Is there an implicit racial bias in American workplace dress codes against the ample proportions of women of color, or do some sisters just need to learn how to dress for the office? BV On Style's Whitney Teal weighs in:
How many times have you been out with friends only to see a woman you and your girls deem "too much:" too thick, too busty or too bootylicious for their current outfit? What about at the office? ….
By now the story of former Citibank employee Debrahlee Lorenzana's ejection from a New York branch is the stuff of urban legends. Hired to work for a Manhattan location that was famous for its pretty professionals, 33-year-old Lorenzana says her business-casual wardrobe of turtlenecks, wrap dresses and slacks were eventually ruled to be too distracting for her male higher-ups. She was even forbidden from wearing heels! YouTube….
Larger breasts, particularly, seem to be too much for folks to handle. Take the recent hullabaloo with plus-size retailer Lane Bryant, whose Cacique lingerie commercial was banned from both ABC and FOX. The ad features a model moving around her bedroom in colorful, full-coverage bras and boy briefs, both of which are downright prudish when compared to some of the costumes on ABC's "Dancing With The Stars" or on the Victoria's Secret commercials that routinely air on network TV. See the unedited commercial on YouTube.