访谈录 2008-09-09&09-11 便装礼拜五

Well you know the employers across the country have embraced casual Fridays. And many employees are happy to partake. But how casual is too casual? From open toes to exposed flesh, extreme dressing¹ down can be a job hazard and there are some rules to follow. Our Jeremy Hubbard has a Sign of The Times.

At first it seemed like such a good idea, casual Friday, once a week, lose the suit, don the Dockers, dress down. But have we now lost our sartorial² sense in a sea of flip-flops and cleavage, short bottoms and muffin tops?

Do you really think that this is appropriate for the owner of a company? No!

When did casual Friday get this casual and why on earth is this guy wearing those to work?

Has the boss ever said anything about your showing all your tootsies?

Not really, he looks at it but he doesn’t really care.   See, this is the problem.

For answers, we tracked down Clinton Kelly. He is the host to the popular TLC show What Not to Wear. It’s his job to tell people what’s wrong with their fashion choices.

It makes me wanna run away from her…

This offends us both, as New Yorkers. 

This poor woman hasn’t got a clue how to dress her body.

And on this recent casual Friday on this busy New York street outside Macy’s, he found plenty wrong.

I think you got a lovely cleavage.

Well, thank you.

There is a lot of it for work however.

Is this something you would wear Monday through Thursday or just on Friday?

No, and I’m not supposed to wear on Friday, either.

You not like your job or you’ll get fired?

Oh, I like my job.

Actually it is the fear of being fired that has recently started to reverse this trend of dressing too casually³, Clinton says.

Well, you know when economy gets a little bit tough, you know, people start to dress a little bit better at work, because if a manager’s looking around the office and he knows he’s gonna lay off a few people, you know, if everything else is equal, he might be looking towards the ones who aren’t the best representatives of the company.

But clearly not everyone is getting the message. Maybe the Internet boom is when business casual first went bust⁴. When billionaire bosses started sporting denim⁵ and T-shirts, we all loosened up a bit. And it was all downhill from there.

I think we finally got it right.

Cargo⁶ shorts weren’t far behind.

Oh, yeah, it’s a great place, you know, to steal some pencils and pens from work. But are probably not the best, the best look.

…And plunging⁷ necklines.

You know, too much boobage, too much cleavage.

The result -- business casual confusion!

Well this is a real issue especially with new arrivals to the work force college graduates that sort of thing. A lot of them truly don’t know how to dress, right?

Right! You know the average 22-year-old has no real fashion icons⁹, you know, for the workplace. I mean, they, they’ve spent their time watching MTV and you know who’s your style icon⁸ then, you know, Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian, they aren’t gonna teach you how to dress for the workplace. You know they are dressing to go to the club or hook a hottie. You know, you know that’s not how you dress to the office.

So if you are more interested in hooking a job than a hottie, here are some casual Friday tips from Clinton.

First for men no T-shirts. It’s got to have a collar. And give the shorts a rest. Khakis are better.

For women instead of a mini-skirt, trying some walking shorts, but they can’t be above the knee.

And as for your blouse, just don’t show your bra straps¹⁰ or breasts.

I have a rule about cleavage in the workplace, and it's chest not breast. So as soon as you know soft tissue is seen in the office then you know you’ve crossed the line, somewhere.

As for blue jeans, ok, go ahead if your company dress code allows denim, and if they are dark enough, and here is the most important part, they gotta fit right.

And nothing too low-rise or, you know, the butt¹¹ crack is goona hang out. Muffin tops are not good for the working environment.

Right, unless you actually work in a muffin factory.

Some of our fashion victims should have known better.

Did you think, you know, maybe it's a little bit too short. Or is that?

Too short?! Touches the knee.

Only when you look at it down like that…

Where do you draw  the line? What’s the one fashion thing you are not being able to…

Does this guy have a line?

You are the owner of a staffing company.

So you put people out there in the world and work. Are you giving them any advices on how to dress?

I tell them to dress corporate¹².

Dress corporate? Alright, so basically you say do what I am not doing.

I am Jeremy Hubbard for nightline in New York.

Well I went Casual Friday, tonight for sure. And thanks for Jeremy Hubbard.

1 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

2 sartorial   

adj.裁缝的

参考例句：

• John has never been known for his sartorial elegance.约翰从来没有因为衣着讲究而出名。
• Jeans a powerful egalitarian message,but are far more likely to a sartorial deathtrap for politicians.政客们穿上牛仔裤是传递亲民的讯息，但也更容易犯穿衣禁忌。

3 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

4 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

5 denim   

n.斜纹棉布；斜纹棉布裤，牛仔裤

参考例句：

• She wore pale blue denim shorts and a white denim work shirt.她穿着一条淡蓝色的斜纹粗棉布短裤，一件白粗布工作服上衣。
• Dennis was dressed in denim jeans.丹尼斯穿了一条牛仔裤。

6 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

7 plunging   

adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• War broke out again, plunging the people into misery and suffering. 战祸复发，生灵涂炭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He is plunging into an abyss of despair. 他陷入了绝望的深渊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

9 icons   

n.偶像( icon的名词复数 )；（计算机屏幕上表示命令、程序的）符号，图像

参考例句：

• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons. 用图标来区分重要的文本项。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Daemonic icons should only be employed persistently if they provide continuous, useful status information. 只有会连续地提供有用状态信息的情况下，后台应用程序才应该一直使用图标。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 straps   

n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• the shoulder straps of her dress 她连衣裙上的肩带
• The straps can be adjusted to suit the wearer. 这些背带可进行调整以适合使用者。

11 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

12 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。