As we return to “normal” and people start returning to the office, people at my job have been told that they have to start dressing more “professionally.” We have an agency-wide dress code, the typical business casual thing every office has. However, due to the pandemic literally everyone ignores it. No one comes in looking like they climbed out of a dumpster, but sneakers and jeans are normal.
Now, folks have been told they can no longer wear jeans and sneakers in the office. Mind you, there are still no clients in the office, we're not at full capacity, and the relaxed standards caused NO loss of productivity.
This is 100% a control thing. None of our clients will be leaving because someone's wearing tennis shoes instead of pumps. Many of us work in the field, driving for long hours. There is nothing unprofessional about a pair of jeans, it's just more comfortable. Jeans actually tend to fit me better and look nicer than a pair of khakis anyway.
In particularly egregious cases, dress codes can even be downright sexist by setting different (conflicting) standards based on gender.