I catch the bus occasionally to work – the 8am in, 5pm out (on those rare days that I finish vaguely on time) office crowd. My office is right in the middle of the Central Business District of my city, and one of the small joys I can take away from the bustle of the office crowd is the pride and joy people take in what they wear to work.
That is, in a corporate and government environment, people whose identities are distilled into titles, positions, departments and roles love the opportunity to express their core individuality through fashion. In particular, I absolutely adore the women I see everyday going to and from work in an amazing array of sharply cut dresses, intensely intricate stockings, and lip-bitingly hot heels.
It’s hard to keep it cool sometimes, and harder still to fight the temptation of breaking that workplace focus and anonymity. Although I don’t find hard to break the ice in any social situation, I’ve always erred on the side of caution when it comes to spaces where really it’s people just trying to get through their day.