While Fetterman may have helped precipitate the dress code change, it’s unlikely he’s the only reason for it. Richard Thompson Ford, a professor of law at Stanford Law School and the author of Dress Code: How the Laws of Fashion Made History, said “a lot of things were pointing in this direction.”

“Dress codes have been getting relaxed everywhere. In a sense, Congress is following a trend that’s already taken off in business, banking, law, and all over the place,” he said.