>>18461902It all started with IT nerds like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg parading around in t-shirts, jeans and sneakers during presentations, TV interviews and other public appearances, especially after the iPhone blew up in popularity. To them it was like a flex, to signal that they are so rich and powerful that they are above rules and traditions.
But then the corporate peasants also started aping them and showing up to work in casual clothes to look like their idols and role models, and especially because why bother putting effort into dressing up for work in a proper suit and take care of it, when you can just continue wearing the clothes you've been wearing since high school and college, just like the biggest CEOs in the hot new industry of IT? Hence, "muh business casuals".
Gradually people got so used to shamelessly dressing like shit everywhere that these days even wearing a button up shirt with jeans looks "dressy" to them, let alone a suit.