[ThrustVectoring]

A formal requirement isn't what engineers are against. Dressing up and getting management attention because of it is a positional good, and they're enforcing a clique of "if nobody dresses up, nobody has to dress up or get ignored by management."

[linkregister]

You're right, the business attire arms race is a real occurance. I'm being a bit dramatic, but I remember an office that stopped wearing sneakers for that reason.