Who still wears a suit to work?

[TheFoo]

Fact is, most people in suits look like **** anyway. Even more people who wear tweed jackets look like ****. This is true on both sides of the Atlantic. It is expensive and difficult to do traditional tailored clothing well, and therefore competent execution is scarce.

So, what bothers me is not that other people wear suits less often (good riddance!), but that they care whether I wear a suit. If we’re going to be liberal and laissez faire about formality, it ought to cut both ways. Of course, it doesn’t because of cultural and class-related hang-ups. That’s why I wear a ******* vest.

 

[Thomson]

Sounds accurate to me.

@Alan Bee:
I can’t speak to what Magic Circle lawyers dress like, but London’s finance professionals appear to dress in-line with their NYC counterparts. Suits are not unusual, per se, but business casual is more the norm. And, now that I think of it, I’ve seen more than a couple of my English colleagues sporting the full-on Midtown Uniform. Admittedly, this is harder to imagine on the Continent, but that’s not to say they haven’t gone broadly business casual in equal measure.

I think banking doesn’t necessarily equal banking, at least in London and the financial centres on the continent.

Private wealth management and client facing roles (relationship management, corporate finance, origination) were always more formally dressed than the traders, at least in my experience since the early 2000s. That hasn’t really changed, even if someone doesn’t wear a tie all the time.

Hedge funds, PE etc. are a different matter as well, they are probably not even located in the City but more likely in the West End. You see lots of well-dressed guys in that area - it is clear that a lot have put thought into what they wear, it doesn’t strike me as overly casual because it is not what you would wear for a night out at your local.

 

[TheFoo]

I think banking doesn’t necessarily equal banking, at least in London and the financial centres on the continent.

Private wealth management and client facing roles (relationship management, corporate finance, origination) were always more formally dressed than the traders, at least in my experience since the early 2000s. That hasn’t really changed, even if someone doesn’t wear a tie all the time.

Hedge funds, PE etc. are a different matter, they are probably not even located in the City but more likely in the West End.

I’m speaking about investment bankers, not traders. We don’t do the suit-as-default anymore. Attire is driven by perceptions of what the client will prefer.

Moreover, investment banking clients (corporate management operating in corporate contexts) are a far more relevant measure of business appropriateness than wealth management clients (any random rich people).

 

[dieworkwear]

Fact is, most people in suits look like **** anyway. Even more people who wear tweed jackets look like ****. This is true on both sides of the Atlantic. It is expensive and difficult to do traditional tailored clothing well, and therefore competent execution is scarce.

So, what bothers me is not that other people wear suits less often (good riddance!), but that they care whether I wear a suit. If we’re going to be liberal and laissez faire about formality, it ought to cut both ways. Of course, it doesn’t because of cultural and class-related hang-ups. That’s why I wear a ******* vest.

Can't you wear a sport coat?

Also, do you really wear a Patagonia vest or are we talking abstractly?

 

[TheFoo]

Can't you wear a sport coat?

Also, do you really wear a Patagonia vest or are we talking abstractly?

Sport coat is rare. Would be less so if I weren’t covering tech.

Yes, I really do wear the vest. To some extent, it’s a team participation thing.

 

[dieworkwear]

Sport coat is rare. Would be less so if I weren’t covering tech.

Yes, I really do wear the vest. To some extent, it’s a team participation thing.

Damn. My kingdom for a photo of Foo in the Midtown uniform. ??

 

[Alan Bee]

Sport coat is rare. Would be less so if I weren’t covering tech.

Yes, I really do wear the vest. To some extent, it’s a team participation thing.

Oh dear, the end is really near The barbarians have breached the gate ....

 

[TheFoo]

Oh dear, the end is really near The barbarians have breached the gate ....

Barbaric disruptions are a healthy thing.

 

[dieworkwear]

This is pretty devasting news for the three people here who work in finance. ?

 

[IChen]

Yes, I really do wear the vest. To some extent, it’s a team participation thing.

hate this, hate this, hate this.

good thing only about half in the office wear vests..for now anyway I guess

 

[LA Guy]

Sport coat is rare. Would be less so if I weren’t covering tech.

Yes, I really do wear the vest. To some extent, it’s a team participation thing.

You could really turn heads with a designer tactical vest. Basically, a useless flack jacket.

That, or turn the thing on its head with a Beach Cloth vest or maybe something like the patchwork By Walid Vest that I often wear over a leather jacket.

 

[HotToddy]

I do not have to wear a suit but I do most days and if not I definitely wear a sports jacket. Roughly 70% of the men in my office do the same although there is no official dress code.

However, many of the places I have to go and like to go to are private members clubs which do have strict dress codes. Some require only a jacket, others a suit and tie. I have noticed amongst my clients it has become increasingly popular to go out to these places. Probably because we are all spending a small fortune on membership fees, but it also could be a superiority complex thing where we take solace in going somewhere not everyone can.

It is probably easier joining a poncey members club in London because there are a lot of them but I’m sure you can find one in other major cities. Then you can wear a suit to your hearts content.

 

[Loathing]

It genuinely blows my mind that mafoofan, somebody who spent a decade on styfo telling people they look like **** for minute tailoring transgressions, is now wearing a ******* gilet to work just to fit in.

 

[TheFoo]

It genuinely blows my mind that mafoofan, somebody who spent a decade on styfo telling people they look like **** for minute tailoring transgressions, is now wearing a ******* gilet to work just to fit in.

It’s not about fitting in. It’s about $$$$. Gotta pay for this **** somehow.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

When I first joined this forum there were periodic bouts of 'CM is dead' discussions, but it really wasn't entirely clear that this was the case yet. But if the Foo, a man who spent weeks debating the stitching on his green leather wallet and the precise width and placement of the belt on his tweed coat, is now openly advocating wearing fleece vests to work then I think we can see how quickly and profoundly Silicon Valley bros have (to use their own favourite word) 'disrupted' menswear. It's probably the least important effect of platform capitalism but it's there...

edit: ha, wrote this too slow to get in before @Loathing