Um, no, it's soooooo not.

How about a professional appearance?

Flip flops are just flip flops, no matter what you paid for them. Anyone, male or female, who wears casual shoes to the office is asking not to be taken seriously. There are exceptions to this, of course. Some businesses, especially in certain industries, are less formal than others. But, on the whole, ask the shoe store sales staff to show you what business footwear looks like.

Ms. Harding.

I don't know why the folks at Cosmo don't just hire some nerd to write a program that'll write their articles: they're so, decade after decade, the same.

I once heard someone describe "Cosmo" as "the magazine for the office slut". It seems particularly apt, if this is indeed the office behaviour that they are promoting. But, then again, who takes "Cosmo" seriously? It's like looking at a duck, and then being startled when it quacks.

If there's anyone out there who does take "Cosmo" seriously, I'd love to hear about how you do it. I have yet to find a perspective from which I am able to view this rag as anything other than high-gloss, shallow, silly advertising-driven dreck.

Unless you're trying to distract the hetero guys from their jobs, this strikes me as particularly silly. No flip-flops is fine advice on it's own, unless you're a life-guard or swim teacher it's unlikely to be appropriate attire for an office. But acting flirty or slut-like, that's not appropriate either. Plus it's not likely to work:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Science/story?id=1362956

I've worked in publishing my entire adult life, and I've never seen or heard of a female writer or editor using her looks to get ahead. It doesn't work that way in the real world, no matter what magazine or TV hacks come up with.

1) Yeesh.

2) It's a shame Betsy has never applied her dazzling investigative skills to finding out what her bosses and fellow journalists think about her "career savvy."

3) Sooo, if you aren't pretty, are just out of college, and you want a career, what does Betsy suggest you do? Add to your student loan debt by borrowing money to get thin and beautiful? Stupid bitch. :P

Not to mention the price of Jimmy Choos, which can run north of $500.

Expect Svutlana retrograde femme fatale flirtation from disciple of Cosmo HGB woman. That be said, in many workplace, ignore you sexual undercurrent at own peril.

Gail Evans, former executive at CNN say men place women at work in one of four category--mother, daughter, wife or mistress.

It is okay for be mother because maybe invisible, but nobody ever fire own mother. Daughter is okay too because no threaten, but good girl never get corner office. Mistress role that Ms Betsy celebrate in article is extreme power position, but is tightrope walk that take lot of energy. Wife is most difficult role for play because must be flawless for succeed.

Story about women in workplace always make extreme sad Svutlana.

I ask because I've never seen any. As well, wouldn't you have to spend as much to keep your feet looking good as you spend on your suits and all? ;)

I’m wearing them right now as is about half my office. My firm’s clients are mostly in fashion and they often come in wearing flip-flops too. It’s been that way here for the past 3 summers.

Heels are a dumb daytime choice for lots of reasons. For starters nothing is as funny as a women who thinks she’s dressed to impress wobbling around in heels – I promise everyone behind her is rolling their eyes right before they pass her up. And regarding the cost of pedicures: they don’t match the cost of all the cabs you need to take when you’re wearing heels. And can you imagine rushing off to a meeting and asking your group to slow down for you? Or demanding you take a car, even if the subway is faster, because you can’t walk? There are so many reasons flats or flip-flops are the way to go.

but for women it only matters when they are interacting with someone they like, otherwise they would be happy if everyone were asexual. When you are an androgynous male it means someone has cut your balls off.

it means somebody has cut his balls off.

Thanks for the explanation. I wasn't saying that heels were preferable to/better than flip-flops. (Hell, I wore flats constantly when I was working corporate--I learned back in high school how inconvenient and painful heels are. :)) I was just wondering how/why/how much such an informal shoe became acceptable in offices.

flip flops are not that much better for your feet than heels. According to a recent NPR story, they're pretty much the worst thing you can wear as far as foot health goes.

And of course, they do project a complete lack of professionalism unless you're a lifeguard.

Fetish heels and mini skirts slit to the waist, to work. Yeah the insurance business aint what it used to be.

These women wearing high heels to the office are the same women getting botox so their contributions to the workplace aren't overlooked.

Unlike looks, talent lasts. Annie Liebowitz looks like the sole of somebody's shoe but somehow she manages to network with a pretty high-powered crowd.

If I'm not mistaken, Tina Brown, Susan L. Taylor, or Anna Wintour never needed to take this stupid advice to get where they are.

Thanks, Kate!

Backs up my decision to stop looking at Cosmo 25 years ago. Cosmo = dinosaur.

I have to agree with Anne in NY. I've seen more than half the professional women at my firm wearing flip flops to work for at least three years, and we're not in the fashion industry. Styles change over time, as does what is considered professional dress. 200 years ago I would have been expected to wear stockings, knickers and a powdered wig to work. 100 years ago it would have been a full wool suit, pork chop sideburns and maybe a bowler. As time goes on, the definition of a Professional Look changes, and once a tipping point is achieved, the new style becomes the norm, and accepted. Hell, we have a shoe store in Georgetown here that sells flip flops for over $200, with gems imbedded in the strap (I hear the Bush twins like that place).

On a related note, I saw a study the other day that only 5% of men still wear a tie to work daily (I almost never do, and the new standard for offices in DC seems to be "business casual". Neither of these developments, or any others, mean a death of professionalism, but a redefinition.

I'm not sure where everyone on this board is from, obviously, but I would assume that the dress code is considerably different in different parts of the country/world. And I'd think that once flip flops are accepted in such a fashionably staid city as DC, that shark has already been jumped in places like LA or NY. Maybe one day my professional attire will be like that accepted in Bermuda -- shorts and a dress shirt.