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Entering the life on Wall Street

aportnoy

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Get as many credit cards as they will give you and buy as many pairs of brown shoes from Lobb, Vass and Edward Green as possible.

The world will be your oyster.
icon_gu_b_slayer[1].gif
 

bluefalcon

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Thanks guys I really appreciate you helping me out. I think I am going to try and step it up a notch, in how I look, but not necessarily worry about suits yet. I am going to start browsing and trying to understand what I like.

As for internship advice thank you so much. I think I am pretty much on the right track. I get my work done well and fast and never say no to anything and try to give my input when required. I think I will ask for more work though instead of talking with the brokers. I will however try to ask intelligent questions, I find that I ask a lot of questions probably about 3% are very intellectual, and the 97% is just me getting to know the business we are in better. The 3% are normally induced by a conversation with really smart people on wall street already that know their stuff.

By the way edmorel I don't think your response was very harsh, I think that "harshness" is the subtly of the truth. Which I find admirable.

Thank you again. Please though if you have any advice let me know.

By the way how do I know if a suit fits well? Like in the front? And the arms are supposed to be at the base of the thumb right? What about the back? I find it hard to look at it so how exactly would I know if it hangs right? Maybe a picture would help in explaining how a suit is supposed to fit?

Also I have heard a lot of people disliking out of the box suits because of all the alternations that are necessary to make a suit look right it is almost worth it just getting it custom made, is there any truth to that?

I noticed a lot of people recommend out of the box suits for beginners either at nordstorms or Brooks Brothers, so I am going to look into that a little more than I have but I feel I need to know exactly how a suit should fit/look in order to figure out what I am looking for.
 

lee_44106

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For a basic understanding of classic men's clothing, I suggest you read Alan Flusser's "Clothes and the Men," it'll give you basic guidelines. Also hanging around on this forum will sharpen your knowledge.

Your original post states a desire to be knowledgeable about the finer things in life, namely wine tasting, fine clothing,...etc. This is very stereotypical. I'm sure there's online forums for just about anything. It does require you to read and absorb the information, there's really no shortcuts.
 

raphael

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Wear whatever it takes to fit in with the other interns. If you do not fit in (and perform better than the rest of them) you will not be hired.

The interning period is NOT the time or the place to show what a great CEO you'll be or how much more important you are than everyone around you.
 

saint

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No one expects an intern to have a world-class wardrobe, or, honestly, to do more than grunt work. But knowledge can be gotten without much expense and it will gain you respect. Read the Journal and Bloomberg articles, ask intelligent questions. If you show that you are a quick study , you will do well. As for the rest, pick up a few books and gain the knowledge you think you'll need, but, most traders aren't exactly high-class people and if you are leaning towards that end of the business dressing well/having manners may be more of a hinderence than a help.
 

BankerBoi

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offline100

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Welcome to the forum!

I think some of the "contrarian" replies you've gotten above are because your query was framed so broadly. You essentially just asked "how do I dress well and appropriately," but in some sense that's the subject of every one of the hundreds of threads on this forum. There's no short answer, and you're not the first young bright-eyed i-banker intern to come by and start a thread like this.

Like all newcomers to an internet community should, do a bunch of searches and read the archives, learn, and get a sense of what has and hasn't been asked and answered. If what you most need right now is a suit, read about suits and examine the "what are you wearing now" pictures carefully before shopping. If shoes, do the same with shoes. If you can't find the answer to a specific question , feel free to start a new thread!

P.S. Brooks Brothers = tent.
 

trajan

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Originally Posted by bluefalcon
Hey Guys,

I am trying to learn a lot about suits, food, wine, beer, clothing, and sports. I grew up in a middle class family that didn't teach any of the finer points, but now that I am an intern on Wall Street I feel the need to understand this new walk of life in order to be respected, and not look like an intern they just dragged in off the street.
Currently, I am looking for ANY information that people can give me or link me too, and point me to some books. I have heard there is a good tailor in Fairfield CT that I could go to as it is a couple minutes from my house, but does anyone know of a good one in NYC? That I might be able to check out that is comparable.
As I am still in college I don't have much money but I would really like to get a good suit in order to look the part at the very least.

