Don't Forget You Are Employee.

Wardrobe Helps Define Office Style in Los Angeles 

Radio spots currently airing in Los Angeles point out the image of professionalism conveyed by service workers who wear uniforms. Does that correlation hold true for offices as well? And can employees' wardrobe choices have an impact on office tyle? Yes, say local business executives and clothing experts. Several weighed in on corporate wardrobe in Los Angeles, and where they see it heading.

Certainly the biggest trend in office wear has been the "dress casual" or "business casual" tidal wave of recent years. There are variations such as: "Casual Friday," everyday 'business casual," and "business casual" Monday through Thursday plus "very casual" on Friday. Yet even as more companies adopt such policies, others are reconsidering. Some say that while office workers still don't want to sacrifice comfort, they are less willing to put up with the additional costs and uncertainties of "business casual" and its uncasual, unwritten rules.

To help navigate some of these less-charted waters, Bill Roth, wardrobe consultant/menswear specialist at Nordstrom Westside, will typically sit down with business clients to assist them in choosing wardrobe to meet their own personal and professional standards and objectives. But with clothing options ranging from casual to British or European styling, Roth suggests that there should be "open communication between employer and employees" when it comes to dress policies.

John Shaw, Director of Real Estate Investments for Los Angeles-based Farmers Group Bank, believes the "business casual" trend was accelerated by the ascendance of dot.com non-style. For him and others from traditional industries, it was at first a bit visually jarring to take meetings with company heads ("tech heads") attired in jeans and T-shirts. Traditionalists generally responded by splitting the difference, that is, going casual. When Shaw's entire company went "business casual" within the past two years, they found it necessary to create an instructional video laying out style parameters. And Friday was designated "Logo Day" -- uniform, embroidered polo shirts or dressed-up business attire.

As Fox Searchlight Pictures' CFO and VP-Finance and Administration, Jill Gwen works in an industry known for more casual attire, particularly on the production side. What she is seeing now is more casual dress making its way over to the corporate side of the industry as well, even in traditional fields such as finance and accounting.

In some fields, the changes can be quite gradual. Dr. Mary Gianos, an allergist in private practice and at Pleasant Valley Hospital, has noticed more female physicians making gradual changes, such as lower heels and slacks instead of skirts. Her husband, Dr. Wayne Kleinman, an anaesthesiologist at Tarzana-Encino Medical Center, has noted this slow trend as well, though traditional business attire still seems to predominate.

In other offices around Los Angeles, "dress casual" is giving way to a more sartorial look, particularly at higher managerial levels. Some local menswear retailers, for example, are selling more cufflinks than ever before. And Los Angeles attorneys in at least one international law firm have lately been noticing a dressier style in New York and Tokyo as well.

David Sacks of Los Angeles-based discount clothing chain Sacks SFO is seeing this upscaling trend in business wear also. Though he notes that Americans spend less of their disposable income on clothes than they did in the mid-1980's (4.4%, down from 7%), he has recently observed men's increasing interest in slacks ranging from dressier fabrics to dress twills, and more silk blouses for women.

Even some nontraditional industries seem to be experiencing increasing interest in dressy attire. Reiko Mathieu, owner of Squaresville, a vintage clothing and accessories store on Melrose and in Los Feliz, notes an upsurge in demand for more classic, dressy attire, even among customers in their twenties and thirties in the more relaxed music and film industries. Very popular among women now, she says, are classic Gucci, Dior, and Louis Vuitton, and items such as a Diane Von Furstenberg 1970's wrap dress or a 1980's below-the-knee dress with ruffles and a high collar.

Of course, even for those in companies committed to "casual Friday" or "casual Monday-through-Friday," there are ways to dress it up. Roth, for example, might help a menswear client pull off the look elegantly with lightweight wool or silk-and-linen blend slacks, a fine cotton sport shirt, and a cashmere sweater vest.

On the other hand, Kim Friday, the Los Angeles-based West Coast Fashion Editor of Women's Wear Daily, believes casual office dress is here to stay. The "casual chic" style of the publishing industry, she says, is also reflected in other industries which have loosened their wardrobe guidelines in recent years. When it does come to dressing up, though, one trend she sees is more women's clothing with classic menswear influences: pinstripe, box, and tweed pattems; pantsuits; and accessories such as ties and suspenders. Yet she notes that most of these items have been reinterpreted with feminine touches.

As far as women's clothing trends are concerned, most -- including office wear -- are now coming out of Los Angeles, according to Allison Zamora, formerly with Calvin Klein in New York and currently a fashion publicist in Los Angeles. While the look in New York is "more aggressive, with tight fashion guidelines" she says, L.A.'s is "sexier, with more emphasis on color and individual expression."

Any hot tips for versatile office wear?

* For men: a black blazer. This is the new blue -- and an indispensible piece of clothing -- according to Nordstromom's Roth. It can be dressed up or dressed down, and can also be in a lighter fabric for warmer weather.

* For women (spring): a light-colored cotton or cotton-blend fuller skirt, paired with a fitted jacket, suggests WWD's Friday. For fall, she recommends another look -- wider-legged, cuffed, pinstripe pants paired with a fitted jacket.

Finally, even though they address (and dress) clientele in different industries, many local wardrobe experts agree on one point -- that in Los Angeles, clothes do make the company.

Bill Hoversten is a freelance writer and publicist based in Beverly Hills.