At my last job, IBM was our primary competitor. I felt that, on the one hand, they looked more professional in the IBM uniform than we did in casual clothes. On the other hand, I thought that wearing non-casual clothes which did not look like theirs would both make us look more professional and would differentiate us from them. My model in this was those great billboard ads Sun ran in 1998 showing people dressed in twenties-style gangster clothes.

I favored silk paisley ties, bold primary colored shirts, subtly patterned slacks, and the occasional vest. However, I occasionally wore items like hand-dyed batiked slacks and very fancy non-dress shirts, and sometimes wore a hat.

Dilbert, for all that I can relate to the strip, is just another corporate conformist, and it shows in his clothing.

Of course, if we weren't at least as good at what we did than the other guys, it wouldn't have made any difference.

adamsj

They laughed at Joan of Arc, but she went right ahead and built it. --Gracie Allen