Letters to the Editor
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Never even thought about it until in an interview...
Why am I not surprised at all about this article being in the WSJ?
Ok, so disclosure -- I'm one of those proverbial 'young-uns' (at least, at 25, I THINK I still am...)
A few years ago I went to an interview with a recruitment agency for a temp-job at a big investment bank. I wore black pants and a tailored black suit jacket. This was pretty much the only thing resembling a proper matching suit I owned. During the interview I asked some sort of question about how formal the office was (I assumed formal, since hey, investment bank, right?) and the interviewer assured me that 'Oh they're not too formal. You'd be fine in a pants-suit instead of a skirt'. Before then, it had never occurred to me that pants were somehow less business formal than a skirt. Never. I still don't quite understand to be honest.
I asked an older woman acquaintance of mine about this, and she explained that skirts were more formal than pants, and that "You wouldn't go to a wedding in pants". Which I agree with -- I wouldn't go to a wedding in pants. I also wouldn’t wear a business suit to a wedding either though. I'd probably wear a nice dress, which in turn I would never wear to an interview...
So yeah. I guess if you're from the days where women in an office were usually there to answer the phone and make coffee, and you could smoke in your office, then maybe you can't quite get used to ladies wearing a nice matching pants/jacket ensemble. I can only hope those sorts of people are on their way to retirement, and I'll only have to worry about their pants-hatred in places like the golf-course and in line at the supermarket at 11 am Tuesday morning.
I think women (and men) should look nice and well put-together at work. That doesn't mean pants suits are less formal than a skirt-suit. A nice suite and good look shouldn't say 'I don't care', and if anything a pants-suit to the interview is a safer bet, since you don't have to worry about things like runs in your pantyhose 2 min before your interview.