As generations rise and generations fall, so does their impact on surrounding society.
One such example that can be commonly seen is how we dress, or what we find acceptable for business attire and tasteful for body art and piercings.
The classic look of the businessman — holding a briefcase in a suit with his hair combed back — is no longer the only norm in the business world.
We now have billionaire executives such as Mark Zuckerberg, who are commonly seen in casual everyday clothes such as T-shirts and jeans when interacting with fellow executive billionaires such as Bill Gates, as Zuckerberg’s Facebook post on Sept. 21 showed.
His non-professional dress is something that Zuckerberg is aware of, as a previous post on Facebook shared a photo of his closet, consisting of only gray T-shirts.
So what does it mean? Is it suddenly acceptable to wear jeans and T-shirts to work? And if that’s true, what about having tattoos and piercings in the workplace?
The answer is not so simple. Like all changes, the evolution in professional dress is a slow one that doesn’t apply to all fields, and it should also be taken into account what types of tattoos are showing and what type of casual dress code someone is looking for.
For instance, there are certain professions that have a dress code for specific reasons, such as sanitary purposes in the medical industry.
In other industries there is a variety of age ranges, and despite the fact that millennials are more comfortable dressing more casually, older generations that are used to stricter dress codes may not be.
This goes the same for tattoos and piercings — just because one generation is fine with them doesn’t mean all are. This often means we have to find a middle ground in the professional workplace, finding ways to express ourselves while still maintaining a level of professionalism for the comfort of those around us.
As for the types of tattoos and type of casual dress a person is hoping to wear, you may find, for instance, a tattoo of a flower may be seen as more acceptable at a front desk job than one of a bleeding skull.
This is because many businesses want to seem outgoing and friendly and may feel certain body art does not create a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. In the same regard, you may be able to wear a nice summer dress as opposed to shorts and flip-flops.
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You can be casual while still having an air of professionalism. Often businesses that accept employees with ear gauges allow clear or plain colors as opposed to spikes with stars on them.
Still, if middle ground cannot be met with all businesses, change in what is considered professional dress is happening, even if it is from the ground up.
In an OfficeTeam survey from 2014, 50 percent of managers said employees dress less formal than five years prior, and 31 percent of employees said they preferred to work in a company that has a business casual dress code. This was staggering compared to the 18 percent of employees that said they would prefer a company that has a formal dress code.
With the changes seen in professional dress, it would not be unusual to see changes in other previous taboos in the workplace, such as tattoos. The taboo of tattoos being seen as counterculture is changing but, in this case, we run into a interesting type of change.
Although tattoos are being seen more and more on bodies both young and old, the taboo involving tattoos is still somewhat in effect among the general populace. A 2010 Pew Research study showed 72 percent of all adults said their tattoos were not visible.
Among this population, one in 10 women said it depended on what they wear whether their tattoos were visible. This shows that, despite more and more younger people being more comfortable in casual wear and body art, a fair amount are still aware that older generations may not be.
How thrilled were your parents when they found out you got your first tattoo? I know mine weren’t, and it should be noted that my father’s greatest concern was whether I would be able to cover my tattoo up comfortably when embarking on a career.
By being told tattoos are a taboo by previous generations, current younger generation — as well as some in older generations — who embrace the art of a tattoo may both still shy away from getting one where they may have difficulty covering it up.
In the same regard, although millennials may feel comfortable dressing casually, fear of not getting that one job because your neckline was a little too low on that dress or your shirt was not quite professional enough has stopped younger generations from completely redefining acceptable workplace dress.
Zuckerberg could easily be considered an exception, do to his unique story as being a creator of one of the largest social media sites on the web, and by being one of the first of the industry, he has an easier time defining what is professional and what is not in this field.
Still, despite the slow changes that are still coming, the OfficeTeam survey listed common violations found in the workplace with 47 percent dressing too casually and 32 percent showing too much skin.
These are large numbers compared to the only 6 percent that were violating workplace code by showing visible tattoos and piercings.
These violations show that, whether consciously or unconsciously, what is acceptable in the workplace is changing as we overcome stigmas attached to body art, piercing and casual dress.
Nichole Harwood is a news reporter at the Daily Lobo. Her views do not reflect those of the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Nolidoli1.
