Keeping Up Appearances

This article caught my eye today because I've always thought how great it would be to do a webcam chat without ever worrying about what I'm wearing:

Fake half-suit for videoconferencing

Slobs who work at home can look their best for videoconferences with the Businessbib, a pullover half-suit that has a built in shirt and tie.

Businessbibs are hand-made from recycled materials and are supposed to be sturdy and stylish. Priced between $135-150, they can be ordered online.

This fake business suit is especially amusing if you know that the necktie—while essentially designed as a bib to keep one's shirt from getting dirty over a particularly messy dining experience—is now used only a decorative item, and as such, we now sell a necktie protector as a bib for our bib. Madness!

One has to wonder who would ever be courageous enough to wear a Businessbib... I mean, copping to wearing this idiotic thing would be worse than telling your mom that you enjoy watching porn. Furthermore, if I were a CEO doing a webcam chat, I'd intermittently insist everyone on the call get up for some silly reason just to watch their face blanche as they realized their Businessbib (and anything not covered by the Businessbib) might show up on the webcam. Who says the corporate world isn't entertaining?

I wait patiently to see the day when a video conferencing business type has a conference over dinner and uses a necktie protector for his fake half suit. Then I know we'll have completely lost our minds.

And for the academically inclined, here's what Wiki says about neckties:

A cravat is the neckband that was the forerunner of the modern tailored necktie. From the end of the 16th century, the term "band" applied to any long strip of cloth worn round the neck that was not a "ruff". The ruff itself had started its career in the earlier 16th century as a starched and pleated strip of white linen that could be freshly changed to keep the neck of a doublet from getting increasingly grimy, or for use as a bib or napkin. A "band" could indicate a plain, attached shirt collar or a detached "falling band" that draped over the doublet collar.