That Friday feeling

It’s Friday and that means it’s dress-down day for me. As ever when I contemplate Fridays, I wonder whether, if I just go to work suited and booted as usual, claiming I’ve forgotten, I’ll feel any different about the whole thing.  Does casual dress encourage a more casual attitude to my work, or do I just feel more relaxed while sitting at my desk? I can't decide!

In the scheme of things, it’s not that important, but for many, ‘casual Friday’ causes a whole lot of angst. A survey by the fashion website very.co.uk found that 45 per cent of its working readers actually dress up on a Friday, rather than down, (and presumably go straight out on the town after work). Thirteen per cent of its respondents admitted that Friday was one of the most stressful days of the week: 15 per cent even called in sick to avoid the day completely.

That’s a bit extreme, although the dressing up issue recently led to Allen & Overy reminding its female trainee solicitors that the office was not the place for short skirts and high heels which made them look as if they were “going clubbing instead.”

I tend to have one or two standard outfits which have become my Friday uniform, so that I don’t have to worry about it – but with reports of people having ‘Friday wardrobes’ and escalating dress wars, I fear not everyone is quite so relaxed about the whole thing.

Perhaps we need to take advice from those who know. Elle Magazine says, “never underestimate the power of a good pair of jeans: pair a necklace with a jumper” – this advice matches my Friday plans. Alternatively, Dilbert’s take on this weekly event makes me smile:http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2002-09-12/