Down with Casual Friday

Of course, in the modern day, a gentleman is no longer a man of leisure but a state of mind, character, and morals; so he has to work 9-5, or probably much more. At many a modern workplace, this means the horrors of casual Friday--hereinafter "the abomination"--must be confronted almost every week.

As a court-going squire, I have found an excellent way to avoid the abomination is to schedule appearances in court; in my current role, I find attending oral argument has the same benefit. However, there are also days when it cannot be avoided. This is how I enjoy myself though, with a little color.

There is no doubt that gentlemen who care about clothes disdain casual Friday. Antongiavanni and Roetzel both write disparagingly about it. Flusser avoids the subject completely. Will has one of the more articulate critiques of the casual work day, though Antongiavanni has the more amusing, writing that the practice "caused the first recession of the 21st century" and

that after the accounting firm Arthur Anderson introduced it into England, Savile Row wailor Angus Cundy predicted that it would cause their ruin--and soon after, the firm imploded in the Enron scandal.

Personally, I intend to be cutting back even more because I feel it being uncomfortable in a professional attire sense lowers my productivity. Those who know me personally will know productivity is what started my interest in clothes. What I would like to see the return of is the Friday Suit.

The Friday Suit comes from the old "no brown in town" rule. This practice has to do with the uniquely English habit of fleeing London for the weekend and evolved as an accepted compromise between strict formality at the office/in the city and country colors. Though I hardly retire to my country estate on Friday afternoon, I would be happy wearing chinos and a jacket instead of a suit, unless going to court of course.

Try bringing back the Friday Suit and leaving the abomination in the dust.

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