10 Reading Read the text about dressing for the office. Complete the sentences (1–9) using a maximum of four words. Write your answers in the spaces provided. The first one (0) has been done for you. 4 Four-word sentence completion What to wear to work Summer’s arrival in the northern hemisphere brings with it a dilemma that plagues every office worker. What does a casual dress code mean in practice? The happy medium between looking like Kim Kardashian or Hagrid the giant is hard to pin down. Goldman Sachs has just implemented a “flexible dress code”, although the executive memo noted that “casual dress is not appropriate every day.” Besuited corporate clients might not take kindly to investmentbanking advice offered by someone wearing a tank top and ripped jeans. For men, the move to casual dress seems entirely positive. Few people will mourn the demise of the tie, a functionally useless garment that constricted male necks for a century. The tie’s origins date back to the 17th century, when mercenaries hired by Louis XIII of France wore a form of cravat. The modern version of the tie emerged in the 1920s and was popularised by Britain’s Edward VIII. It became standard office wear for the next six decades. In the 1990s ties started to go out of fashion because technology titans and hedge-fund managers refused to wear them – and were rich enough to ignore social convention. Once, when Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, was to meet a venture capitalist, he turned up wearing pyjamas. The jacket, by contrast, is a much more useful garment, replete with pockets to house wallets, spectacle cases and travel passes (or, these days, mobile phones). So the default work garb for men, when meeting clients, is jacket, open-necked shirt and dark trousers (denim excluded). On days without meetings, men can slob out in T-shirts (though not too garish) and jeans, and no one will think the worse of them. Arriving in shorts or without socks is another matter entirely. But dressing in the morning is quick and easy. Steve Jobs was famous for wearing the same outfit – black polo neck, jeans and trainers – every day. Women’s workwear seems to have become less formal over time. A survey by Euromonitor found that sales of women’s suits fell by 77% in America between 2007 and 2016. But many women worry that they will be judged as unprofessional (unlike their male colleagues) if their clothes are deemed to be too scruffy, or too revealing. It can also be hard choosing clothes that are suitable for both indoors and out. Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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