Rebecca Clarke: Why is Donald Trump telling his staff what to wear at work?

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It is a well known story that former President George W Bush insisted that any man who entered the Oval Office during his time in office had to be wearing a jacket and tie.

An example of Bush’s unerring respect for the office he held? Well, not quite, he was later pictured in the most famous office in the world in an open neck shirt, with his feet on the desk.

To give him his due, President Trump has, so far, kept his sartorial standards relatively high, however it is the sartorial edict he recently issued to his female staff members that is raising eyebrows now.

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According to a report by Axios, Trump issued a demand stating that he wanted female White House staff members to ‘dress like women’.

There was, during Trump’s successful insurgent campaign for President last year, a worrying report that the billionaire businessman had insisted that female campaign assistants wear dresses.

It has has since been reported that female Trump staffers sometimes ‘felt under pressure’ to wear a dress in order to impress the President.

Men have also not been spared a dressing down from Trump after his keen sartorial eye spotted a problem. Controversial White House press secretary Sean Spicer was recently scolded for wearing an ill-fitting suit during his first press briefing.

His poorly tied tie and adrift top button was also mocked during Saturday Night Live’s skit on the turbulent press secretary’s confrontational nature.

But it is the President’s dismissive sartorial advice to women that has prompted the most anger, particularly on Twitter, where women began sharing some pictures of themselves at work alongside the hashtag #dresslikeawoman here are some examples:

So, what do you think? Does your CEO have any right to tell you what to wear at work?

 

Rebecca joined the HRreview editorial team in January 2016. After graduating from the University of Sheffield Hallam in 2013 with a BA in English Literature, Rebecca has spent five years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past she has been part of the editorial teams at Sleeper and Dezeen and has founded her own arts collective.

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