While many of us spent Valentine’s Day gazing around the workplace looking for romance, nearly a third of UK employers claim they have ‘prohibited’ relationships between managers and subordinates, according to Personnel Today, which has based the claim on the 2012 HRXpert survey results to be published next month.

It’s a tangled issue, with the Trades Union Congress weighing in to remind UK businesses that relationship ‘bans’, USA style, are not legal in this country, where rights to association and privacy issues are enshrined in the adoption of the 1998 Human Rights Act. It is acceptable to develop HR policy which might include clothing rules that, for example, prohibit non-professional garments (short skirts, halter tops and open toed sandals for women, unbuttoned shirts or even shorts, for men) but such prohibitions would have to balance gender equality too – you can’t ban shorts for men and allow women to wear short skirts, and you can’t stop women wearing camisole tops and allow men to wear vest-type T-shirts as such rulings could be considered sexist.

The most that UK law currently allows is that an employer can require employees to behave professionally (which includes clothing worn to work) in the workplace. Any employee who felt they had been held to account for a workplace relationship on the grounds of a ban, rather than on the basis of their having behaved unprofessionally, could in theory take their case to an industrial tribunal. The idea banning relationships with subordinates is particularly vexed, as it appears to allow for some forms of workplace relationship and not others, which is clearly discriminatory.

In the USA in particular, dressing for work is a political and social minefield. Increasingly this is becoming true in the UK too. It’s important to look right but also to feel right, and this is a constant debate between HR departments and others.

In many countries there are no legal restrictions on clothing, but this is not universally true. Some countries have religious and cultural clothing restrictions which are enforceable in public. In terms of employment, no dress code can be discriminatory – this means that an enforceable dress code, as opposed to guidelines, must be acceptable to all ages, genders, religions etc.

It’s notable that professional business attire has become more popular with both employers and customers – while a casual dress culture seemed to be developing right up to the millennium, it’s become quite common for a more restrictive dress code to be enacted by employers since then.

Many educational organisations are reinstating guidance on dress codes for students and alumni – once again the lead is being taken by the US but many British universities now have a support for those attending interviews that includes a clothing consultation.

It’s a safe bet that neutral colours, natural fabrics and formal fashion will continue to be the requirements for interview clothing in the decade ahead, but for men, polo-shirts have slipped under the radar and become the ideal garment for an ‘informal interview’ eg a breakfast meeting or a group interview, while for women, a long sleeved T-shirt, skirt and boots are considered to be the same dress for success uniform for the informal interview.

David Cameron is about to announce that unused Government offices will be offered to budding entrepreneurs as launch pads for new businesses across the UK. The idea is to try and kick-start the economy through an entrepreneurship boost.

The huge stock of buildings owned by the government is to be used to match capacity to need by providing more than 300 premises at low rents for a year boosting Treasury finances and giving entrepreneurs a chance to rocket their business ideas into reality.

And like Cinderella, dress is all important. Rick Santorum, a candidate for the American Presidency, has been winning friends and votes through his dress code. While his rivals wear boring suits, he has launched out into what the Americans call a sweater vest – what the British have always called a tank top. However he does in the candidacy race, he’s certainly gained a massive amount of recognition through his appearance, and that’s a lesson for all entrepreneurs. Marketing matters, not just for your business, but for you as the figure who embodies the business. So self marketing means:

Look at what your competition is doing and dare to be different. Think about Richard Branson and the Virgin adverts which subverted the ‘traditional’ adverts of other companies, just as his jeans and shirt wardrobe subverted the ‘suits’ of his rivals.

Entertain people – wear something bright, something relaxed, something that people can talk about. Even if they don’t like it, they will remember you: bright polo shirts with smart casual trousers can look good for men, or for women, a jewel coloured camisole top under a designer jacket can really make you stand out from the crowd.