Went to Washington D.C. today

[odoreater]

I have to say that I was pretty impressed. It seems like much more of a business formal city than NYC. I spent most of my time in the Mall area and on Connecticut Ave and most of the guys that I saw that looked like they were working were wearing suits, some of them pretty nice ones at that. I didn't see very many people who looked like they were dressed in business casual. I saw a lot of french cuffs, a lot of leather soled shoes, a lot of pocket squares, spread collars - all very impressive stuff. I don't know what other people's experiences have been, but I would say that among cities I've visted (including NYC, where I went to law school for three years), DC is one of the best dressed.

 

[whoopee]

Wow that's not the impression I always get from that city. It is more business formal, though, than any other in America. This might not be a good thing; people seem to have a harder time generating style in a suit than in something casual.

 

[odoreater]

Originally Posted by whoopee

Wow that's not the impression I always get from that city. It is more business formal, though, than any other in America. This might not be a good thing; people seem to have a harder time generating style in a suit than in something casual.

Like I said, I was only in certain parts of the city, and only for about 2 hours or so walking the streets, but I was pretty impressed with what I saw. Maybe I'm just used to NYC where you get a smattering of people wearing suits here and there among a huge number of people dressed in all sorts of hideous get-ups. But, what I saw on the streets of DC kind of reminded me of those pictures from the 30s when everybody wore a suit. Even a lot of people who just seemed to be touring the sites in the city seemed to be turned out pretty well (with a number of exceptions of course). I don't know, but it was nice. Last time I went to DC I got a horrible impression from the city, but the impression left on me this time was much better. Last time I was kind of ashamed that it was our nation's capital (huge numbers of homeless sleeping on cardboard boxes all over the place, stuff like that), but this time I was kind of proud.

 

[Kid609]

DC is the most horribly dressed city in America. It's nice if you like blue shirts and khakis.

It's definitely no New York, Boston, or SF.

 

[odoreater]

Originally Posted by Kid609

DC is the most horribly dressed city in America. It's nice if you like blue shirts and khakis.

It's definitely no New York, Boston, or SF.

I can't say much about Boston or SF, but I'm very familiar with NY and the majority of people in NYC dress horribly and business casual is rampant. Sure there are a few people that are extremely well turned out, but they are few and very far between

 

[LabelKing]

I don't think S.F. is that well turned out.

 

[StevenRocks]

Just about every major city has its bad dressers, including NY and SF.

DC is pretty trad and at times very derivative, but it's not really as awful as a lot of cities.

 

[RJman]

DC dress code: business slovenly.

 

[medwards]

Originally Posted by RJman

DC dress code: business slovenly.

Though I have seen some rather smartly turned out gentlemen on occasion.

 

[Spudbunny]

I live and work in DC.

I'm surprised you had a good impression of the Mall area. Most people down there are tourists, and tourists dress informally, to put it mildly.

Connecticut Avenue below Dupont Circle has a concentration of lawyers and lobbyists, folks with money. Alden, A-E, J. Press, Brooks, etc. are all in that area for a reason.

Like most things in life, it's a sampling question. I don't know how to measure how DC males dress. It depends on where you are.

 

[fatherseanfan]

are you sure there wasn't some convention on with a lot of Europeans or something?

Worked and lived in DC and can attest to what's been said. Never seen so many white button-down collar / maroon paisley tie / charcoal Jos A Bank suits in my life.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by medwards

Though I have seen some rather smartly turned out gentlemen on occasion.

Mostly in your mirror...

 

[odoreater]

Originally Posted by Spudbunny

I live and work in DC.

I'm surprised you had a good impression of the Mall area. Most people down there are tourists, and tourists dress informally, to put it mildly.

Connecticut Avenue below Dupont Circle has a concentration of lawyers and lobbyists, folks with money. Alden, A-E, J. Press, Brooks, etc. are all in that area for a reason.

Like most things in life, it's a sampling question. I don't know how to measure how DC males dress. It depends on where you are.

Yes, I definitely agree that it was probably a sampling question (that's why I mentioned what parts of the city I visited). I wasn't so much in the mall area, as I was around the mall area. I basically walked from 3/4 up the way on Connecticut down to the mall area, around the mall and then to the hotels on Maryland. This was also at about lunch time when people were out and around. A lot of the tourists in the mall area were older people, and older gentlemen often tend to dress better than younger ones. I also did see a few people that were dressed ridiculously (saw one guy in a wierd multicolored optical illusion suits that would kind of change colors as he walked from a dark yellow to black), but the overall impression left on me was pretty good.

By the way, I did nothing to improve the image of DC, I was wearing jeans, a polo shirt, and sneakers. Then again, if you see the description above of how far I walked (I walked it in both directions) then you would understand.

 

[designprofessor]

Most of what I saw was tourists and that means lots of little pouches and thick calves...As for the city itself its one of my favorites. I'll be heading there this summer, without the tourist pouch.