burntcopper | Coloured shirts on men, USA

The 'what to wear at an interview' came up on the internet messenger bits. AOL gives you US, MSN gives you UK. Looked at the men's. The difference is... quite interesting. Especially for office jobs.

US? frighteningly conservative. Thou shalt wear white shirt, red or blue tie (no pattern), never, ever wear brown shoes or belt - they've even got rules about what to carry.

UK, they were saying 'don't wear a white shirt, wear a coloured one so they'll remember you and you won't look like you've come straight out of school. Ties should match your shirt, a discreet pattern is okay. No paisley and no cartoons.'

And then I remembered Smallville fandom, where Lex wearing purple/pink/light blue shirts was taken as proof positive of him being at the very least bisexual. This made me boggle a bit at the time, since wearing pink shirts is normal in the UK, *especially* in the City. Five blokes in my carriage on the Tube this evening, two in my carriage on the train.

Seriously. Is colour in men's shirts that odd in the US?