Please any suggestions or help or comments is VERY appreciated.

In the mean while I will troll the boards and try to absorb as much as possible.


You may read about clothes, food, wine, etc, but unless you have a lot of experience you won't have a refined taste. Young people are not expected to have good taste anyway. It takes a long time, much longer than an internship to refine your taste, even if you consciously work on it.

For wine, take a wine tasting class, buy the world atlas of wine (a very good book) and join a wine tasting club. It takes effort and you really need to be into it to be able to pull it off.

--trajan
 

vaclava krishna

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Originally Posted by trajan

For wine, take a wine tasting class, buy the world atlas of wine (a very good book) and join a wine tasting club. It takes effort and you really need to be into it to be able to pull it off.

--trajan



To pull off, tasting wine ?
 

josepidal

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http://theallnighter.blogspot.com/20...hip-donts.html

Know your place:
It doesn't matter that you have tailor made suits. Don't wear them as your analyst (who's probably got a massive chip on his shoulder) doesn't. Don't go as far as a polyester wrinkle free from M&S, because then even the biggest schmuck with a massive dent on his shoulder will laugh at you. Never dress better than your analyst, but make sure to not dress far worse. If he wears Hermes ties, you go for Ferragamo. If he comes in on the weekend with a Diesel tshirt (bankers like to think they're hip), come in wearing something from GAP. You get the picture.
Nice.
 

bluefalcon

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Hey Guys,

I really appreciate everything. My plan is to look investigate styles and look things up about clothes. I am going to read those articles and book posted above. I am currently, just wearing some grey pin strip suit I got a goodwill so I know I am not out dressing anyone, but I think I can hold my own.

I always want to keep up to date on current events I have RSS feeds and everything but I find that it is really difficult. Does anyone have a way that works for them? Maybe I could incorporate it into my daily routine.

off topic:
Currently, At my internship I am the hardest working intern by far. I never say no and always yes and get everything done in an extremely efficient manner. Does that stuff count for anything? Is there anything else I should be doing.
 

saint

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Originally Posted by bluefalcon
Hey Guys,

I really appreciate everything. My plan is to look investigate styles and look things up about clothes. I am going to read those articles and book posted above. I am currently, just wearing some grey pin strip suit I got a goodwill so I know I am not out dressing anyone, but I think I can hold my own.

I always want to keep up to date on current events I have RSS feeds and everything but I find that it is really difficult. Does anyone have a way that works for them? Maybe I could incorporate it into my daily routine.

off topic:
Currently, At my internship I am the hardest working intern by far. I never say no and always yes and get everything done in an extremely efficient manner. Does that stuff count for anything? Is there anything else I should be doing.


Having a good attitude and a good work ethic counts for a lot. There are plenty of a-holes with huge attitudes on the street, but you have to earn the ability to get away with that behavior. Nobody wants a prima donna intern. So, yes, you are probably impressing people at the firm.
 

Pennglock

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A bit of practical advice -

Get a decent pair of shoes early on. 99% of people cannot tell the difference between a $300 suit and $2000 suit, provided your suit fits reasonably well. Plenty of people will spot a horrible shoe, though, and they will assume the rest of your gear is of the same quality. No matter how good the rest of your outfit is, you cannot recover from a bad shoe.

The 3 biggest shoe mistakes young guys make:
1) square or bicycle-style toes
2) rubber soles
3) cheap/funky leather

If you're wearing suits for your job, the first shoe you need to buy is a black cap-toe oxford. The best black cap-toe for the money is the Allen Edmonds Park Avenue. It costs about $200, and dont buy anything less expensive. Other good choices between $250-$400 are Crockett & Jones, Alden, Church, Cheaney, and Brooks Brothers house brand.
 

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