Disney’s Dress Code Gets a Modest Make-Over : Workplace: In her office, Minnie can don coordinated ‘walking shorts’ and choose a shade of nail polish. Mickey can sport a collared shirt and cotton twill trousers. But sorry, guy, still no whiskers.
For an organization that gave the world wearable mouse ears, the Walt Disney Co. has always been pretty straight-laced about its own employee dress code.
Now comes word that “The Disney Look,” those sartorial commandments that regulate everything from toupees to pantyhose in the Disney theme parks, is softening for some Disneyland employees.
“Business casual” is the new style around the Team Disney Anaheim building, where in the past few weeks, non-costumed administrative workers have traded their dresses and suits for slacks and sweaters.
For the first time since the park opened in 1955, male office employees working behind the scenes at Disneyland can chuck their ties and even sport a bit of jewelry beyond a watch or a wedding band. Likewise, women in non-public jobs no longer have to limit the size of their earrings to diameter of a penny, and they can venture beyond the official Disney color palette in choosing a shade of nail polish.
The changes are modest by even corporate standards and come well behind the surge toward casual dress in the workplace. But it’s a radical shift for a company that has clung fiercely to its founder’s traditional standard of appropriate attire. And it’s a testament to the growing influence of outsiders on the house that Walt built.
“It’s a significant departure from the Disney tradition,” said David Tsoneff, a consultant and former senior vice president with Walt Disney Imagineering. “In the last few years, Disney has been bringing people from different parts of the organization into the theme parks. This is a reflection of that cultural change.”
Indeed, “business casual” is most closely identified with Disneyland President Paul Pressler, a youthful, dapper executive and merchandising whiz who cut a swath through the Disney Stores before taking the helm at Disneyland in 1994. Pressler approved “casual Fridays” last year with the idea that working at a theme park ought to be fun, said Disney spokesman Tom Brocato.
The dress-down philosophy was extended to the entire work week in February, to coincide with the opening of the new Team Disney Anaheim administration building -- an electric yellow cartoon-like structure that has loosened up the architectural style of the park as well.
“There has been a history of shirts and ties at Disneyland,” Brocato said. “Paul wanted to relax some of those standards and create a more casual atmosphere in the new building.”
But business will still come before casual, says Frankie Walters, image specialist for the Disneyland Resort. Spiked hair, visible tattoos, nose-rings and other fashion distinctly un-Disney fashion statements are still verboten under the revised dress code. Hirsute pursuits are still off limits as well. Although Walt Disney sported a mustache, the company still requires that all male employees be clean shaven.
“Those classic guidelines are the mainstay of the Disney look,” Walters said. “They still underlie everything we do.”
Under the new business casual guidelines, male employees working “backstage” can eschew the traditional suit and tie for a blazer and slacks, or even a collared shirt and cotton twill “Dockers”-style trousers. And for the first time ever, men can wear a single necklace and bracelet -- but no Las Vegas pinky rings or Mr. T starter sets please.
“Very simple, very tasteful, nothing extreme,” Walters said.
Female cast members out of the public view now have flexibility to choose their own shade of nail polish and can wear a greater variety of earrings and jewelry than previously allowed. They also have the green light to wear tailored “walking shorts” as long as they are part of a coordinated outfit with a vest or jacket.
The stringent Disney dress code has become part and parcel of the Disney myth through the years.
In 1989, Walt Disney Attractions, which leases and manages the Queen Mary in Long Beach, fired three mustachioed employees for violating the ban on facial hair.
Likewise, the company once forbade a waitress from wearing earrings with a union logo.
Disney’s Walters believes Walt Disney would approve of the altered dress code at Disneyland, “because he was an innovator who believed in changing with the times.”
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Magic Kingdom Code
Disneyland has relaxed its employee dress code ever so slightly. Coats and ties are now optional for men, but facial hair is still forbidden. Women may now wear nail polish and jewelry, but the emphasis is still well-groomed, classic and neat. Details of the new policy:
IN FOR MEN
* Long- or short-sleeved woven shirts with collars, including band collars.
* Jewelry such as necklaces and bracelets, but no earrings.
* Cardigan, turtleneck, mock turtleneck and pullover sweaters
* Cotton twill or gabardine trousers
IN FOR WOMEN
* Dressy culottes with blouse and jacket (or vest)
* Palazzo (wide-legged) pants
* Cardigan, turtleneck, mock turtleneck and pullover sweaters
* Casual, low-heeled shoes
* Low-key jewelry and nail polish
STILL PROHIBITED
* Facial hair
* Polo / golf shirts
* T-shirts
* Sweatshirts
* Jeans
* Shorts
* Jogging suits
* Revealing clothing (miniskirts, sleeveless tops, halter tops)
* Sandals
* Athletic shoes
* Leggings
* Flashy hosiery
Source: Walt Disney Co. / Researched by JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times
