„Relax. You’re Dressed!“. Der Herrenanzug im Career Building und seine Thematisierung in Musicvideoclips

Abstract

Using advertizing found in current magazines and career guides as well as two music video clips, Gudrun Schäfer shows that the man’s suit continues to be understood as a reference point for “intangible” and universal professional clothing, even when it also functions as a problematic symbol for conventionality. The suit, as well as the female equivalent of skirt suit or pantsuit, is considered dress code for job interviews and in this manner becomes the “anchor” in a sea of uncertainty. However, increasingly more people are questioning its function as a symbol of masculine sovereignty and universality, thus eroding the suit’s claim to universal validity. Because the current economic and financial crisis has discredited many professional classes, many are now rejecting conventional “banker and manager dress.” The trend in the IT-industry is to embrace more informal clothing. The higher percentage of female employees has also led many companies to vary, or at least adapt, their dress codes. Last but not least we can identify a shift toward a more body-defining and therefore individualized suit trend, which is connected to an increasing responsibility, also true for men, toward “bodywork” and body representation.