Lehman staff told to dress up

DRESSING DOWN for work was once hailed as a backlash against stuffy formality, but now it seems there is a backlash against the backlash.

Lehman Brothers, the American investment bank, has sent a memo asking all staff to turn up in suits. It was the first to encourage employees to emulate the casual dress favoured by so many of its up-and-coming clients during the dotcom boom of the late 1990s. Many other companies adopted 'dress down Fridays' or 'mufti' days. But now men are asked to wear suits and ties, while women will have to wear a skirt, trouser suit, dress or 'other equivalent attire' when the new rules come in on 11 March.

Lehman denied its change was linked to the death of internet culture and said the move was being taken because there are more face-to-face meetings and attitudes towards appropriate dress have changed. Staff in offices where 'client contact does not usually occur', such as Lehman's office in the Broadgate complex, will continue to be allowed flexible dressing.