Dress Code Anarchy and the Right to Bare Arms

And over at Victoria's Secret, where nearly naked models in lingerie give their come-hithers from larger-than-life window posters, the sales associates are required to follow a strict, six-page dress code that bans sleeveless tops, bare shoulders, open-toed shoes, denim, bold checks or clothing that reveals underwear lines or bulges. The lingerie company is touchy about the topic: When the policy was posted on http://www.thesmokinggun.com in June, Victoria's Secret lawyers demanded that the information be removed.

The friction between fashion's cues and the work world's rules is bringing repeat customers to image consultants such as DiAnna Pfaff-Martin, who heads the Newport Beach-based California Image Advisors. Here in Los Angeles, where flaunting flesh and breaking rules are part of the local lore, formality can be especially hard to enforce.

"When business casual first started, it was about going without a tie or wearing pants instead of a skirt," said Susan Morem of Premier Presentation Inc., a Minneapolis image consultant who wrote "How to Gain the Professional Edge." "Now it's gone to a much different level of almost anything goes. We're not surprised or shocked by anything we see anymore."

Revealing, clingy clothes are everywhere this summer, from Lane Bryant, where plus-size halters are paired with jeans, to Macy's, where clothes that flashed a little shoulder, back or belly were the bestsellers, said junior's buyer Dena Fiorelli. "Bare was the big success for the season, and it was important in all areas, not just in juniors," she said.

Even toes have come under fire. Sandals, a huge footwear trend, are verboten in many traditional workplaces. "Let's face it," said Chicago-based image consultant Susan Fignar. "Most sandals make your feet look sexy."

So what's the problem with looking attractive or even sexy?

Nothing, as long as the fashionable flaunters are prepared for the consequences, said Pfaff-Martin, who warned, "You might get the date but not the contract."

She most often sees inappropriate attire on younger workers, particularly women. "Young people are marketing themselves for what is important to them, not what is going to profit the company," Pfaff-Martin said. "People in their 20s are looking at who they are going to marry and whose children they are going to have. They don't want to look like stodgy old businesspeople."