Here’s What Happened When I Wore a Tie to Work Every Day for a Year
Just over a year ago, I started an engineering job at a local company where typical daily dress is a collared shirt and slacks. While scouting for something to wear on a random day in the first few weeks, I noticed a large number of ties in my closet. My wife and I had recently moved and made an ardent effort in packing and unpacking these clothing articles, so I decided to make these efforts worthwhile by knotting one on my neck for the day and determining to wear one the rest of the week. Around the office that week, I received the typical, sarcasm-laced questions of “When’s the interview?” and “Why are you dressed like that?” numerous times.
The next week, I was running late on Monday and decided to skip the tie in favor of regaining a few much-needed minutes. A peculiar situation occurred later in the day when the president of the company, whom I rarely interacted with, poked his head into my humble cube and asked where my tie was. I was floored and unable to answer, but his question made me ponder my wardrobe decisions. I had worn a tie for a single week and, as a result, the head of the company was keenly aware of my presence and appearance.
Consequently, I decided to run an amateur social experiment to see if one tiny strip of colored fabric could truly make a difference in my professional life. My experiment was simply to wear a tie to work every day for a year while occasionally donning a sport coat or blazer for good measure. As a non-senior engineer, I knew I was unable to change my years of experience immediately; however, I did have the ability to quickly change my appearance for the better.
♥ Wife, homeschooling mom, conspiracy analyst ♥
I know this post is from last year, but I wanted to comment. 
My son (two weeks shy of 16) is attending TeenPact next week, which requires a coat and tie. Since my son usually wears a button-down or polo and khakis to church, we had to go this afternoon to find a few appropriate things for him to wear.
When we got home, he tried on the first outfit - coat, dress shirt, tie, slacks.
His entire demeanor changed to "young man" status. Putting on a coat and tie was a noticeably instant transformation for him mentally.
(And be still my Mama's heart - he looked incredible!)
One of the many changing tides in our society is 7-day a week casual dress.
@lauren-hill One of the lies we've been sold is that the way we dress doesn't matter. It matters a great deal. Women have especially been sold this lie. It's been sold as part of the entire feminist package. Act like a man, speak like a man, work like a man, dress like a man, etc.
Once you convince everyone men and women are basically interchangeable - right down to the way they dress - then it's a lot easier to convince people of the bigger lies.
♥ Wife, homeschooling mom, conspiracy analyst ♥
@lauren-hill We had a similar experience with Caroline this week. She lived in dresses when she was little and then they fell out of favor. I convinced her to let me order a pretty summer dress from Lands End I thought would look good on her. She tried it on and her whole demeanor changed - just like you said. She tried on the pants and shorts I bought her and then put the dress back on.
She asked me to order another one today in a different pattern. So I did. 
♥ Wife, homeschooling mom, conspiracy analyst ♥
@sallie We love Land's End dresses! They're usually long enough while still looking young and current. I'm glad Caroline was able to find something she likes.
And you are quite right in the first post - how we dress does matter. I've never been one to let my children do school in pajamas for this very reason. Pajamas tell my brain it's time to go to sleep. Clothes tell my brain is time to get up and get moving with the day.
(No judgement for those families that do school in pajamas. To each his own!)
