Is this the end of Western civilisation? The Institute of Directors is running a trial permitting members, many of them Savile Row-suited, to “dress down” on its Pall Mall premises.
“This is a pilot period to determine members’ reaction to a more relaxed dress code, and to encourage a more open and inclusive atmosphere,” says its website. The trial will allow “members to make the decision on what they would normally wear to do business, as long as it is not deemed indecent. Members will be permitted to wear jeans, T-shirts, shorts and all variants of footwear.”
The Spectator’s Steerpike column reports that some members are stripping off their ties and trousers with gusto, while others are quietly appalled.
“My mole says there have been at least seven noted ‘incidences’ of shorts-wearing, which sounds positively Californian.”
Or Canadian?
