I’m not quite sure whom Jeff Jedras is trying to mock in his Full Comment posting today: the Liberal Party insiders who think a dress code is necessary to work in Michael Ignatieff’s office, or the pundits who tend to seize on every little, niggling detail with an eye towards its effect on the Party’s political redemption.

But as tempting as it is to dismiss Jeff’s “levity,” it is worth pondering whether Peter Donolo’s rules have a point.

It’s a fact of life: people do behave differently depending on the clothes they wear. (If nothing else, the interaction between skin and fabric will guarantee that.) And while the wearing of a suit with tie can be considered (ahem) conservative, it’s nonetheless useful as a way of focus for the day ahead.

Think about it. Why would you go about the trouble of getting a necktie round your collar, unless you cared about the way people see you? Especially when said person may well have the potential to be the leader of the nation? Why else would you check your shirt for “ring around the collar,” press the wrinkles out of your trousers with an iron, buff up your oxfords?

And that’s just the men. Women, of course, have a different set of philosophies altogether for white-collar office work, which is probably far more complicated (and certainly more expensive) that what we men are prepared to think about.

The other part of a dress code, however, is the attitude. Loud-colored shirts and jeans are symbols of youth and the young, but the flip side is that they’re also the taste of the juvenile. And Mr. Donolo must be thinking that people don’t dress like juveniles, they’re less likely to act like juveniles. You have to admit, Liberal antics this summer weren’t exactly in the province of the emotionally mature, were they?

So by all means, let’s commend Mr. Donolo on his dress code, and his attempts to install some decorum into the doings of the OLO.

After all, he is following a historic tradition. Captain E.J. Smith, Benjamin Guggenheim and his valet were dressed in their best when they went down with the Titanic, if you’ll recall.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 20:06 and is filed under Libranos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.