in appropriate amounts of skin. But in general, men should not:

• Wear tight anything. While you may want to show off those new pecs and biceps you’ve been working on since the wintertime, save the Under Armour shirt for the gym. Any form fitting tight shirt of pair of slacks is out of the question when it comes to wearing appropriate summer attire in the workplace. Though you surely will get lots of looks and possibly be the object of affection (or lust) of a few ladies in the workplace, leave the tight clothes at home. Give your pecs and biceps (as well as the rest of your muscles) some room to breathe and wear clothes that fit well, but are not tight.

• Wear old, worn, or tattered clothes. Men typically offend in this area much more than women, just because we tend to think that our seven year old pair of holey jeans should be considered appropriate casual summer wear for the office. Some men even wear old t-shirts to work when the hot weather comes around. Neither is appropriate for the workplace in the summer, despite how appropriate both are for any given grunge band concert. Men should steer away from their holey and old clothes and find a nice pair of dress slacks (even khakis are okay) and a decent polo to wear to work instead.

Again, I think that most people have a decent idea and exercise fair common sense when it comes to deciding what clothes are appropriate to wear to work in the summertime. But the one area of summer work attire where members of both genders almost always offend: footwear.

Men and women alike seem to lose sight of what they should wear to the office on their feet during the summertime. I’ve seen almost every variety of flip flop, Tevas, Birkenstocks, and Crocs worn to work in the summertime, and none of them are appropriate. Don’t adorn your tootsie with any of those, and don’t wear a dingy old pair of sneakers to work, even though they may be comfortable.

Women, when it comes to wearing heels and open toed shoes, steer as far away from the six inch stilettos as you would from a pair of fluorescent pink flip flops. The best bet is to go with a closed to shoe (it’s more professional), but if you must show of your little piggys, keep those feet in good shape—get a pedicure and pumice down those callused heels. Because contrary to popular belief, people actually do look at your feet.

Remember people the office is the office, not your house, your back yard, or club Metropolis.

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