Can you imagine walking into a bank and being served by a man in a T-shirt and jeans, or going to court and the judge wearing shorts and a polo shirt, writes Katherine MacAlister.

The Fast Show's 'suits you, sir' tailors Ken and Kenneth would be horrified. But what seems to suit sir these days may no longer be the suit, thanks to new proposed EU legislation. The new law may enforce employers to let their staff wear casual wear to work, the suit representing a 'restriction to their freedom of expression'.

Whether or not this becomes the norm, the trend has already started, with numerous companies encouraging staff to wear casual wear to work. Microsoft is the most famous of the "casualwear" employees. In America now casualwear in the workplace is already commonplace, and its influence is already extending over the Atlantic.

Staff at Blackwells in Oxford have been wearing casual clothes to work for years.

A spokesman said: "No one can remember when we haven't worn casual clothes. Staff have to be smart, especially on the shop floor, and lots of people still wear a shirt and tie, but it actually stipulates casual wear in our contracts." Other companies are choosing Fridays as own clothes day, such as American-owned communications company Polycom, based in the Oxford Business Park.

Marketing director Ian Clarke said: "The concept has come from America and asks the question 'does wearing a suit, shirt and tie make me work better?' The answer is no. If anything the shirt and tie are restrictive, so on Fridays we dress casually.

"If any of us have a meeting we will come in wearing a suit because that is the accepted business uniform in the UK at the moment. "Of course if any of our staff came in wearing ripped jeans and a string vest we would send them home to put on something more suitable, so we rely on our staff to be responsible and dress appropriately.

"Old traditionalists seem to think casual dress means casual work, but that has certainly not been the case here. But I do think the suit still has a time and place. It helps you identify staff in banks and other businesses," he said.

Many are of the opinion that the suit helps divide work and play. Men like to get home take off their tie, change out of their suit and relax. "I agree," Mr Clarke said, " I do that too. But when I come home on Fridays I'm already relaxed."

But before we all panic and throw our suits out, the end is certainly not nigh.

The Menswear Council recently surveyed 50 banking, 50 accountancy and 50 law firms about their dress codes and discovered that the majority still insisted on their workforces wearing suits. Stuart Jarl, manager of famous tailors Ede & Ravenscroft on Oxford High Street, said he would be very surprised if people's dress changed because of the EU."Wearing a suit is a status symbol and says a lot about a person, just like their car or watch," he said. "It may be a stereotype but certainly I can't imagine many of our clients going to work casually dressed, especially those working for the institutions.

"But forcing men to wear suits probably makes it worse and men may rebel against that. If they had the freedom to wear what they want I'm sure most would still opt for the suit," he said. Fashion adviser Carol Spenser, who advises M&S and Thomas Cook about their dress, said the culture wouldn't change until British men improved their casualwear.

"We do have a problem in this country, as men tend to have smart formal clothes for work and a scruffy wardrobe. They don't have anything in between, unlike their US counterparts. I think men have to become more creative in what they choose to wear and actually go out and spend more on clothes in the first place. "In places like the States and France men spend about 20 per cent of their disposable income on clothes. In the UK it's about five per cent. It's sad, as when you think about the amount of time you spend at work, men should spend more on what they wear.

"British men are more worried about what their car says about them than their clothes." Chris Scott-Gray, director of the Menswear Council, agreed: "I think a big problem for British men is dressing down and doing it well. Men tend to have real problems putting outfits together.

"Rather than changing the law I think men should be issued with codes about how to dress down successfully," he said.

Story date: Thursday 28 October

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