Bill's Bulletin Board
By Bill Rea

"For the apparel oft proclaims the man." Shakespeare

King Township councillors last Monday night spent several minutes debating whether they should impose a dress code on themselves.

In the end, they wisely decided not to bother.

I have no problem with people dressing as presentably as possible, especially when they are in the public eye, but the point is exactly where should these standards start and where should they end?

I could understand where Councillor Jack Rupke was coming from when he pushed for a dress provision to be included in the council code of conduct. And the fact is Rupke is generally one of the more impeccable dressers at council meetings. But that is his choice. Does he have the right to impose his standards on his fellows?

As is the case with just about everything in life, there are some members of council who routinely dress better than others. But I don't think any of them reach extremes, be it in terms of underdressing, overdressing, being especially neat or scruffy, being excessively provocative or conservative. These are adults, and as such they have their own ideas on appropriate dress. And since they are politicians too, if their constituents have a problem with the clothes they were, they will let them know in due course.

Besides, does it really make a difference? I would contend the deliberations of this council (or any council, for that matter) would be just as interesting, boring, productive, self-serving, beneficial, pedantic, spirited and informative if the whole gang showed up in cutoff jeans, "Disco Rocks" T-shirts, coonskin caps and bunny slippers (although the are a couple of councillors I have a hard time picturing in bunny slippers).

So while I could understand what Rupke was after, I was more aligned with the position of Councillor Cleve Mortelliti, who seemed almost resentful at the notion of someone trying to tell him how to dress.

And in an amusing development, as soon as council was finished with this item, voting not to impose a dress code, several members of senior staff promptly pocketed their neckties. For what it's worth, I kept mine on.

I would certainly be reluctant to try and tell anyone what they should or should not wear. Anyone who sees me on a routine basis knows I have absolutely no business lecturing anybody on attire.

The fact is I abhor shopping for clothes, and I do it as seldom as possible. I approach such trips with a "let's get this over with as quickly as possible" mentality. Thus I live with the reality that my wardrobe offers little variety. I am also in the habit of wearing my clothes to death. I bought a new pair of shoes last week simply because the left compnent of the pair that I had been wearing almost continuously for the better part of the last year sort of broke.

I well remember my early days in this business, with one of my first editors telling me that if I wanted people to take me seriously in this profession, I had to dress accordingly. Thus I almost always wear a shirt and tie to work, with variations being applied as appropriate. For example, I didn't bother with a tie this past Friday because I knew I would be spending a lot of time out in the hot sun.

There is a complication, though. One of my favourite aspects of this job of mine is the constant variety. Thus, I never know for sure what's going to be expected of me over the next couple of hours as I dress myself every morning.

For example, in the last year, I have made three trips to the Shift, that artistic wall creation just outside King City. Getting to the site requires a hike of about 10 minutes through the woods, and on all three occasions, I have learned about these excursions a matter of hours before they were to take place, meaning I didn't have time to go home and change into something more appropriate. The advantage was I was consistently the bestdressed man on the tour, because I was the only one wearing a tie.

That's not to say I don't have any good clothes. There are a couple of suits hanging in my closet. I just seldom wear them to work because I don't think they would be appropriate to wear to the Shift.

As well, I think we have all noticed that styles and expectations have changed a lot over the years. The same editor used to admonish me about dressing professionally also had a strict rule about how his reporters were to dress when covering events at a church on Sunday. But the fact is even people going to church don't dress up the way they used to, so I seldom bother too. I have worn jeans to church functions on Sundays and have been better dressed than the ministers.

There are some occupations which carry with them expectations on how to dress. Police and the military are two examples that spring to mind. And having worked in the hospitality business for a couple of years, there are understandable standards on people involved in handling or serving food.

But for people working in office settings, common sense will normally be a sufficient guide on how to dress.

Besides, clothing styles are subjective, thus subject to individual tastes, and who are the rest of us to try and impose out tastes on others?

There are more pressing and offensive things that people sometimes do in the workplace than dress in ways that hurt the eyes. Have you ever worked with a person who occasionally, if not frequently (if not constantly) neglected to apply deodorant? I have, and that's not a lot of fun.

But when it comes to clothes, it's best to let adults choose for themselves. If councillors decide to wear bunny slippers to meetings, that's their choice. I wouldn't. I don't even own bunny slippers. I don't want to own bunny slippers. I hope my wife isn't planning to get me bunny slippers for Christmas.