During the Clinton administration, the White House was a business-casual environment, where people wore rolled-up shirtsleeves and jeans to pizza-fueled all-nighter work sessions. When George Bush entered the Oval Office, he made it clear that anybody who was summoned there had better be wearing a suit.

Bush himself has been the poster boy for the resurgence of more formal business attire. On his ranch in Crawford, Texas, he may wear jeans and a cowboy shirt, but when he is in Washington, he is always wearing one of his 44 long bespoke suits — he favors blue and gray — and his suit jacket is always buttoned. And the First Dresser has made an impact nation-wide.

For example, Target has issued a 20-page dress code for the 5,000 employees at its corporate headquarters in Minneapolis. Men are required to wear a jacket or tie if they venture beyond their own workspace. Women who wear sleeveless blouses must also wear a jacket. Sweater sets are suggested attire. If employees have questions about what might be appropriate, they can access an internal Web site that features pictures of what the company considers well-dressed workers who have chosen appropriate fashion combinations.

An investor and public relations firm in New York has issued a memo to its employees to ratchet their clothing decisions up “at least one more notch,” according to The Cincinnati Post. “For example, we would prefer that properly fitting sweaters be worn with a collared shirt underneath. Certainly, khakis should be neat and clean,” the memo from G.S. Schwartz & Co. elaborated. It added, “Shaving regularly also is a good idea for either sex.”

The company initiated the dress code after executives noticed that their clients were themselves dressing more formally, said Rachel Honig Peters, a senior vice president at the company.

One clear advantage of having a company policy spelling out what is acceptable dress for the office is that it takes the guesswork out of the sartorial equation. Many people complained during the height of the casual officewear period that it was difficult to determine what was acceptable and what wasn’t. If wearing jeans was okay, were flip-flops also acceptable? Also, many employees simply weren’t very good at picking out casual clothes that would be appropriate for the...