Business Casual circa 2008

I had a two-day conference to go to this week in San Francisco and on the agenda it said, "attire is business casual." Now when I think of business casual, several key words come to mind such as "relaxed fit," "capri," and "khaki." A long time ago I made a promise to myself that I would never put on another pair of capris (or worse, relaxed fit khaki capris) ever again. The exceptions being jewel and sequins embezzlement.
So the night before the conference I deliberately picked out an outfit that was both toned down from my usual fanciful affair and non relaxed fit, khaki, or capri. I prepared myself for the painful non-profit employee takes on white collar attire, but I had not prepared myself for what I saw comfortably seated in the conference room--fleece. There were fleece jackets and fleece vests everywhere in an array of natural tones. The fleece was then paired with an unfortunate trouser and (gasp!) clogs. The clogs were mainly on the women, but the fleece saw no boundaries. Quick bit of life advice: clothing bought at REI can never constitute as day wear unless a park or reserve is on the agenda.