Dress for the job

The question of what to wear can be crippling in its contribution to first day nerves

Poor Julia Gillard. She has only just stopped copping flack about her de facto living arrangements and now the pundits have started on her dress sense. Publications from the AFR to The Daily Telegraph have weighed into the debate more suited to the pages of Vogue.

But I, on behalf of generation Y, feel sympathy for Gillard. It's hard enough starting a new job, but the question of what to wear can be crippling in its contribution to first-day nerves. Do I go strict suit and risk looking boring, or do I keep some flair and risk being over the top? As it turns out, Julia went “power-trenchcoat” and ended up being branded a cheap motel bedsheet. Ouch, it doesn’t get much worse than that.

If she were smart, Gillard could actually connect with her generation Y constituent on this issue consuming the fashion-conscious public. (Assuming of course any of them enrol on time. One in three Australians aged between 18 and 24 are currently not enrolled). As new-ish inductees, gen Y are still grappling with how to present ourselves in workplaces around the country.

At first we just had nothing to wear. In university it was acceptable to turn up in jeans on a good day, tracksuit pants on a bad. From there it was travelling, where it didn’t matter what you wore, so long as it was quick dry and relatively odour free. Suddenly we were thrust into a job and withstanding the university bar, it was our first time to impress. Cue cheap suits, the re-airing of schoolgirl stockings and trying to keep one shirt looking crisp until the next pay cheque when you could fork out for another.

It was easier for those who had taken “industry” part-time jobs throughout university. They had cleverly purchased one or two outfits over time. As my previous roles extended to cocktail “mixologist”, school holiday sports coach or laboratory research assistant, introducing the white lab coat or running shorts with high-performance crop-top look wasn’t going to cut it. Although the cocktail all blacks have increasingly become a feature of my office wardrobe.

After a few months of bargain basement corporate shopping we had a look at our wardrobes and although quantity wasn’t a problem, the other “Q” word was: quality. But the bigger problem was that realisation that you’d lost your individual style. We’d spent our first few months taking cues from the more experienced campaigners around us and suddenly we look like a conservative version of our former selves, all black with collars. In an attempt to individualise our looks we start teaming our smart suit with a bit colour or quirk. A bold scarf here, a pair of statement shoes there. Or 80s icon, cartoon character cufflinks for the guys.

Suddenly we are well and truly on the office wardrobe bandwagon and it’s very hard to get off. In an attempt to revitalise my winter wardrobe last weekend, I spent $85 on stockings. True, there were a number of pairs purchased and at stocktake sale prices, but $85? It was not long ago that I wouldn’t spend this much on jeans. Now a friend has admitted to me that she has a severe blazer addiction, indicating that it is not uncommon for her to buy three at once.

No wonder gen Y are billed as the flippant spenders. It’s a consequence of our relative inexperience in office dressing. However, I have come up with a cunning fix.

In The Daily Telegraph, Paul Toohey cheekily reported calls that Julia Gillard should receive a one-off clothing allowance of $28,000, similar to that gifted to the Governor General Quentin Bryce when she took her new job. Now Julia Gillard has announced that the education tax rebate would be extended to school uniforms should Labor be re-elected. The answer is as striking as the Prime Minister’s bold red bouffant. On behalf of all generation Ys in workplaces around Australia, I call on Julia Gillard to promise a one-off clothing allowance to all Gen Ys starting a new job to halt the anxiety of new job dressing. It would be a popular promise indeed.

BRW

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