Recently, there has been so much online chatter about the attire of Justin Bieber - suit and sneakers, in his recent meeting with Macron, President of France.

Was Bieber's dressing appropriate for the occasion or just the sign of high fashion? What was the message that Bieber was sending out, in the full glare of the media?

As a social commentator and non-fashionista, I will like to take a different perspective here.

With global warming slowly becoming rather inevitable, mass fashion can take the lead by encouraging us to dress casual in order to increase the thermostat of our air-conditioning in order to use less electricity. Dressing down will have a large and perpetual positive multiplier effect for the environment. It is a gesture that does not entail much physical sacrifice other than our initial discomfort and uncertainty of not being accepted or respectful.

Thus, with this in mind, I am also proposing that business fashion go even further by relooking at the suitability of allowing office staff to go slow on the need to wear a tie and to design "smart" Bermuda's.

This will not create mass unemployment in the fashion industry and related supply chain as designers can refocus in creating new corporate branding in reusable masks made from recycled materials and or "skins" for mobile devices. There are enough products that can magnify the business brand without damaging the environment!

With the introduction and acceptance of Zoom, the whole business fashion culture must have a relook as we examine all aspects of our daily living to minimise our carbon footprints. We have to slowly let go of all our norms and common practice and be active global citizens who are blessed to have enjoyed all the world could have given us during our living years.

For much too long and be influenced by the media, we have suffered from myopia and just condemned fast fashion and how it has added up to our global pollution level. We should now do more analysis and ask ourselves this question: How can we be respectful to our corporate brand-image and yet be comfortable with our working environment in order to produce our best for the organisation? Organisations have to co-exist within the current reality of their environment.
(Remember PESTLE)

I guess the ball is in the court of the HR department.